THE AMERICAN MINERALOGIST, VOL. 43, JANUARY FEBRUARY 19.53

NOTES AND NEWS AN OCCURRENCEOF MOLYBDENIAN STOLZITEIN ARIZONA*

JouN N. FAtcr, U. S. GeologicalSuraey, Tucson, Arizona eNl Fnno A. HrroBsneNu, [/. ,S.Geological Survey, Washington,D. C. Stolzite containing about 9 per cent MoO3 occurs near Miami, Gila County, Arizona. This tungsten-bearing mineral, which is considered to be an intermediate member of the isomorphous wulfenite-stolzite series, was noted by Faick and J. A. MacKallor,t in a prospect that was ex- amined on behalf of the Defense Minerals Exploration Administration in November 1951.This prospectis situatedlow on the eastslope of Day Peaks in the Lost Gulch area of the Inspiration quadrangle, and is about 1f miles southwest of the Copper Cities open-pit mine. The locality is in the Globe-\Iiami district, the geology of which has been described by Ransome(1903, 1904,1919) and Peterson(1954). The prospect in which the molybdenian stolzite was found consists of an adit about 100 feet long in a mineralized zonealong a nearly vertical, easterly trending fault that cuts diabasic rocks. The principal constit- uents in the zone are altered host rock, limonite, and minor amounts of quartz. Scheelite, which was identified by its pale-bluish fluorescence under an ultraviolet light, was observed in the altered zone as a few isolated grains and as a single small pod about one inch wide and 4 inches long. The molybdenian stolzite occurs in cavities in quartz and dissemi- nated in limonite. The thin, tabular, imperfectly formed white, lemon- yellow and orange crystals of the stolzite are megascopically indistin- guishablefrom wulfenite. From specimenscollected by Faick, L. G. Evansf prepared a heavy- liquid concentrate of mineral grains using acetylene tetrabromide, and further purified the concentrate by handpicking out impurities with the aid of a microscope.Evans identified the mineral by its specific gravity (7.5), optically negative character,high indices of refraction like other members of the series,and by visual arc spectroscopictests for W, NIo, and Pb. Examination of grainsin thin sectionindicated that the mineral is altered along fracture planes to an unidentified isotropic material. Chemical analysesof the concentrate are given in Table 1. Material submitted to the U. S. GeologicalSurvey laboratoriesfor r-ray confirmation of the molybdenian stolzite was found to contain minute amounts of an unidentified mineral and some brownish and

* Publication authorized by the Director, U. S. Geological Survey. f Geologist, U. S. Geological Survey. f Mineralogist, U. S. Bureau of Mines, Tucson, Arizona. 156 NOTES AND NEWS r57

Tlsrn 1. Cnnurcar- Arqnr-vsesor Mor,ysonnren Sror,zrm lnou rnr Losr Grr-cs Locc,r:rv, Mrnur, Anrzoxn Analysesby F. G. Hawley*

(1) t')\

Pbo 56.27 56.3 WO: 25.40 23.9 MoOs 8.62 9.3 As:O; 4.56 4) PzOs 2.14 o.73 CaO 0.80 0.8 Fezo: 0.28 sio: 0.4 RzOa 1.4

Total 98.07 97.03 Ratio W:Mo 3.5:l 3.06:1

* Chemist,retired, U. S. Burea,uof Mines;Tucson, Arizona. During the 1930'sMr. Hawley analyzedtwo other samplesof physicallysimilar materialfrom unidentified prospectsin theLost Gulch area, rvith results as follows: (1) PbO51.2, WO3 20.4, MoOg 5.5;(2) PbO 52.4, WO3 30.8, MoOr 6.27. greenish-brown grains that were proved by r-ray powder diffraction to belong to the mimetite-pyromorphite group of minerals. The presence of these minerals probabll' accounts for the high content of AszOs and PzOrin the analyses,and also for the high content of PbO, rryhichis in excessof that neededto sretisfythe formulas of intermediate members of the wulfenite-stolzite se:ries.Apparently the material used in the chemical analyses containerl admixtures of these associatedminerals although reasonableprecautions were taken to obtain a pure sample. In order to compare the :mineral from Arizona with other wulfenites and stolzites, Hildebrand usod tr-ray patterns of wulfenite from Copiapo, Chile, and from Inyo County, California, and prepared r-ray patterns of stolzite from Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia; tungstenian wulfenite (chillagite) from the Chillagoe and Christmas Gift mines, Chillagoe, Queensland,Aur;tralia, and wulfenite from Cairo, Egypt. A few analysesof the minereulsfrom these localities have been published, but there is no assurancethat the minerals acquired for x-ray exactly represent those used for the original analyses. A recent spectrographic examination of the wulfenite-stolzite group mineral from Cairo, Egypt by Janet Fletcher$ shows that it contains major amounts of lead and molybdenum and no detectable tungsten. Hence, it is a true wulfenite

$ Spectroscopist, U. S. Geologit:al Survel'. NOT'ESAND NEWS represerltingan end member of the wulfenite-stolziteseries. It is note- worthy that r-ray examinations revealed that the two samples from Chillagoe,Queensland, Australia are dissimilarand neither of them cor- respondsto the tungstenian wulfenite reported by Palache and others (1951,pp. 1083-1085). Comparisonof the r-ray powder patterns of the mineralsstudied per- mits them to be groupedas follows: Stolzite from Broken Hill (film 11468)and the mineral referred to as chillagite from the Chillagoe mine (film 11469) were found to be nearly identical and were acceptedas standardpatterns representingstolzite. Wulfenites from Copiapo, Chile (film 5695), Inyo County, California (film 6544), Cairo, Egypt (film 11482) and the tungstenian wulfenite (chillagite)from the Christmas Gift mine (film 11483)were found to be nearly identical with each other but appreciably different from the two stolzitescited above,and were, therefore,accepted as standard patterns representing wulfenite. The molybdenian stolzite from Arizona (films 11428, 11429, 11480 and 11481) gives an r-ray pattern that is intermediate between the stolzites and wulfenites cited above and it should probably be placed toward the stolziteend of the series. Tungstenian wulfenite (chillagite) from Santa Rosa, province of San Luis, Argentina, is describedby Ahlfeld and Angelelli (1948, pp. 204 205) and two analysesare given. These analysesand analysesof the tungstenian wulfenites from Chillagoe, Australia are reproduced in Table 2 for comparisonwith the analysesof the molybdenian stolzite from Arizona as given in Table 1.

Tasrn 2. Cnnurcar, Anar,ysrs or TuucstrNraN Wur,rnmms

ChristmasGift Mine Santa Rosa, Province of Chillagoe,Australia San Luis, Argentina

Pbo 53.9 to 54.7 47.80 49.50 WO: 27.7to 29.5 19 60 18.40 MoOa 76.3to 22.2 19 30 20.40

1-Analyses from Palache and others (1951, p. 1085). 2 & 3-Analyses from Ahlfeld and Angelelli (19a8, p. 205).

Accordingto Palacheand others(1951, pp. 1083,1087-1088), at leasta partial isostructural series exists betrveen wulfenite (PbMoOr) and stolzite (PbWO, and W may substitutefor \'Io in intermediatemembers of the series;those authors state, however, that the few reportedanalyses NOTESAND NEWS 159 of stolzitedo not revealthe substitutionof l,Io for W. As shownby chem- ical analysesthe mineral collectedat the Lost Gulch locality in Arizona probably is an example in which NIo takes the place of some of the W in ihe stolziteformula. The mirLeralis properly termed molybdenianstolzite becausethe ratio of W: Mo e:rceeds1 : 1. Insofar as the writers know, intermediate members of the wulfenite- stolzite serieshave been identified only from the above mentioned areas in Australia and Argentina,. The scarcity of reported occurrences of intermediate members of this isostructural seriesis surprising inasmuch as neither wulfenite nor stolzite is very rare. The intermediate members of the seriesprobably have hreenoverlooked becauseof their similarity in appearanceto wulfenite. The writers gratefully a<:knowledgethe assistanceoi L. G. Evans, F. G. Hawley and others whoseefforts have made this rePort Possible.

REFERENCES

Arrloro, F., aNo ANcar.ar,lr, V., Las Especes Minerales de Ia Republica Argentina, Unit' Tucumen, Inst. Geol.Pub.458,204-205 (1948). II, Palncur, C., Bunu.Ln, H., eNn .FnoNonr,, C., Dana's System of Mineralogy, Vol' 1081-1088(1951). Econ' Pn:rnnsor, N. P., Copper Cities Copper deposit, Globe-Miami district, Arizona, Geol., 49, 362-377 (1954). ProJ' Rersoua, F. L., Geology of the G,lobe copper district, Arizona, tl' S' Geol' Suntey, Paper 12,168 pp. (1903). ---,Descriptionof theGiobeQuadrangle,Arizona,tl'S'Geol'Surtey,Foliolll'17pp' (1904). The copper deposits of Ra,y and Miami, Arizona , U . S ' Geol' Suruey, Ptof' Papet rr5,192pp. (1919).

THE AMERICAN MINERALOGIST, VOL. 43, JANUARY_FEBRUARY 1958

HUNTITE FROM TI]A TREE GULLY, SOUTHAUSTRALIA Austral'ia' Bnrax J. SrrNNnn, [Jniaersity of Ad'elaide,Adelaide,

50 feet in two small quarries in the Torrens Dolomite, 1 mile east of Tea Tree Gully. Huntite occurs as sporeLdicnodules in the fault zones and in the