Copyright © 2004 by Ana Minerva Bonilla                                 

The Weekend Miner

(http://theweekendminer.com)

California

Kern County

Black Mountain King Mine (a.k.a. Huckabay Mine) : (35.43.35N by 118.31.29W - #3) (Tungsten)

Coordinates are for the main entrance to this underground, past-producer.      

Per mineralsocal.com the Greenhorn Mountains scheelite deposits, which includes the Black Mountain King mine, also known as Huckabay mine; Little Acorn mine, also known as Aldrige mine and Old Zelner mine; and the Total Wreck Crystal claim, which lies 1.5 miles southeast of Greenhorn Summit, in the Greenhorn Summit district, of the Greenhorn Mountains, contains andradite, epidote, humboldtine (at Black Mountain King only), orthoclase, quartz and scheelite.

County Report 1, California Division of Mines and Geology, 1962, p296 : The mine is located in the center of Section 27, T.25S., R.32E., MDM, in the Greenhorn Tungsten District, under the power line on the north wall of Shirley Canyon, about 2 miles southeast of Greenhorn Summit.

Ownership in 1962 was shown as W.S. Huckabay, c/o Greenhorn Mountain Park, Greenville, which held 4 unpatented leases, all of which had been leased to A.M. Ozanich Jr. and T.A. Daly, of Oil Center, since 1953.

The Black Mountain King Mine yielded about 200 tons of scheelite-bearing ore during WWII, from bodies of tactite and associated fault gouge, but has been idle since. Approximately 200 tons of ore that contained 5% to 6% WO 3 was milled at Weldon in the early 1940s, where an 80% to 85% recovery was made and yielded a concentrate bearing 64% WO 3 . A mill of about 2 tons per day capacity, including a roll crusher and a concentrating table, was later installed at the mine, and about 30 tons of ore from this mine and the Aldridge (Little Acorn) mine was milled with undetermined results. An assay of 2.49% WO3 and $.35 per ton old in the face of the glory hole was reported by the owner in 1954. Bodies of tactite, which strike north and dip steeply eastward, occur along a contact between limestone and Isabella granodiorite, and contain garnet, epidote and scheelite. The tactite zone ranges in width from about 5 feet to 25 feet in the vicinity of the mine, and is bordered by a zone of sheared, clay-like gouge 35 feet wide where exposed. Well-formed crystals of scheelite, some larger than 1 inch in diameter, occur in the gouge, and have been sought by mineral collectors. Prominent shear planes in the granodiorite strike north 50 o west, and dip steeply to the northeast. Workings include an open cut “glory hole”, about 30 feet long and 10 feet wide and a maximum of about 25 feet deep. An adit is driven north 20 o east in the face. About 125 feet southeast of the “glory hole” is a 50-foot adit driven northeasterly, but little or no ore was removed from it.