Source: Saul, R. B. 1958. Geology of the Anita (Magee) Mine, Riverside County, Peninsular Range Province, Southern California. California Division of Mines and Geology, unpublished manuscript dated 7/24: pages 244-246.

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Geology of the Anita (Magee) Mine:
Riverside County, Peninsular Range Province, Southern California

Location: NW1/4 sec. 22, T. 6S., R. 1 E., S.B.M., U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Hemet quadrangle 15, 1957, on a north-facing slope opposite the northwest ridge of Red Mountain.

Ownership: Undetermined (1950).

History: According to Mr. Harry Bergman this mine was operated in the early 1900’s. Mr. Bergman helped with the early development of this property when it was known as the Magee Mine (personal communication, Harry Bergman, Aguanga, 1958).

Geology: The Anita Mine is at the north edge of a mesa underlain by Mesozoic quartz-diorite. A pegmatite dike is as much as 12 feet in thickness is exposed on a north-facing slope. The dike appears to be either a group of parallel and partially coalesced dikes or a single branching body. It strikes about N. 20 E., dips approximately 25 degrees NW., and is exposed over an area 200 feet by 300 feet. Quartz and albite feldspar make up the bulk of the dike. Both form pure crystalline masses but most commonly occur as a graphic intergrowth. The rarer minerals include black, green, pink, and blue tourmaline; lepidolite, biotite mica, and garnet. The tourmaline commonly shows color zonation, some crystals changing from end to end; others are zoned concentric to their axis. The small quantities of gem-quality material appear to be concentrated in lepidolite-rich zones and in pockets. Because of the confused and littered character of the exposure and the large quantities of material removed from the working, the structure of the dike was not determined. It may be significant that the main development is near the hanging wall of the dike.

Development: The principal workings radiate from an oval pit about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide. They comprise a stope, which extends about 50 feet up the dip of the dike from the south end of the pit, a drift adit about 100 feet long driven into the west side of the pit, and an inclined shaft of undetermined depth descending from the north end. In addition, several shallow pits and trenches were dug in the outcrop.

Production: As much as 10 pounds of clear gem tourmaline was taken from this deposit and several hundred pounds of fractured, pink tourmaline were shipped to China for carving (Harry Bergman, personal communication).

References: Wright, 1957, p.206. N.B.S. 7/24/58.

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