White Picacho District, Yavapai Co., Arizona, USA

‡Ref.: Jahns, Richard H. (1952), Pegmatite Deposits of the White Picacho District, Maricopa and Yavapai Counties, Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 162.

Meeves, et al (1966), Reconnaissance of beryllium-bearing pegmatite deposits in six western states, U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8298.

London, D., and Burt, D.M. (1978) Lithium pegmatites of the White Picacho district, Maricopa and Yavapai Counties [with road log], Arizona, in Burt, D.M., and Pewe, T.L., eds., Guidebook to the geology of central Arizona, 74th Cordilleran Section Meeting, Geological Society of America, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mineral Technology Special Paper no. 2, p. 61-72.

London, D. and Burt, D., 1982, Alteration of spodumene, Montebrasite and Lithiophilite in Pegmatites of the White Picacho District, Arizona, American Mineralogist, v 67, p. 97-113

Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd. ed.: 134, 139, 156, 182, 197, 253, 279, 289, 290, 302, 334, 340, 343, 346, 355, 363, 370, 376, 402.

This district crosses county lines; however, the vast majority of its area is in Yavapai Co. The district is a feldspar, bismuth, mica mining area that is now idle except for systematic collection of specimens at one larger former mine. It is located about 7 miles East of Wickenburg and 8 miles North of Morristown.

The district contains a swarm of lithium-bearing and non-lithium-bearing pegmatites, some carrying bismuth mineralization, and a wide range of phosphates. There are also some non-pegmatitic mineral deposits within the district. Some of the pegmatites contain crystals of constituent minerals to many feet long.