Anita Mine (MS 6859), Hiriart Mountain (Heriart; Heriot; Hiriat Hill), Pala District, San Diego Co., California, USA

"Anita"
—Spanish, from the Latin 'Anna', meaning "Gracious".

Located in the S2 Sec. 24 T9S R2W SBM, the mine is near the base of the northwest slope of Hiriart Mountain. The Anita pegmatite dike is exposed over an area of several thousand feet in the center of the claim (Anita Lode MS 6859). Reports mention the shallow workings as producing gem minerals including spodumene, beryl and quartz. Petalite is also noted to occur. The deposit was developed by several shallow cuts and minor underground workings.

The deposit was located by Bernardo Hiriart and Pedro Peiletch in 1901 as the second of three claims made by the two Basque Frenchman between 1901 and 1902. Not long after the date of the Anita location, the surrounding vacant public lands were temporarily withdrawn and removed from mineral entry under the United States land and mineral laws pursuant to Secretarial Order dated January 24, 1903. This order was a temporary withdrawal pending acquisition of all private inholdings, including valid existing rights, for the benefit of the Pala Tribe, under Indian tract allotment pursuant to the Act of January 12, 1891.

In 1906, George F. Kunz described the development of the Anita mine as several test cuts which yielded quartz crystals, lepidolite, and good pink kunzite. The mine was later acquired by Jim R. Fouch, head of the Universal Microphone Company of Inglewood. Fouch mined the deposit between 1943 and 1945. These workings were described around 1947 by Edward Swoboda as a cut into soft weathered pegmatite and surface slump. Here the pegmatite averaged 12 feet thick, with gabbro noted on the hangwall contact. The pegmatite hangwall was noted as coarse graphic granite.

The "huge beryl pocket" was described as albite-pegmatite rich in microcline as the possible core zone. The beryl was noted to occur within cavities of mica, feldspar and smaller crystals of quartz with cleavelandite rosettes. The beryl crystals measured 1/4 inch to 3" diameter as prisms up to 5 inches long, although mostly smaller. Peach colored morganite, some with cleavelandite. On the north wall of the main beryl stope was described cavities filled with bluish-black tourmaline prisms, and much tourmaline in the graphic rock. The north portal was described as quartz-spodumene pegmatite, with individual altered pink spodumene crystals averaging 1/2 x 1 inch, and up to 3 x 7 inches. The dumps were noted to contain pink spodumene needles and prisms.

Fouch sold the claim to George A. Ashley in 1947. Ashley then sold the claim to Charlie E. Reynolds of Escondido in 1948, whom subsequently sold it around 1958 to William Woynar, Harold Noble and William Granzow of San Diego, California.

In 1973, Pala International of Fallbrook developed a joint venture mining project involving the Anita mine and began working the deposit. The surface workings were expanded by using a D-8 Caterpillar track-type dozer, and the underground workings were extended for a short distance. Although moderately successful, these mining operations had ceased by 1978.

In the early 1990's the Secretary of the Interior, through the delegation to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), investigated the bona fides of the mining claim to determine any encumbrance of an allotment application (trust patent) filed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on behalf of the Pala Tribe on June 19, 1980. The claim was adjudicated and in September of 1992 it was declared invalid from the beginning, or void ab initio. The land is now managed for the benefit of the Pala Band of Mission Indians by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

References:

Jahns, R. H. and Wright, L. A. 1951. Gem and Lithium-bearing pegmatites of the Pala District, San Diego County, California. California Division of Mines special report 7A: 72 p.

Kunz, G. F. 1905. Gems, jeweler's materials, and ornamental stones of California. California State Mining Bureau bulletin 37: p. 86.

Kunz, G. F. 1906. The Production of Precious Stones in 1905. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Division of Mining and Mineral Resources. GPO, Washington: pages 26-27; 40 pp.

Pala International, Inc. 2007. A brief synopsis on mining operations by Pala Properties International, of Fallbrook, CA; at www.palagems.com.

Swoboda, E. R. 2001. Pala district 1946-48: Unpublished field notes and personal interviews. Swoboda Inc., Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, CA; 5/2; 8 p.

Todd, W. R. & Waiwood, R. M. 1996. Mineral Report: Validity Examination of the Katerina Lode; Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of the Interior, Oct. 30; 71 p., maps/plats, photos, legal/technical data.

Weber, F. H. 1963. Geology and mineral resources of San Diego County, California. California Division of Mines and Geology, County Report 3: p. 98.