Beebe Hole Mine, Tule Mountain (Mount Tule; Tulley Mountain), Jacumba, Jacumba District, San Diego Co., California, USA

• Display
  • Standard
  • Detailed
  • By Strunz Category
  • By Dana Category
• Photos
  • Mineral Photos (15)
  • Add Photo
• Maps
  • Map Pages
  • Nearest Localities
• Search
  • Mineral Search
  • Search Google

A pegmatite occurrence/mine located 9.1 km (5.7 miles) WSW of Dos Cabezas and 11.8 km (7.3 miles) NNW of Jacumba.

Summary:

A 12- to 15-ft-thick pegmatite dike strikes north 22 degrees west, and is exposed intermittently for about 1/2 mile in schist and quartzite. Faulting of the dike has caused the dip to range from 5 degrees to 60 degrees southwest. Pockets within the dike have gem minerals of quartz, goshenite, aquamarine, and kunzite. In addition to gem minerals, minor concentrations of lithiophilite, cassiterite, cleavelandite, columbite/tantalite, black tourmaline (schorl), and mica were observed. Most pockets are filled with montmorillonite clay. Pockets range in size from a few inches to several feet; with three to five pockets commonly occurring within these zones of enrichment.

Workings & Production:

Three adits, each less than 20 feet long, and one open cut. According to Loren Beebe's co-partner Fred Stevens, $500.000 in gem quality kunzite was produced from pockets found between 1974 and 1986. He further stated that several thousand dollars of aquamarine was produced during the early 1980's.

Sample Data:

According to the USGS, it is highly probable that additional gem-bearing pockets will be found in this deposit. No samples were taken in 1986 for analysis. Four zones with multiple pockets within the pegmatite were observed to contain small quantities of gem-quality aquamarine, kunzite, and quartz.

References

Kunz, George Frederick (1905a), Gems, jewelers’ materials, and ornamental stones of California: California Division Mines Bulletin 37, 171 pp.: 26-27.

Merrill, Frederick James Hamilton (1916), San Diego, Imperial Counties: California Mining Bureau. (Report 14): 14: 635-743; […(abstract): Geol. Zentralbl., Band 27: 395 (1922)]: 703-705.

Tucker, W. Burling & Charles H. Reed (1939), Mineral resources of San Diego County: California Division Mines (Report 35): 35(1): 37-38.

Weber, F.H., Jr. (1963a), Mines and mineral resources of San Diego County, California; California Division of Mines and Geology, County Report 3, 309 pp.: No. 6, ,p. 11.

U.S. Bureau of Mines Open File Report MLA 23-85 (1985): Table 1, No. 6, p. 11.

Todd, V.R. et al. (1987). Mineral Resources of the Sawtooth Mountains and Carrizo Gorge/ Eastern McCain Valley Wilderness Study Areas, San Diego County, California. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1711-B, 26 p., maps.

Moore, P. B., 2000, Analyses of Primary Phosphates from Pegmatites in Maine and Other Localities, in V. T. King (editor), Mineralogy of Maine. Mining History, Gems, and Geology, Maine Geological Survey, Augusta, Maine, p. 333-336.

Mineral List

Albite var: Cleavelandite 'Apatite' Beryl var: Aquamarine var: Goshenite var: Morganite

Cassiterite Columbite Fluorapatite Herderite ? Hydroxylherderite Lithiophilite 'Mica Group'

Microcline Montmorillonite Muscovite Purpurite Quartz Schorl Spessartine

Spodumene var: Kunzite Tantalite 'Tourmaline'

25 entries listed. 15 valid minerals.