Famous Mineral Localities: The Hpex Mine, San Carlos, Chihuahua, Mexico

摘要

The San Carlos replacement deposit of argentiferous galena lies in desert country in east-central Chihuahua, in the Municipio of Manuel Benavides, about 20 air-kilometers southwest of the international border at the Rio Grande and 60 km southeast of the point where the Conchos River joins the Rio Grande at the twin border towns of Ojinaga (Chihuahua) and Presidio (Texas). Because the orebody lies "like a saddle blanket" (Hewitt, 1970) across the top of an anticlinal ridge rising 300 meters above the surrounding plain, the lead mine which once operated there was called the Apex mine; however, in print sources as well as in collectors' casual discourse, it is much more frequently referred to as the San Carlos mine, after the nearby village of San Carlos.