Malone / Knight Peak
Deposit type & geology
Base-metal quartz veins (galena-sphalerite-chalcopyrite) with minor gold.
41 mineralized quartz veins in Burro Mountains granitic/metamorphic terrane.
Age: Not independently dated in sources reviewed.
Structural geology & terrain
Vein/structure orientation: 41 veins, N45–85°W, most productive veins 3–5 ft wide
Named controlling structure: Malone Fault (west boundary, dips ~N70°E) and Taylor Fault (east boundary, dips SW)
Elevation range: 6,539–6,602 ft (minor source conflict)
Tilted fault block with a steep SW scarp and gentler NE dip slope; juniper/pinyon, semi-arid.
High-resolution terrain
~6 m/pixel lidar-derived hillshade (USGS 3DEP) — fine enough to reveal old mine workings, waste-rock piles, trenches, and roads the statewide terrain layer can’t show.
Historical production
~$300,000 total value in gold and minor silver, 1885–1956 (thediggings.com, cross-checked against district operating dates).
Sources: thediggings.com (secondary aggregator, flagged); USGS Bull. 1348 (Johnson 1972) researched — see sources
Current status
Inactive; no verified current activity, though recent claim markers have reportedly been spotted. Santa Fe Gold Corp held related claims historically but its more recent activity has focused on other Grant County districts.
Recency not verified
Recent claim markers reportedly spotted on the ground, but no operator, filing, or date could be confirmed.
Land ownership & directions
U.S. Forest Service land — open to mineral entry under the 1872 Mining Law, but surface use is regulated by the Forest Service and may include wilderness-adjacent or sensitive-area restrictions.
Gila National Forest, near White Signal, NM. Southern Big Burro Mountains.
See specimen photos (mindat.org) → — this app doesn’t host specimen photos itself; this searches mindat.org’s own mineral-specimen database, which isn’t necessarily specific to this exact district.
This pin is a generalized district/historic-site reference point, not a surveyed claim boundary — routes may cross private or patented inholdings where public access isn’t guaranteed even if a road reaches the site. Backcountry mine areas commonly have unmarked shafts, unstable ground, and no cell service; confirm current access and safety conditions (land manager, county, or landowner) before heading out.
Tailings reprocessing potential
Base-metal (galena-sphalerite-chalcopyrite) veins processed by older (1885–1956) mills with gold only a minor byproduct.
This is a documentary heuristic, not assay data.The tier above is inferred from historic production era, processing method, and ore character already cited elsewhere on this page — nobody has sampled or assayed this district’s tailings as part of this research. Actual recoverable gold content can only be established by physical sampling.
Reprocessing tailings is regulated mining. Disturbing or reprocessing historic mill waste requires the same NM Mining Act permitting as new mining (see the regulatory companion guide), regardless of who currently holds the claim or surface rights — and ownership of the tailings material itself is a separate legal question from mineral rights on the underlying land.
Legacy tailings can be hazardous. Pre-modern processing commonly used mercury (amalgamation) or cyanide (heap leach), and can carry elevated arsenic and other heavy metals — not a casual sampling target, and disturbing contaminated material can carry real environmental liability.
Geologist’s read
A genuine but minor base-metal-dominant district where gold was always a secondary credit — useful as a lower-tier comparable, not a primary target. Naming note: USGS Bulletin 1348 (Johnson 1972) refers to this same area as the "White Signal district," and a separate MRDS spatial sweep this session independently surfaced a "White Signal District" (DIS068) as a candidate addition — these appear to be the same place under two names rather than genuinely distinct districts, but this has not been fully resolved; treat White Signal as an alias for this entry, not a separate one, until confirmed otherwise.