FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Rich Loose]

I have wanted to visit this locality for years. I recently found a New Mexico Bureau of MInes report on the quarry operation from 1946 and it included a hard to read but accurate map of the location of the claims. Unfortunately, the road to the quarry is now blocked by a New Mexico State Wildlife Refuge with the mandatory sign about "No Ricolite Hunting". So I walked down the main arroyo below the locked gate and found a few small pieces of the material. It is essentially a banded Serpentine and comes in yellows, white, and green. The green and white striped variety is probably the most sought after. The quarry has not been worked much since 1947 or so. The nearby town of Red Rock is now pretty much deserted but there are a few isolated ranch houses. The valley of the Gila River is a nice green path through an otherwise very dry desert zone.

Rich Loose