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Map showing areas with potential for garnet resources in bedrock and placer in the Blacktail Mountains and the Gravelly, Greenhorn, Ruby, and Snowcrest ranges of southwestern Montana

January 1, 1998

Garnet crystals, some of gem quality, have been sought by rock hounds for many years in the alluvial deposits of the Alder Gulch-Ruby River area. Since 1995, garnet have been extracted from these gravels for industrial products at two separately own placer mines in the region: (1) at Cominco American's "Ruby Garnet" operation at Alder , Montana and (2) at the "Sweetwater Garnet" operation in the Sweetwater Basin of the Ruby Range. The two placer mines excavate different types of garnetiferous deposits, but both produce sized concentrates of almandine garnet derived from similar source rocks. 

Publication Year 1998
Title Map showing areas with potential for garnet resources in bedrock and placer in the Blacktail Mountains and the Gravelly, Greenhorn, Ruby, and Snowcrest ranges of southwestern Montana
DOI 10.3133/ofr98224A
Authors Bradley S. Van Gosen, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Karl S. Kellogg, Richard B. Berg
Publication Type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Series Title Open-File Report
Series Number 98-224
Index ID ofr98224A
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Eastern Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center