The Iron Mountain District, also known as the Iron Springs District, is a large, high-grade iron depositBullock, K. C., 1970, Iron Deposits of Utah, Utah Geological and Mineral Survey Bulletin 88, 102 pgs. in southwestern Utah, near Cedar City. It is currently in care and maintenance status (not actively producing iron ore) by CML Metals Corporation, a division of Palladon Ventures and Luxor Capital. Previous owners include

Geneva Steel Geneva Steel was a steel mill located in Vineyard, Utah, United States, founded during World War II to enhance national steel output. It operated from December 1944 to November 2001. Its unique name came from a resort that once operated nearby on ...

and

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

. The district is made of three primary

topographic Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scie ...

highs along an approximately 17 mile lineament: Iron Mountain to the southwest, Granite Mountain in the middle, and

The Three Peaks ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

in the northwest.

Mineralization Mineralization may refer to: * Mineralization (biology), when an inorganic substance precipitates in an organic matrix ** Biomineralization, a form of mineralization ** Mineralization of bone, an example of mineralization ** Mineralized tissues are ...

in this district occurred as rings around the highs as a skarn, a replacement of existing carbonate rock material with high-grade

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

, mostly in the form of high-grade (>50%Fe in places) magnetite, but also locally

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

. Minor pyrite is also present. Hot fluids are sourced from mid- Tertiary

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

s, which core all three areas. Magnetite and hematite occur as replacements in the Jurassic limestone around three Laramide orogeny, quartz monzonite porphyry, laccolith

s. The iron ore was discovered by a Mormon scouting party in 1849, and furnaces were established in Cedar City in 1852, and then Old Irontown in 1868, to produce

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...

. Total production by 1965 from the district was 72,136,297 long tons of iron ore. Major areas of iron deposits and their associated mines/pits/ore bodies include: * Iron Mountain **Blowout **Blackhawk **Comstock **Mountain Lion **Tip Top **Pinto **Chesapeake **Excellsior ** Homestake * Granite Mountain **Desert Mound **Queen of the West *Three Peaks

References

External links

* Geography of Iron County, Utah Iron mines in the United States {{mining-stub