Mercur Mine, Tooele County, Utah USA. Field Trip #167

Mercur is a very historically colorful mining ghost town (1870’s) located in Tooele County, Utah, USA. The nearby Mercur Gold Mine is an interesting place not only for Gold, but for Thallium, and Arsenic Minerals. I used to hike the area as a child, and as a young man, we’d go four wheeling on the dumps, and go shooting in the area. The Mercur Gold Mine was re-opened by Barrick Gold in 1985. We had a club field trip but little was found except for some Orpiment and some Jarosite. It was difficult finding good specimens as everything was pretty oxidized. We finally found a newer dump where we found some fresh clean specimens. At this time they had not dug down to the Silver and Cinnabar area, so when they do we’ll be back.