The Arkansas cinnabar area as it is now defined is limited principally to Pike County but also extends into Howard and Clark counties. The cinnabar occurs principally as fracture fillings in steeply-dipping Mississippian sandstones and is believed to be of hydrothermal origin. At least 34 separate occurrences have been discovered up to the present time. Most of these lie very nearly in a straight line about 20 miles in length which nearly coincides with a stratigraphically located anticlinal axis. Of the remaining deposits, all but two are apparently related to a fault crossing this axis. At present there are two areas in which there are important mining operations, one located approximately 7.5 miles north of Murfreesboro and the other located approximately 5 miles south of Amity, both in Pike County. Up to April 9, 1932, two companies had produced a total of 1,981 pounds of quicksilver. One company has been operating since April 21, 1932, on a 24-hour basis.

*Includes: 51 pages, 38 plates

Download text pdf (19.5 MB)

Plate 3 (3.43 MB)

Plate 4 (1.44 MB)