Written by EPS Graduate Student Zak Jibrin
On the last day, after many days of talks, posters, and scientific conversations at the MSA conference in Tucson, Lindsay and I were ready to ditch the science halls for the field. We set out into southern Arizona’s Empire Mountains to hunt for wulfenite from the aptly named Total Wreck Mine. We quickly learned that the name was warranted!
Finding the mine was the first part of the adventure. In Lindsay’s rental Jeep, pavement gave way to rough, rocky desert as we navigated branching rocky roads through yucca-covered hills. With each turn, we wondered whether we were still headed toward the mine or just driving deeper into the Arizona backcountry. Eventually, black oxidized tailing piles on the hillside confirmed that we had finally found it.
The "Total Wreck" is more than just a colorful name. The deposit was discovered in 1879 by John T. Dillon, who reportedly described the shattered-looking hillside as “a total wreck.” By 1881, a 70-ton mill was processing rich near-surface silver-lead ore. Beneath it, miners developed about 5,000 feet of shafts, drifts, inclines, and stopes reaching approximately 500 feet below the surface. Many of which are now actually A TOTAL WRECK! We descended 3 stories through the accessible levels, but no deeper for safety.
At the timber-supported opening, the bright desert sun gave way to pitch-black darkness. We put on gloves, headlamps, N95 respirators, and walked in. Our lights
revealed brecciated and altered limestone, iron-oxide staining, calcite, cellular quartz, and tons of separate alteration events.
Our target was wulfenite, PbMoO₄, which crystallizes in the tetragonal system and forms in the supergene oxidation zones of lead-bearing deposits. “Bladed” is often used casually, but the classic habit is more precisely described as thin tabular plates: square to rectangular crystals dominated by the basal {001} face with beveled corners. At Total Wreck, translucent yellow-orange plates occur on an extremely DELICATE iron-rich matrix associated with mimetite and jarosite.
Searching required patience and great care. We examined vugs and exposed cleaved surfaces, sweeping and hoping for the inviting bright orange flash of a crystal face under our headlamps. The crystals were incredibly brittle, only about 2.5 to 3 on the Mohs scale, and their wafer-thin habit made extraction unforgiving. Even a nearby hammer strike could shatter an otherwise perfect platelet. We probably destroyed thousands of dollars in wulfenite before learning the field-collecting version of “don’t count your chickens before they hatch”: do not celebrate a specimen until it is safely out of the mine! (Some destroyed were of museum quality! 🥲)
That said, I would love to see our department create a display case dedicated solely to minerals collected by faculty, staff, and students. Each piece has a story and reflects the passion within this wonderful department. Together, they would create a visible record of our travels, collaborations, curiosity, and department history.
