Chrysotile

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Fibrous crystallized vein of chrysotile on matrix. The Salt River region in central Arizona, particularly around the rugged canyons of the Salt River Canyon and the Sierra Ancha district, is host to significant deposits of chrysotile. Historically, commercial mining operations in the area began in the early twentieth century, around 1913, and expanded to encompass over a hundred small mines and prospects that supplied critical fiber during periods of high industrial demand. Geologically, the chrysotile mineralization is hosted within the Precambrian Mescal Limestone, where hydrothermal alteration and contact metamorphism associated with diabase sills transformed the carbonate rock into serpentinized zones. This process formed cross-fiber veins of serpentine group minerals, yielding high-grade fiber along with associated minerals such as calcite and aragonite.