Arkansas Common Minerals

Agate

Bauxite

Barite

Clear Quartz

Photo courtesy of Mineral Information Institute: Aluminum & Bauxite

Bauxite

Clear Quartz

Diamond

Gypsum

The novaculite in the Arkansas Novaculite Formation is a siliceous rock mined primarily for use as oilstones or "whetstones", and as abrasives for industrial applications. It is also utilized as an aggregate for railroad ballast, roadstone, and concrete. Native americans had utilized novaculite for arrowheads and other tools in past times. Historically, the first use of the term "whetstone" was in reference to stone from Arkansas. The earliest record of a novaculite whetstone quarry in the Ouachitas was in 1818. Novaculite is a very hard and dense very fine grained sedimentary and almost pure silica (SiO2) material. Carbonate (CaCO3, which occurred in conjunction with the silica structure of the novaculite) that has been leached out plus the physical characteristics of the microscopic grains of silica themselves, makes novaculite the preferred whetstone material for quality sharpening of knives, surgical instruments, and other tools for both domestic and industrial purposes. Only about 5 percent of the blocks quarried for whetstones end up as finished stones. Varieties of whetstone novaculite include hard "Arkansas Stone" and the similar but more porous "Ouachita or Washita Stone". Novaculite from the lower part of the Lower Division of the Arkansas Novaculite Formation is mined on the Caddo Ranger District and on private lands near Hot Springs, Arkansas. Whetstone quality novaculite is currently mined on the Caddo Ranger District in T5S R26W Sec. 6 (Hall #1).

Tripoli occurs in the upper part of the Arkansas Novaculite Formation as a soft, fine grained, loosely coherent, high purity silica (SiO2) that readily breaks and is easily reduced to a fine powder. It is the result of calcium carbonate that has been leached from the Upper Division of the Arkansas Novaculite with the remaining recrystalized silica resulting in material that is now categorized as tripoli. Deposits of tripoli occur on the Caddo and Mena Ranger Districts. However, the only currently active tripoli mine is located on private land in T2S R18W Sec.21 just east of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is being mined by Malvern Minerals Company. The Company sells the tripoli under the trade name "Novacite" for a very pure (over 99% SiO2) tripolitic material. According to company literature, 75 percent of the tripoli mined is used as a filler or extender, the remaining 25 percent is used in specialized abrasive applications.

Agate

NO IMAGE AVAILABLE

Novaculite

Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/ouachita/natural-resources/minerals/otherminerals.shtml

Barite is a sulphate of barium and is characteristically a heavy, relatively soft mineral with a high specific gravity. It occurs primarily in the Stanley Shale Formation and occasionally in the middle Arkansas Novaculite. Barite is crushed and ground for use in well-drilling muds (over 90% of barite is utilized by the oil and gas industry), paint, filler in rubber, plastics, glass, and for manufacture of barium chemicals. For a period of time during the 1940's into the 1960's, Arkansas lead the nation in barite production.

Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/ouachita/natural-resources/minerals/otherminerals.shtml

Coal in the Hartshorne, McAlester, and Savanna Formations is present primarily on the Cold Springs, Poteau, and Choctaw Ranger Districts in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The northern portions of the Poteau and Cold Springs Ranger Districts are within the "Arkansas Valley Coal Field". Coal has been actively mined from aproximately three acres on the Poteau Ranger District in T3N R32W Sec. 5, 6, and 7 between 1970 and 1979. Inquires into the availability of this deposit were received by the Forest early in 1988. Coal exploration on the Poteau Ranger District occurred between 1978 to 1981 in T3N R31W and R32W. Identified reserves of coal are present just off and to the north of the Choctaw Ranger District near Heavener, Oklahoma. A proposal to develop Federal coal reserves within 3 1/2 miles north of the Forest boundary in T5N R25W Sec.25 of Oklahoma, was evaluated by the USDI-BLM Oklahoma Resource Area in October 1988.

Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/ouachita/natural-resources/minerals/otherminerals.shtml

Manganese is essential for the production of steel, its primary use, and is also important in the production of aluminum and cast iron. Manganese mineralization generally occurs through the Arkansas Novaculite Formation in the Mena, Caddo, and Womble Ranger Districts. THe primary manganese-bearing minerals are psilomelane and pyrolusite with lesser occurrances of manganite, lithiophorite, wad, and braunite. In the 1950's (particularly from 1955-59) the Federal Government initiated a manganese stockpile purchase program that stimulated prospecting for and development of manganese on and adjacent to the Forest. Production from mines developed during this period ceased in 1959 when the purchase program ended. Manganese mines were productive on the Womble, Caddo, and Mena Ranger Districts during the brief 1950's manganese mining period. The major producers were on the Caddo and Womble Ranger Districts. However, the bulk of the exploration activity occurred on the Caddo and Mena Ranger Districts. Arkansas is reportedly one of the five most significant areas in the United States with important manganese resources (Higgins, 1983).

Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/ouachita/natural-resources/minerals/otherminerals.shtml