The Iron Mountain District, also known as the Iron Springs District, is a large, high-grade iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 deposit in southwestern Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, near Cedar City. It is currently owned and operated by Iron Bull Mining and Milling, a division of Palladon Ventures. Previous owners include Geneva Steel

Geneva Steel

Geneva Steel was a steel mill located in Vineyard, Utah, founded during World War II to enhance national steel output. It operated from December 1944 to November 2001...

 and U.S. Steel

U.S. Steel

The United States Steel Corporation , more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada, and Central Europe. The company is the world's tenth largest steel producer ranked by sales...

.

The district is made of three primary topographic highs along a ~17 mile lineament

Lineament

See also Line A lineament is a linear feature in a landscape which is an expression of an underlying geological structure such as a fault. Typically a lineament will comprise a fault-aligned valley, a series of fault or fold-aligned hills, a straight coastline or indeed a combination of these...

: Iron Mountain

Iron Mountain (Utah)

Iron Mountain, in southwestern Utah, is the namesake of Iron County, Utah. Its summit is above sea level and is located at . It has a long history of iron mining, in the form of magnetite and hematite. Mining at this site goes back to Brigham Young and Mormon pioneers in the 1850s. The early...

 to the southwest, Granite Mountain in the middle, and Three Peaks in the northwest. Mineralization

Mineralization (geology)

In geology, mineralization is the hydrothermal deposition of economically important metals in the formation of ore bodies or "lodes".The first scientific studies of this process took place in Cornwall, United Kingdom by J.W.Henwood FRS and later by R.W...

 in this district occurred as rings around the highs as a skarn

Skarn

Skarn is an old Swedish mining term originally used to describe a type of silicate gangue, or waste rock, associated with iron-ore bearing sulfide deposits apparently replacing Archean age limestones in Sweden's Persberg mining district. In modern usage the term "skarn" has been expanded to refer...

, a replacement of existing carbonate rock

Carbonate rock

Carbonate rocks are a class of sedimentary rocks composed primarily of carbonate minerals. The two major types are limestone, which is composed of calcite or aragonite and dolostone, which is composed of the mineral dolomite .Calcite can be either dissolved by groundwater or precipitated by...

 material with high-grade iron ore, mostly in the form of high-grade (>50%Fe in places) magnetite

Magnetite

Magnetite is a ferrimagnetic mineral with chemical formula Fe3O4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group. The chemical IUPAC name is iron oxide and the common chemical name is ferrous-ferric oxide. The formula for magnetite may also be written as FeO·Fe2O3, which is one part...

, but also locally hematite

Hematite

Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is the mineral form of iron oxide , one of several iron oxides. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum...

. Minor pyrite

Pyrite

The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...

 is also present. Hot fluids are sourced from mid-Tertiary

Tertiary

The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...

 intrusion

Intrusion

An intrusion is liquid rock that forms under Earth's surface. Magma from under the surface is slowly pushed up from deep within the earth into any cracks or spaces it can find, sometimes pushing existing country rock out of the way, a process that can take millions of years. As the rock slowly...

s, which core all three areas.

Major areas of iron deposits and their associated mines/pits/ore bodies include:

• Iron Mountain
  Iron Mountain (Utah)
  Iron Mountain, in southwestern Utah, is the namesake of Iron County, Utah. Its summit is above sea level and is located at . It has a long history of iron mining, in the form of magnetite and hematite. Mining at this site goes back to Brigham Young and Mormon pioneers in the 1850s. The early...
  
  
  • Blowout
  • Blackhawk
  • Comstock
  • Mountain Lion
  • Tip Top
  • Pinto
  • Chesapeake
  • Excellsior

• Granite Mountain
  • Desert Mound
  • Queen of the West
  • Homestake

• Three Peaks