Asbestos in the Allamoore Talc District, Hudspeth and Culberson Counties, Texas

The Allamoore district of Hudspeth and Culberson counties, Texas, has become one of the most significant talc-producing areas of the United States. Exploitation of talc deposits in the district began in 1952 with a cumulative production of 120,000 tons through 1957 (Flawn, 1958). With continued growth, annual production exceeded 160,000 tons in 1968, making the district second only to New York State in national output, Moderate- to large-sized deposits have been developed with near-surface parts inexpensively extracted. Talc reserves are estimated in the tens of millions of tons. Long-fiber asbestos was first found in association with talc deposits of the Allamoore district in 1960 during exploratory drilling of what became the Buck claim, Small amounts of asbestos were noted in subsequent development of this large talc deposit. Later, small amounts of white asbestos were encountered in the T. & P. No. 1 mine and... at the Neal-Mann prospect (fig. 1). Early in 1971, Albert Gregory of Van Horn, Texas, discovered an asbestos deposit now known as the Diablo prospect. Subsequently, the Van Horn Soapstone and Talc Corporation was formed and preliminary exploratory work at the prospect indicated the possible presence of commercially exploitable amounts of asbestos. This evaluation of asbestos deposits is based on a current study of the stratigraphy, structure, and mineral deposits of the talc district.