Calvert Hill Mine

Calvert Hill Mine — also called the Calvert Mine, Calvert Tungsten Mine, or Red Button Mine — is a real, well-documented tungsten skarn deposit in the West Pioneer Mountains of Beaverhead County, Montana, near Wise River.[1][2] It produced scheelite ore from 1956–1957 and again 1960–1962, roughly 113,000 tons at 1.10% WO3.[1][2] The old open pit has since flooded into a roughly 30-meter-deep lake.[2] What makes this one worth knowing about for a rockhound is the specimen match: the skarn's gangue minerals are garnet and epidote, and beryl (aquamarine's mineral species) occurs alongside the scheelite ore — matching this database entry's listed specimens almost exactly.[1] The catch is access: nobody who's written about this mine recently states who owns the ground or whether visiting/collecting is currently permitted, so treat this as a "confirm before you go" site rather than a known-open one.

The mine sits in the northern West Pioneer Mountains, roughly 40 miles southwest of Butte, near the community of Wise River.[1] Coordinates place it in the Big Hole Basin area of Beaverhead County. No specific driving directions to the mine site itself were found in this research pass — the surrounding Pioneer Mountains are reached via the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway out of Wise River, which is managed as part of Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.[3] Expect a Forest Service backroad approach and check current road conditions before heading out.

UNVERIFIED, general inference: dump-picking at old skarn tungsten mines like this typically means sorting waste rock (garnet, epidote) for included minerals rather than digging fresh ore. The flooded pit itself is a real hazard — a 30-meter-deep water-filled excavation is not something to approach casually, especially with kids.[2] No source describes current surface conditions, what's actually loose and collectible today, or whether the site has been picked over.

Land status here is UNVERIFIED. The mine is inside the broader footprint of Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, which administers public land throughout the Pioneer Mountains and even runs a separate, well-known fee rockhounding site (Crystal Park) elsewhere on the same scenic byway.[3] But nothing found in this research confirms whether the Calvert Hill Mine parcel itself is Forest Service surface, a patented (privately owned) mining claim, or something else — many historic Montana tungsten mines from this era sit on claims that were patented decades ago. Confirm ownership and current access before visiting, and stay well back from the flooded pit.