Abstract: The Farlin Creek Wilderness Study Area (MT-076-034) is in the south-central Pioneer Mountains about 24 miles west-northwest of Dillon, Beaverhead County, southwestern Montana. At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an area of 610 acres (less than 1 square mile) was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1984. The area contains no mines or prospects, no visible evidence of mineralization, and no identified mineral resources. Geophysical evidence suggests that three parts of the area have moderate mineral resource potential for undiscovered resources of molybdenum. The entire area has a low resource potential for all other metals and for all nonmetals, fuels, and geothermal energy.

From abstract: A mineral resource survey was conducted in 1987 by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines to evaluate mineral resources (known) and mineral resource potential (undiscovered) of the Sleeping Giant Wilderness Study Area (MT-075-111) in Lewis and Clark County, Montana. The only economic resource in the study area is an inferred 1.35-million-ton reserve of decorative stone (slate); a small gold placer resource is subeconomic. A high resource potential for decorative slate exists directly adjacent to the area of identified slate resource and in the northeastern part of the study area. The rest of the study area has a low potential for decorative slate. The westernmost part of the study area has a moderate resource potential for copper and associated silver in strata-bound deposits in green beds and limestone; potential is low in the rest of the study area.