The Foote Mine has been closed to collecting for many years, and most of the dumps and workings have been reclaimed.

UPDATE 24 March 2019: The Foote Mine and its operations are now under the ownership of the Albemarle Corporation. Collecting of any kind is now strictly prohibited on the entirety of the property. Signs are posted and violators will be prosecuted.

A former opencast Li-Sn-Be-Nb-Ta-mica-stone (crushed/broken) occurrence/mine. Started about 1938 and owned by the Foote Mineral Co.

Mineralization is a lithia-bearing granite pegmatite (quartz-microcline-spodumene pegmatite), hosted in the Cherryville Quartz Monzonite, schist, and amphibolite. Famous for a variety of rare phosphates and silicates.

Local structures include the Kings Mountain Belt.

Information on the dumps:

"The 'east dump' is primarily oxidation zone material that was dumped between 1955 and the early 1980s, but other material was added as space was needed.

The 'north dump' (which since 2015 is covered by a park) was primarily low-grade spodumene pegmatite and albitite tertiary gangue, but oxidized zone material was also added as it was encountered.

Nearly all the oxidation zone phosphates were collected on the 'east dump'. This includes the type earlshannonite, kingsmountite, mangangordonite, ferraioloite, footemineite, kayrobertsonite, etc., but many of these minerals can also be found along the outside rim of the inactive pit in oxidized pegmatite, which is why adding a second locality is redundant.

This was a very large open-pit operation, and there are many other smaller dumps in addition to the main two mentioned here. The reason so many type species were found on the 'east dump' is only because it was readily accessible and had the highest concentration of oxidized material.

Lithiomarsturite, tetrawickmanite and other species were originally collected on the 'north dump'."

(Jason B. Smith, https://www.mindat.org/mesg-14-447979.html)