A Cu-Ag-Pb-Zn-Au-W-Mo mining area located in T10-12S, R14-16E on the North slope of the Santa Catalina Mountains, about 35 miles NE from Tucson. Only the southern portion of this district lies in Pima County. The remainder is located in Pinal County to the North.
Mineralization is varied: (1) Irregular copper sulfides with local disseminated scheelite in pyrometasomatic replacement deposits in folded and faulted Paleozoic limestone intruded by Laramide quartz diorite to quartz monzonite intrusives; (2) Irregular lead, zinc and copper sulfides, with minopr oxidation products, in pyrometasomatic replacements along a fault in Cambrian Abrigo Formation near Laramide quartz diorite intrusive; and, (3) Quartz veins with spotty gold or scheelite mineralization in Precambrian or Laramide metamorphics or intrusives.
The metalliferous mineralization in the Pima County section of this district occurs mainly in and around the Marble Peak area, where strong skarn or tactite replacements have developed in the pyrometamorphosed Paleozoic limestones, along with veinlets and disseminations of chalcopyrite, bornite, and locally scheelite. Lamprophyre, alaskite and quartz dikes and veins cut both the intrusive and metamorphosed formations and sometimes are closely associated with the sulfide mineralization. The copper mineralization appears to be localized by the intrusive contact, structural faults and fractures, and by the selective replacement of favorable limestone beds. The Abrigo Formation limestone seems to be especially receptivbe to skarn development and copper mineralization. Oxidation and enrichment are very minor since erosion has kept pace with any weathering action.
Workings include numerous relatively shallow adits, tunnels, pits and shafts worked sporadically since the early 1900's. Total production up through 1972 has been some 136,000 tons of ore containing about 3,000 tons of Cu, 94 tons of Pb, 25 tons of Zn, 118,000 oz. of Ag and 387 oz. Au.
Workings include shaft, pit, and tunnel operations.
References
The Resources of Arizona - A Manual of Reliable Information Concerning the Territory, compiled by Patrick Hamilton (1881), Prescott, AZ: 46.
Tenny, J.B. (1928), Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 125 - The Mineral Industries of Arizona: 76.
Moore, B.N., et al (1941), Geology of the Tucson quadrangle, Arizona, USGS Open-file Report.
DuBois, R.L. (1959), Petrography and structures of a part of the gneissic complex of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, Arizona Geological Society, Southern Arizona Guidebook II: 117-127.
Fair, C.L. & Jinks, J.E. (1961), Santa Catalina foothills fault in the Pontotoc area, Arizona Geological Society Digest, vol. 4: 131-133.
Peterson, N.P., and Creasey, S.C. (1943) Some copper deposits in the Old Hat mining district, Pima County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report [unnumbered], 13 p., 13 sheets, scales 1:360, 1:600, and 1:1,200.
Wilson, E.D. (1961) Gold Placers and Placering in Arizona. Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 168 (revised 1978): 61-62.
Keith, Stanton B. (1974), Arizona Bureau of Geology & Mineral Technology, Geological Survey Branch Bull. 189, Index of Mining Properties in Pima County, Arizona: 130 (113 ?) (Table 4).
Arizona Bureau of Mines file data.
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