Johnson Mine (Johnson pit; Burro pit; Climax shaft; Johnson Camp Mine; Cyprus Johnson deposit), Johnson Camp, Cochise District, Little Dragoon Mts, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA

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A former medium output surface and underground Cu-Ag-Pb-Au-Zn-W-Mo-Be-Wollastonite mine located in the SE ¼ sec. 23 and sec. 26, T.15S., R.22E. (Dragoon 7.5 minute topo map), ½ mile NNE of the town of Johnson. Discovered 1880. First produced 1881. Operated at times, or in part, by the Johnson Copper Development Co.; the Coronado Copper & Zinc Co. (1973); and the Cyprus Johnson Copper Co. (1988). Owned and operated by Arimetco International, Inc. (1994).

Mineralization is copper carbonates with some bornite in pyrometasomatic replacement deposits and in tactite in Cambrian Abrigo, Mississippian Escabrosa, and Pennsylvanian Horquilla limestones. An associated rock unit is the Texas Canyon Quartz Monzonite. Ore control was favorable beds intersected by faults and the protrusions of Texas Canyon Quartz Monzonite into sedimentary rocks. Ore concentration included 30% enrichment by supergene processes; oxidation. Alteration was quartz veining of quartz monzonite with muscovite-silica-pyrite and argillic envelopes; sericitization. The ore zone is bedded and tabular at 610 meters long, 200 meters wide and 700 meters thick, striking N45W and dipping 37E. Copper carbonates occur at surface and copper sulfides at depth. Significant ore bodies may occur at depth where favorable beds of the Abrigo formation make up the hanging wall of the Republic Fault. Most of the ore came from replaced beds in Abrigo and Escabroza Formations. Assay data: ^ 12.5% Cu (1905); ^4 oz Au/St, 1.67% Cu, 6.1% Zn (1984).

Local structures include NW Tertiary block faulting including the Republic Fault. Massive fracture systems trend Ne, E, and NW.

Workings includes shaft(s). The property was opened by a 460 foot deep shaft and a 640 foot winze which is sunk on a 40 degree angle. An 18 foot sulfide vein carrying 1% Cu was opened in the winze in 1992. Workings total 365.76 meters long and 259.08 meters deep. There were heap and dump leaching operations. Capacity was 30,000 pounds of Cu per day. A total of 207 tons of ore were produced intermittently from 1901 to 1930.

References

Scott, W.A. (1916b) Mining operations at Johnson, Arizona: Mining and Engineering World (Chicago): 45: 141-143.

Cooper, J.R. (1950) Johnson Camp area, Cochise County, Arizona, in Arizona zinc and lead deposits, Part I: Arizona Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 156: 30-39.

Cooper, J.R. & L.T. Silver (1964), Geology and Ore Deposits of the Dragoon Quadrangle, Cochise County, Arizona, USGS PP 416: 172.

Keith, Stanton B. (1973), Arizona Bureau of Geology & Mineral Technology, Geological Survey Branch Bull. 187, Index of Mining Properties in Cochise County, Arizona: 57 (Table 4).

Argall, George D., Jr. (1976) Copper Oxides to Copper Cathode - New Cyprus Johnson Operation. World Mining Magazine: 29(9): 48-51.

Clayton, Robert L. (1977) Alteration and Mineralization of Cyprus Johnson Deposit (unpublished).

Clayton, R.L. (1978) Alteration and mineralization of the Cyprus Johnson deposit, Cochise County, Arizona, in Jenney, J.P., and Hauck, H.R., editors, Proceedings of the Porphyry Copper Symposium, Tucson, Arizona, March 18-20, 1976: Arizona Geological Society Digest: 11: 17-24.

Greeley (1978) Arizona Department of Mineral Resources Special Report #2.

Peirce, H. Wesley (1990), Arizona Geological Survey Industrial Minerals card file.

Walenga, Karen (1990) New SX-EW Facilities to Start Up by September. Paydirt Magazine, southwest edition, July, 1990: 4A-6A.

Niemuth, N.J. & K.A. Phillips (1992), Copper Oxide Resources, Arizona Department of Mines & Mineral Resources Open File Report 92-10: 5 (Table 1).

Phillips, K.A., Niemuth, N.J., and Bain, D.R. (1992) Active Mines in Arizona – 1993: Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources Directory 40, 25 pp.

Sawyer, M.B., Gurmendi, A.C., Daley, M.R., and Howell, S.B. (1992) Principal Deposits of Strategic and Critical Minerals in Arizona, U.S. Bureau of Mines Special Publication, 334 pp.

Arizona Department of Mines & Mineral Resources (1994) Directory of Active Mines in Arizona, Incorporating Sand and Gravel Operations - 1994: Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources Directory 42, 24pp.

Singer, D.A., Berger, V.I., and Moring, B.C. (2005): Porphyry Copper Deposits of the World: Database, Map, and Grade and Tonnage Models. USGS Open-File Report 05-1060.

MRDS database Dep. ID file #10039384, MRDS ID #M050007; and, Dep. ID #10160924, MAS ID #0040030042; and, Dep. ID #1016108, MAS ID #0040030289.

Mineral List

Aurichalcite Azurite Biotite Bornite Calcite Chalcocite Chalcopyrite 'Chlorite Group' Chrysocolla

Cuprite Diopside Epidote Fluorite Galena Goethite Hematite Jarosite Kaolinite

Limonite Magnetite Malachite Molybdenite Montmorillonite Muscovite var: Sericite Powellite Pyrite

Scheelite Sphalerite Tenorite Tetrahedrite Titanite Tremolite Wolframite Wollastonite

35 entries listed. 30 valid minerals.