Spring Mine group (Kaiserdoom group; Kaiserdoom claims; Black Bitch Mine), Alamo District, Buckskin Mts, La Paz Co., Arizona, USA

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‡Ref.: Jones, E.L., Jr. & F.L. Ransome (1920), Deposits of manganese ore in Arizona, USGS Bull. 710-D: 183-184.

Wilson, E.D. & G.M. Butler (1930), Manganese ore deposits in Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 127: 102-103.

Long, W.J., et al (1948), Concentration of miscellaneous oxide manganese ores from Yavapai, Yuma, Maricopa and Mohave Counties, Arizona, U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4291.

Lasky, S.G. & Webber, B.N. (1949), Manganese resources of the Artillery Mountains region, Mohave County, Arizona, USGS Bull. 961.

Farnham, L.L. & L.A. Stewart (1958), Manganese deposits of western Arizona, US Bureau of Mines Information Circular 7843: 70-71.

Hewett, D.F., et al (1963), Deposits of the manganese oxides: supplement, Economic Geology: 58: 1-51.

Keith, Stanton B. (1978) State of Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mineral Technology, Geological Survey Branch Bull. 192, Index of Mining Properties in Yuma County, Arizona: 115 (Table 4).

Arizona Bureau of Mines file data.

Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd. ed.: 288, 338.

MRDS database Dep. ID file #10027654, MRDS ID #M003696; and, Dep. ID #10186413, MAS ID #0040120297; and, Dep. ID #10259317, MAS ID #0040120447.

A former surface and underground Mn mine group located in the West-central & East-central sec. 21 & the NW ¼ & South-central sec. 22, T11N, R11W, in benchland on the South side of the Santa Maria River, 40 miles west of Congress Junction, on BLM-administered land. Discovered on May 2, 1918 by W.M. Whipple & L.M. Watson. Owned at times, or in part, by Evans, Fisher, Hare, Brown, Stovall, Ramsing and Linton.

Mineralization is a replacement deposit of psilomelane and pyrolusite ores in grit and clay in flat-lying, overlapping, lenticular layers and sheet-like seams, 4 to 12 feet thick, in Tertiary sedimentary beds. Manganifeous beds underlain by shale and overlain by volcanic ash, basalt and alluvium. Some disseminated nodules. The ore zone is extensive and variable in grade. Thge ore replaces the cement of the sand or grit and occurs also in layers of pure psilomelane as much as 6 inches (15 cm) in the clay below the grit and in disseminated nodules and thin sheets in the clay beds. The manganese ore occurs at the top of the lower series, in the grit member and in the clay bed which underlies it. The grit member is from 1 to 5 feet (0.3 to 1.5 meters) thick and the clay bed about 10 feet (3 meters) thich. The ore occurs for about 1,200 feet (400 meters) following the sinuosities of the outcrop of the grit.

The benchland on the South side of the Santa Maria River is composed of the base of greenish & yellow shale, which may grade horizontally & vertically into red & reddish-brown sandstone, red clay, grit and conglomerate. Above this series are white volcanic ash beds, a basalt flow, and then loose gravel & conglomerate beds to the top. The formations strike in general NW & dip about 10ºSW.

The manganese ore occurs at the top of the lower series in the grit member and in the clay bed, which underlies it. The grit memebr is from 1 to 5 feet thick and the clay bed about 10 feet thick. The ore occurs for about 1,200 feet following the sinuosities of the outcrop of the grit. The ore replaces the cement of the sand or grit by psilomelane and occurs also in layers of pure psilomelane as much as 6 inches (15 cm) thick in the clay below the grit and in disseminated nodules and thin sheets in the clay beds.

Deposit was discovered in 1918. Workings consist of 2 short tunnels about 10 feet long each and an open pit, mined from 1953 through 1958. More than 90,000 long tons of 4-5% Mn ore were produced, which was milled to more than 8,000 long tons of 25% Mn. Some select 40% Mn ore was also produced.

Mineral List

Limonite

Manganite

'Psilomelane'

Pyrolusite

4 entries listed. 2 valid minerals.