A former small surface and underground Cu-Ag-Pb-Zn-Au-As mine on a group of 8 unpatented claims (Sunnyside, Volcano, Climax, Horseshoe, Farrell, Union Leader, Lucky Strike, and Old Man) located in east-central (SW¼SE¼) sec. 6, and in the center E½NE¼ sec. 7, T.23S., R.16E. (protracted) (Lochiel 15 minute topo map), 1¼ miles SW of the January Mine and 2½ miles west of Harshaw, on the upper part of Alum Gulch, just N of the Thunder and Standard Mine group, at an elevation of about 5,800 feet, on National Forest land. Located in 1897 by R. Farrell. Produced 1897-1954. Owned/operated at times, or in part, by Farrell (1897- ); L.D. Ricketts of Cananea (early 1912- ); Lenon & Vasquez; the Santa Cruz Copper Co.; Lee Farrell and A. Olander; J.W. Wingfield; Cananea Copper Co.; and, Strong & Harris. Diamond Drilling was under contract to the Metler Brothers Drilling Co. The Volcano Mine is the principal mine of the group.
The deposits are contained mainly in a NW-trending mineralized shear zone about 200 feet (60.9 meters) wide in granite porphyry, which trends N.50ºW. across the claims, and dips 70SW. This zone consists of belts of sheared and silicified country rock containing copper carbonates and minor tenorite and sulfides along a fault cutting the Laramide rhyolite conglomerate and porphyry. Monzonite (?) porphyry intrudes Mt. Wrightson Formation and is locally much al tered to quartz, sericite, kaolinite, alunite, pyrite and tourmaline. Minor gold occurs in malachite ore. A small pocket of black oxidized copper ore was encountered at a depth of 80 feet. Sulfide ores might exist below the oxidation zone, but mining has not penetrated to that depth.
To a depth of 40 feet the mineralized zone is composed largely of quartz carrying considerable copper carbonates, but below this depth the shaft passes through soft, earthy material containing a few small masses of siliceous rock and a larger amount of iron oxide than is seen at the surface. In all, surface ozidation is over 80 feet in depth. An associated rock unit is the Mt. Wrightson Formation.
Tectonic elements include the Thunder Mine Fault Block.
Workings are several shallow shafts to about 90 feet (36.5 meters) of depth (the inclined Volcano shaft [about 30 feet, dipping to the SW] and the Sunnyside shaft [90 feet]), and open cuts. Various stopes and drifts; shallow open cuts. The Volcano claim workings also include a 50-foot deep vertical shaft, a 550 foot long adit with crosscuts totaling 350 feet in length, a 77 foot raise from the adit up to the vertical shaft bottom. Diamond drilling, conducted on the property in 1954, reached a depth of 608 feet on the incline. Worked in the late 1890's and sporadically through 1953. Some 1,600 tons of picked ore averaged about 8% Cu, 1.6 oz. Ag/T, and minor Pb, Zn, and Au.
References
Schrader, F.C. & J.M. Hill (1915), Mineral deposits of the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains, Arizona, USGS Bull. 582: 254-256.
Kartchner, W.E. (1944) The geology and ore deposits of a portion of the Harshaw district, Patagonia Mountains, Arizona: Tucson, University of Arizona, Ph.D. dissertation, 100 p.: 96-97.
Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of Arizona: 27;
Simons, F.S. (1972) Mesozoic stratigraphy of the Patagonia Mountains and adjoining areas, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, in Mesozoic stratigraphy in southeastern Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 658-E, p. E1-E23 (E9).
Simons, F.S. (1974) Geologic map and sections of the Nogales and Lochiel quadrangles, Santa Cruz County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-762, 9 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:48,000.
Keith, Stanton B. (1975), Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 191, Index of Mining Properties in Santa Cruz County Arizona: 59 (Table 4).
Niemuth, N.J. & K.A. Phillips (1992), Copper Oxide Resources, Arizona Department of Mines & Mineral Resources Open File Report 92-10: 16 (Table 1).
Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 168.
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.
Singer, D.A., Berger, V.I., and Moring, B.C. (2008): Porphyry copper deposits of the world: Database and grade and tonnage models, 2008. US Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1155.
Rodriguez, B.D., and Sampson, J.A. (2010): Magnetotelluric Survey to Characterize the Sunnyside Porphyry Copper System in the Patagonia Mountains, Arizona. USGS Open-File Report 10-1171.
Lenon's map of Santa Cruz County.
U.S. Bureau of Mines - Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mineral Technology file data.
U.S. Bureau of Mines Coronado National Forest Study.
Arizona Bureau of Mines file data.
MRDS database Dep. ID file #10048335, MRDS ID #M899919; and, Dep. ID #10186399, MAS ID #0040230375.
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