A former underground Cu-Ag-Pb-Zn-Au-Mn-V mine located in sec. 12, T2S, R12E, about 0.4 miles below Apache Leap, about 2 miles SE of Superior, on private land. Discovered in 1899 by A.J. Daggs. Developed principally by the Calumet and Arizona Mining Co. during 1913-14; the North Butte Mining Co., 1923-24; the South Sndicate, 1924; and the Belmont Copper Mining Co., 1925-28; and the Consolidated Holding and Trust Co. (1925). Owned by the Magma Copper Co. (1976). Operated by Mr. Charles H. Smith. Pr oduced until 1945. Also known as / designated: Unpatented claims MS 3093, 3094, and 3095; Patented and unpatented claims MS 2838; and the Lone Star MS 3096 patented claim. Claims extend into sec. 11. The property included 120 unpatented and 12 patented claims in 1976. The original group of claims were known as the Daggs group. Additional names which apply to this property: Consolidated Holding and Trust Co. property
Mineralization is hosted in Escabrosa Limestone and Martin Limestone. Ore control was NE-trending faults crossing Escabrosa and Martin Limestones. and an intersection with NW-trending faults. An associated rock unit is diabase.
Ore bodies strikes N70W, dip 30E, and are 1.52 meters thick, 4.57 meters wide, and 21.34 meters long. The ore in the outlying, near-surface mines is completely oxidized. Ore minerals are chlorargyrite, silver, gold, malachite, azurite, and cerussite, with a little wulfenite and vanadinite. It commonly occurs with limonite and sugary to massive gray or greenish-yellow quartz. These deposits occur as lenticular shoots along intersections of east-west faults with the upper beds of Escabrosa limestone. Distinct zoning occurs in the Eureka vein.
Most of the development has been along a strong fissure vein, the Eureka. Its outcrop, highly stained with iron and manganese oxides, is just north of the Belmont shaft. Some near-surface gold-silver ore was mined from it.
The ores were formed chiefly by replacement of the sattered walls of the Eureka fault zone. Open-space filling was not common. On the 1150 and 1450 levels the wall rock is shattered diabase, but on the 1000 and 1600 levels Mescal limestone blocks occur in diabase. On the 1000 and 1150 levels the vein is developed for several hundred feet along its strike. I ranges from 2 to 5 feet in width and is mineralized by pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, and acanthite. On the 1450 level the vein was deveoped for 730 feet along its strike. From the Belmont 1450 level the Sandal vein of the Grand Pacific Mine was developed for 1,300 feet along its strike. It is a fissure vein from 1 to 5 feet wide characterized by weak mineralization with base metal sulphides and strong silicification of the diabase walls. On the 1600 level the Eureka vein was developed for over 2,000 feet along its strike. Mineralization on this level is weaker than on those above. The wall rocks are highly silicified and the vein contains minor amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. Mineralization is strongest where both walls are diabase. Westward the vein feathers out and becomes indefinate; at a point 900 feet west of the shaft it could not be located.
Local features include the NW-trending Iron Cap Fault;, and the NE-trending Eureka and Sandal Faults. Regional features include the NW-trending fault systems, NE-trending fault sstems, overlain by Pennsylvanian Naco Limestone, Escabrosa Limestone, and Martin Limestone.
Workings include a 1,600 foot deep vertical shaft and approximately 30,000 feet of underground development, plus some 50,000 feet of diamond drilling. The main shaft (Belmont shaft) developed the Eureka and Sandal Fault zones. Drifts off the main shaft were under the Lone Star, Ajax, Apex, Mountain View, Copper Bell, Iron Cap, Monte Carlo, Belmont, Touchnot, Rawhide, Pacific No. 1, and Pacific No. 13 claims. Additional workings on these claims and adjoining claims of the Belmont group included numerous tunnels and shafts. During 1934-42 lessees mined, principally on outlying claims, for silver, gold, and copper. Production for the property for 1926-38 was approximately 312,000 pounds of Cu, 268,000 ounces of Ag, and 4,670 ounces of Au, valued in all at $245,000 (period values). The amount of Pb produced is not stated. During 1926-27, 200 tons of ore averaging 50 oz. Ag, 0.35 oz. Au, 2% Pb, and 3% Zn were mined on the 1150 level. 1931 a lessee mined 30 tons from the 140 level which assayed at 38% Pb, 2% Cu, 11 oz. Ag/T, and .06 oz. Au/T.
Guild, F.N. (1917), A microscopic study of the silver ores and their associated minerals, Economic Geology: 12: 297-353.
Ransome, F.L. (1920), Deposits of manganese ore in Arizona: Bisbee and Tombstone districts: USGS Bull. 710: 164.
Tenney, J.B. (1928), The mineral industries of Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 125: 65.
Bateman, A.M. (1929), Some covellite-chalcocite relationships, Economic Geology: 24: 424-439.
Tenney, J.B. (19 ), The mineral industries of Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 129: 56.
Elsing, M.J. and Heineman, E.S. (1934) USGS Bulletin 140: 99.
Harcourt, G.A. (1942), Tables for the identification of ore minerals by X-ray powder patterns, American Mineralogist: 27: 63-113.
Short, M.N., et al (1943), Geology and ore deposits of the Superior mining area, Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 151: 154-158.
Galbraith, F.W. (1947), Minerals of Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 153: 15, 16, 18, 19, 23, 27.
Romslo, T.M. & S.F. Ravitz (1947), Arizona manganese-silver ores, US Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4097.
Wilson, E.D., et al (1950), Arizona zinc and lead deposits, part I, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 156: 94-96.
Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of Arizona: 42.
Farnham, L.L., Stewart, L.A., and Delong, C.W. (1961), Manganese deposits of eastern Arizona, US Bureau of Mines Information Circular 7990: 124-126.
USGS Mineral Investigations Field Studies Map MF-253 (1962).
Wilson, E.D., Cunningham, J.B., and Butler, G.M. (1934), Arizona Lode Gold Mines and Gold Mining (revised 1967), Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 137: 170.
Morimoto, N. & A. Gyobu (1971), The composition and stability of digenite, American Mineralogist: 56: 1889-1909.
Barnes, R. & M. Hay (1983), Famous mineral localities: The Magma Mine, Mineralogical Record: 14: 72-82.
Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd. ed.: 100, 170, 163, 229, 377.
U.S. Bureau of Mines - Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mining Technology production file data.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management Mining District Sheet #609.
Arizona Department of Mineral Resources file data.
MRDS database Dep. ID #10088908, MRDS ID #M899889; and Dep. ID #10210657, MAS ID #0040210158.
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