Latitude: 32°45'6"N
Longitude: 110°29'21"W
A former underground Cu-Ag-Au-Pb-Mo-Ba(Bartye) mine located in the N½ sec. 10, T8S, R18E (Oak Grove Canyon 7.5 minute topo map), approximately 1,000 feet (300 meters) west of the Childs-Adwinkle Mine, about 1¼ miles W of Copper Creek (ghost town), on Copper Creek (stream), and about 10 miles East of Mammoth. Produced 1890-1981. Also known as / designated: Arizona Mining Co. of Bisbee property; Patented claims MS 4059; Copper State Metals property. Additional names which apply to this property: Clark-Scanlon Mine; Clark Mine.
Mineralization is a mineralized breccia pipe structure hosted in Glory Hole Volcanics (hornfels from andesite) and the Copper Creek Granodiorite. Alteration includes sericitization. Ore control was the breccia pipe and veins near the contact of the granodiorite and andesite tuff. Alteration includes the highly silicified central part of the pipe (silicification).
The original (conventional) mine workings are now obscured by subsequent mining operations. Apparently a local (within the narrow canyon) railroad, apparently of narrow gauge, serviced this mine as well as the area of the underground workings of the Childs-Adwinkle Mine in the adjacent peak.
The most recent mining efforts involved an attempt to mine this deposit in situ by drilling the mineralized areas of the breccia pipe and using a single large blast of some 20 tons of explosives to shatter the rock. An acid leaching operation was installed on the terraced mountain slopes afterward. The attempt was allegedly a failure due to an inadequate copper content of only some 0.5% Cu. The operation left the entire mountain side scarred and stained yellow by the sulphur from the H2SO4, destroyed most of the specimen value of the deposit, and obliterated most of the original, conventional mine workings.
Assay data: Cu average 2.71% (range 2.13-4.06%). Concentrate assayed 17.81% Cu, 17.26% Fe, 20.52% S and 42.10% insolubles. Mixed oxide-sulfide ore from the 100 level assayed 3.65% Cu. Sulfide ore from the 100 level assayed 1.20% Cu. Ore in raise from 100 level to surface averaged 0.86% Cu (range 0.22-2.17% Cu).
References
Weed, W.H. (1913) Mining and Engineering World: 38: 375-378.
Tenny, J.B. (1927-1929) History of Mining in Arizona, Special Cllection, University of Arizona Library & Arizona Bureau of Mines Library: 329-333.
Kuhn, T.H. (1941) Pipe deposits of the Copper Creek area. Economic Geology: 36(5): 512-522.
Denton, T.C. (1947a), Old Reliable copper mine, Pinal County, Arizona, US Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4006.
Galbraith, F.W. (1947), Minerals of Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 153: 24.
Wilson, E.D., et al (1951), Arizona zinc and lead deposits, part II, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 158: 56-65.
US Atomic Energy Commission Preliminary Reconnaissance Report 172-488 (1953): 35.
Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of Arizona: 45, 57, 60, 72.
Simons, F.S. (1964), Geology of the Klondyke quadrangle, Graham and Pinal Counties, Arizona, USGS PP 461: 158-168.
Greeley (1978) Arizona Department of Mineral Resources Special Report #2.
Elevatorski, E.A. (1980) Arizona Industrial Minerals: 53.
Phillips, K.A. (1987), Arizona Industrial Minerals, 2nd. Edition, Arizona Department of Mines & Minerals Mineral Report 4, 185 pp.
Peirce, H. Wesley (1990), Arizona Geological Survey Industrial Minerals card file.
Niemuth, N.J. & K.A. Phillips (1992), Copper Oxide Resources, Arizona Department of Mines & Mineral Resources Open File Report 92-10: 15 (Table 1).
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.
Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd. ed.: 117, 161, 167, 277, 302, 316.
Economic Geology: 36: 512.
U.S. Bureau of Mines - Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mining Technology file data.
U.S. Bureau of Mines War Minerals Report #275.
USGS Oak Grove Canyon Quadrangle map.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management Mining District Sheet 741.
Arizona Department of Mineral Resources Old Reliable Copper Mine file.
Arizona Department of Mineral Resources Magma Chief Mine file.
Arizona Department of Mineral Resources U files.
Arizona Department of Mineral Resources Ranchers Expl. active file.
U.S. Bureau of Mines - Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mining Technology file data.
Economic Geology: 36: 512.
Yale Peabody GNIS database (NOTE: this database is derived from USGS 1:24,000 topographic map data).
MRDS database Dep. ID #10103740, MRDS ID #M050126; and Dep. ID #10109778, MRDS ID #M241186; and Dep. ID #10113856, MAS ID #0040211040; and Dep. ID #10161716 MAS ID #0040210037.
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