Latitude: 33°6'11"N
Longitude: 109°21'14"W
A former underground Cu-Ag-Mo-Gypsum mine located on 5 patented claims totalling 99 acres, in the NW¼NW¼ sec. 10, T4S, R29E, on the SE side of Standard Gulch which runs north of Markeen Mountain and into Chase Creek, 1.0 mile SE of the Metcalf site and 1.0 mile NE of the center of the Morenci open pit, on private land. Discovered in 1875 by the Arizona Copper Syndicate. Produced 1903-1911. Owned by the Phelps Dodge Corp., Morenci Branch (1952-____). Former operators included the Standard Consolidated Copper Co.; the Standard Copper Mines; and the Detroit Copper Mining Co. of Arizona.
Mineralization is an irregular ore body associated with Morenci Granite Porphyry. The ore zone is 1.22 meters wide. The contact of granite porphyry and granite country rock lies ¼ mile to the SE. The ore body is entirely contained in porphyry rock. Irregular ore bodies extend into porphyry from fissure vein. No well-defined vein is visible on the surface. Ore control was a NE-trending fissure. Ore concentration process was mineralizaton along a fissure vein as a result of metasmatic activity, with a secondary enrichment blanket. Alteration is oxidation to an unknown depth, chloritization of biotite, and extensive hydrothermal alteration.
Area structures include part of the First Great Fault Block south of the Coronado Massif; closely massed joint systems trending NE; and a fissure system trending NE. Monzonite porphyry is leached, whitened, and decomposed; fissures veins occur, in large, of impregnated and shattered porphyry.
Tectonic component is the first great fault block south of the Coronado Massif and the transition zone between the Basin and Range and Colorado Plateau Provinces.
Workings include 2 tunnels; a winze sunk from the lower tunnel; over 1.0 mile of underground workings.
References
Lindgren W. (1905) The Copper Deposits of the Clifton-Morenci District, Arizona. USGS Professional Paper 43.
Stevens, P. (1908) The Copper Handbook, Vol. VIII: 1264-1265, Standard Consolidated Copper Co.
Stevens, P. (1909) The Copper Handbook, Vol. IX: 533, Clifton Copper Mines, Ltd.
Stevens, P. (1911) The Copper Handbook: Vol. X: 1599, Standard Consolidated Copper Co.
Weed, W.H. (1914) The Copper Handbook: Vol. XI: 316-318, Detroit Copper Mining Co. of Arizona.
Butler, B.S. & Wilson E.D. (1938), Some Arizona Ore Deposits, Clifton-Morenci District, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 145.
Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of Arizona: 54.
Keith, Stanton B. (1969), Gypsum, in USGS & Arizona Bureau of Mines, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation 1969, Mineral and water resources of Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 180: 371-385.
Bennett (1975) Geology and Origin of the Breccias in the Morenci-Metcalf District, Greenlee County, Arizona, MS thesis, University of Arizona, 153 pp.
University of Arizona Bull. 41 (1916-17), Mineralogy of Useful Minerals in Arizona: 44.
U.S. Bureau of Mines - Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mining Technology file data.
U.S Bureau of Land Management District Map #839.
MRDS database Dep. ID #10048130, MRDS ID #M800162; and Dep. ID #10048290, MRDS ID #M800419; and Dep. ID #10109837, MRDS ID #M800160.
Mineral List
8 entries listed. 6 valid minerals.
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