Rowley Mine, Theba, Painted Rock Mining District, Painted Rock Mountains, Maricopa County, Arizona, USAi

Regional Level Types
Rowley Mine	Mine
Theba	Village
Painted Rock Mining District	Mining District
Painted Rock Mountains	Mountain Range
Maricopa County	County
Arizona	State
USA	Country

A former Cu-Pb-Au-Ag-Mo-V-baryte-fluorspar occurrence/mine located in secs. 24 & 25, T4S, R8W, G&SRM, on the western edge of the Painted Rock Mountains and approximately 27 miles west and north of Gila Bend. Discovered in 1900. Started about 1909. Last produced in 1923. Owned by Jack Rowley Fedrick (circa 1952).

Mineralization is the Rowley vein. The structure is a 4,000-foot fault zone that strikes N30º-37ºW with quartz vein on the footwall and baryte vein on the hanging wall; NE-SW-striking shear zone which may represent a fault with Tertiary volcanics to NW and Precambrian schist to SE. Ore control is quartz veins cutting andesite.

Flat-lying Tertiary andesite flows underlie the Jack Rowley claims and the adjoining San Carlos claims. A fault striking 30ºN to 37ºW and dipping 37º to 50ºE. cuts these rocks and extends about 4,000 feet across the claims. Mineralized segments of the fault comprise the Rowley vein, and one segment, about 800 feet long, is exposed on the Rowley claims. The Rowley vein consists of two distinct and adjoining veins in the same fault structure - a quartz vein in the footwall and a barite vein in the hanging wall.

The quartz vein has a fairly uniform width of about 5 feet in the main shaft and on the 125 foot level for a distance of about 370 feet. The footwall contains no fault gouge or breccia. A few widely spaced tight fractures cut the vein and extend a few feet into the andesite. The vein is massive; nowhere is it brecciated or greatly fractured. There is no gossan or leached zone in or near the vein and no evidence of a zone of enrichment at depth.

Massive quartz and a minor amount of jasper compose most of the vein material, but a small amount of specular hematite and sparse grains of pyrite are present. Some of the quartz is rust-colored from small amounts of hematite and limonite that occur both as inclusions and as stains from weathering of iron minerals in the andesite. Several persistent bands of malachite and chrysocolla, 1 to 2½ inches (2.5 to 6.25 cm) thick, occur within the quartz. These minerals also occur for distances as much as 3 feet along isolated fractures that cut the vein and extend into the andesite. Small pockets of high-grade oxide copper ore and a small amount of chalcocite have been reported.

The barite vein in the hanging wall of the Rowley vein structure ranges from 15 to 30 feet in thickness. Its contact with the quartz vein is sharp and regular, whereas the hanging wall is very irregular. Gouge, 4 inches (10 cm) thick, separates the barite from a 3 to 4-foot zone of fractures and slightly brecciated andesite. Inclusions of andesite are present in the vein within 10 feet of the hanging wall. Baryte usually occurs as masses of stringers parallel to the strike of the vein, although some of the stringers are contorted and even bend through an arc of 180º.

Galena is associated with the baryte. One pod 5 inches in diameter was seen, and reportedly pods of galena were once mined. Small amounts of calcite are also present.

Molybdenum minerals are present in both the quartz and barite veins near their common contact. Ferrimolybdite forms a thin partial coating on the walls of the main shaft from the surface to a depth of 50 feet. At greater depth, small stringers containing minute crystals of wulfenite are present in the shaft walls. Some of the stringers cut through the narrow bands of malachite and chrysocolla.

Workings included the main inclined shaft (the No. 1) at 265 feet deep, an inclined shaft (the Jones Shaft), at 125 feet deep, and a vertical shaft 163 feet deep. There are also perhaps as much as 1,850 feet of drifts. The 125-foot level followed the vein for 370 feet.

NOTE: The Rowley Mine is on private property. Trespassing for collecting, or any other activities, either on the surface or underground, without the permission of the leaseholders, is strictly prohibited.

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Link to USGS MRDS:	10008298

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