Sunflower Mining District (Mazatzal Mountains Mining District; Quicksilver Mining District), Mazatzal Mountains, Gila County, Arizona, USAi
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
34° North , 111° West (est.)
Estimate based on other nearby localities or region boundaries.
Margin of Error:
~39km
Type:
KΓΆppen climate type:
Mindat Locality ID:
31579
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:31579:2
GUID (UUID V4):
d1946942-33b5-4a0c-a69b-ddac752d8ba5
This is a mercury mining area located in T5-7N, R8-10E, in the Mazatzal Mountains, principally on the eastern slope, but also on the western slope in Maricopa County. The district is named after the Sunflower Mine, one of the prominent mines in the district. Production ceased about 1955.
The quicksilver deposits of the Sunflower District are lodes, which in general conform to the lamination of the schist in which they lie. In the southwestern part of the quicksilver belt three approximately parallel lodes are recognized. These are from 300 to 500 feet apart. The middle or Packover lode appears to be the longest and the best metallized and is the one on which nearly all development work has been done.
The lodes consist of veinlets, films, and specks of cinnabar in schist and as a rule have no definite walls. Associated with the cinnabar, particularly in the larger veinlets, is more or less gangue. The usual gangue-forming minerals below the zone of oxidation are calcite; a buff ferruginous carbonate, probably of variable composition, which leaves a residue of limonite on weathering; and quartz. Some barite is reported. Sulfides other than cinnabar are rare within the veinlets, although small crystals of pyrite closely associated with flecks of cinnabar are fairly abundant in some of the schist near veinlets. A very little chalcopyrite was noted. Globules of native mercury occur with some of the cinnabar.
Most of the veinlets or stringers lie in the cleavage planes of the schist and range from mere films to veins 6 inches thick. Stringers over an inch thick are exceptional. In some places stringers cut across the schistosity. As a rule the veinlets interleaved with the schist are not individually persistent for more than a few feet; they thin out and are succeeded by others. Many of the stringers that cut across the schists are very irregular in course and width. The abundance of the cinnabar veinlets and the total width of the metallized zone vary greatly from place to place.
Although the individual veinlets are not persistent, the Packover lode as a whole is traceable with reasonable certainty for at least 3 miles (5 km).
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region.Mineral List
Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities16 valid minerals.
Detailed Mineral List:
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
Group 1 - Elements | |||
---|---|---|---|
β | Mercury | 1.AD.05 | Hg |
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
β | Chalcocite | 2.BA.05 | Cu2S |
β | Metacinnabar | 2.CB.05a | HgS |
β | Chalcopyrite | 2.CB.10a | CuFeS2 |
β | Cinnabar | 2.CD.15a | HgS |
β | Stibnite | 2.DB.05 | Sb2S3 |
β | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
β | 'Tennantite Subgroup var. Mercury-bearing Tennantite' | 2.GB.05 | Cu6[Cu4(Zn,Fe,Hg)2]As4S13 |
β | '' | 2.GB.05 | Cu6(Cu4C2+2)As4S12S |
Group 3 - Halides | |||
β | Calomel | 3.AA.30 | [Hg2]2+Cl2 |
β | Eglestonite | 3.DD.05 | [Hg2]2+3OCl3(OH) |
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
β | Hematite | 4.CB.05 | Fe2O3 |
Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates | |||
β | Calcite | 5.AB.05 | CaCO3 |
β | Siderite var. Mg-rich Siderite | 5.AB.05 | (Fe,Mg)CO3 |
β | 5.AB.05 | FeCO3 | |
β | Azurite | 5.BA.05 | Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 |
β | Malachite | 5.BA.10 | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates | |||
β | Baryte | 7.AD.35 | BaSO4 |
Group 9 - Silicates | |||
β | Muscovite | 9.EC.15 | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
β | var. Sericite | 9.EC.15 | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
Unclassified | |||
β | 'Clay minerals' | - | |
β | 'Chlorite Group' | - | |
β | 'Limonite' | - |
List of minerals for each chemical element
Localities in this Region
- Arizona
- Gila County
- Mazatzal Mountains
- Sunflower Mining District (Mazatzal Mountains Mining District; Quicksilver Mining District)
- Mazatzal Mountains
- Gila County
- Arizona
- Gila County
- Mazatzal Mountains
- Sunflower Mining District (Mazatzal Mountains Mining District; Quicksilver Mining District)
- Mazatzal Mountains
- Gila County
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North America
- Sonoran DesertDesert
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Basin and Range BasinsBasin
- Great Plains DomainDomain
USA
- Arizona
- Tonto National ForestForest
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