Manganese Deposits of Western Arizona I.C. 7843
I I I MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA I
BY L. L. FARNHAM AND L. A. STEWART I
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Information Circular 7843 I
I UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. WASHINGTON : 1958 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fred A. Seaton, Secretary BUREAU OF MINES , Morling I. Ankeny. Director
For rale by the Superintendent of Documents. U. S. Government Printing OfUce Washington 25. D. C. - - - - Price 45 cents CONTENTS
Page Summary and introduction ...... Description of deposits-Continued Acknonledgments...... I\Ioha\.e County-Continued Physical features and climate ...... Artillerv Mountains repion-Continued Psilomelane group.. -~...... Psilomelane h'o. 1...... Psilomelane No. 4 ...... - . . Black Jack ...... History and production ...... Plnncha Mountain group...... Denison grorip ...... Black Crow group (Xeilson) ...... Shoup group ...... Black Warrior No. I1 (Murlev)...... Blue Ridge claims...... Lnr;t Chance ...... Lost Apache claim ...... Blnck hIary ...... Heber district...... Polisbnitegroup ...... Johnson and Hnyden deposit ...... Black Mollie ...... hlaricopa County ...... American...... Aguila district ...... :. ....:.-- .... Ind~an...... History and production ...... Oversight.-...... Snmho Aguiln group ...... Other de osits ...... Black Crow (Atkins or Alendow) ...... MW Rnn~iiea;~...... oup ...... Cnstemdn...... VnlleyPumicef lew and Ynrnell groups ...... Black Burro...... Purple Pansy (Fugatt)...... Pilot Rock area ...... Kat Head...... Yucca (Ssnta Fe) ...... Black Rock group ...... Wickieup Queen (Emery group)...... Black Bart ...... Carrow prospect ...... Knahe No. 4 ...... Black Diamond ...... Roadside ...... ItV.- ...... Black Nugget (U. S. group) ...... Iatton) ...... Black Queen (Armour group) ...... posits ...... Black Sue...... Blue .rank district ...... Blnck Raven nnd Cmw groups (Pitte- Black Rock group...... Apacheburgh and grou g ) ...... Blind Child ...... ulcy claims (Gallagher and Black Dome ...... Flynn groups) ...... Black Buck ...... American ...... Cummings claims ...... Knahe No.8 ...... Fiscus and Mitchell claims...... Lions Den ...... Burmister mine (Black Magic) ...... Webb claims ...... Black Duke (Bob Allen claims) ...... hlohave County...... La McCoy group ...... History ...... Yuma County ...... Production ...... Northern Yumn County ...... Geology ...... War Eagle (Iron King group)...... Manganese occurrences ...... Black Crow group ...... Reserves ...... Lucky group ...... Artillery Mountains renion ...... Doyle mine (Last Resort) ...... hlohnve blining & hIiiling Co ...... Black Band (Manganese King group) -.. Priceless and Price groups ...... Black Bear ...... Priceless pit ...... S ring mine (Kaiserdoom group) ...... Mining methods ...... dangnnite.------..--- -.-- --. ------Pricc workings-...... Magnesite...... World Mnn~anese Corp. (successor to 'Bouse (Plomoaa) district ...... F. A. Sitton) ...... Blnck Bird ...... Black Hills group...... NeedleEye- ...... Laurella claims ...... Alamo Queen (Manganosite) ...... Linda I< ...... Black Diamond group ...... Black Chief ...... Black Eaele--. moun ...... Black Crust ...... Shannon------.------.-. Black Stud- ...... Lane Star...... Black Beauty claims ...... Blossom group...... Other clairrm ...... Concentrating plants POUP------.------~ ...... Bird Hudy ...... Cindy. ------Maggie mine ...... Bhck Hawk ...... Lake deposit----.-..---.------Black Beauty (Perry) ...... m CONTENTS
Description of depusits-Continued Description of deposits-Continued Y uma County-Continued Yuma County-Continued Ccntral Yunm Countr...... Central Yuma County-Continued Triuo district -.---...... -.-..-.- Trigo district~continued History and production ...-.....---. . 1.n Angora ...... Cibala ~roup-..--. -- ...... --. . Nntional Deht ...... Hess, Hcss, and Lilly claims .....-.-.. Hidden Trensure (.\lngic group...... Penuv--- B claim .----...... ---- Dreiser...... Triple H ...... Black Hawk (Livingston) ..-.....--.- Black Diamond group-...... -- Black Dahlia ...... --..--.-.- Andrus claims ..--...... --- hlontaya claims (Black Jack)...... -. Black Top .---...... --.----.- ABC claims (Self mine) .--...... Black King ---.-..-...... --.----.- Fools Folly -.-...-.--.--.----...... Sheep Tanks --...... ---.--..- Metate ...... Hovatter claims...... -...... -
ILLUSTRATIONS
Pi.
. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~- 5. Locatton". ma~.'~euilndistrict kannanese denosits...... 7. Manganese deposits of Mnhave County ...... 8. Panoramic view of Artillery Mountains ...... 9. I.urntion tnnp, mnjor nrt of Arlillery .\loul~tnins~~pion...... 10. Concrntr;,ting pinnr, ffolm\.e Alininn ct hlilling Co ...... 11. .\fill flotvshcct. hlulmvc hlininc & hli.litw Co ...... ~.~ 13. View of Priceless pit ...-...... -...... 14. Plan and section, McCregor it ...... 15. Plog and section, major iliac! DC&~workings...... -...... 16. Flowsheet of log-washing plant, World Manganese Corp ...... li. Concentrating plant, World Manganese Corp...... ~.... 18. Mill flowsheet, World Manganese Corp...... 19. Plan andsection.. Mnagie mine ...... 20. Plan and section, Lake pit ...... 21. 5lnngntlcse deprnits of Ynvnp:ti Counr?...... 22. Geologic and topogrnphic mnp, llt~rn~istermine......
23. hlanennese denozits of Yuma Countr...... ~ ~. 24. ~ketrhmnp, and section, Doyle' pit ...... 25. Location map, manganese deposits in Central Trigo hlountains. ...-.--..-----.-.-.-..-.--.-.----
TABLE
I. Arizona manganese production......
,. .. .. MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN
Summnv and Introduction
HIS PAPER is one of a series concerning the mineral resources of the Nation. It briefly describes most of the various known manganese de- Tposits of western Arizona, which for the purpose of this report is con- sidered to include the counties of Coconino, Maricopa, Xlohave, Yavapai, and Yuma. With very few exceptions, these descriptions are the result of field examinations by the writen. The location of the deposits is described by section, township, and range in surve ed nreas and by approximate projections of these subdivisions in un- surveyeiareas. The townsl~ipand range numbers refer to the Gila and Salt River base and meridian. This investigation was begun in March 1954, and during the following 2 ears a total of 115 deposits had been examined. The distribution of deposits counties is as follows: 7 in Coconino, 23 in Mnricopa, 32 in Mohave, 11 in avapal, and 42 in Yuma. The history, production, ownership, geologic setting, and mining methods are discussed for most of the deposits visited. Some deposits may have been overlooked, but all the principal ones have been .exnmlned. Some of the smaller deposits probably have been worked out smce they were visited, as most of them were producing when examined. The Bureau of Mines plans to descr~bethe manganese deposits in the remainder of the State in a later publication. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A1 ow~~e~sand lessees of the manganese properties were very cooperative in conducting the autlrors over their deposits and in ,furnishin mformation about them. Special nclinowlodgment is due the late R. I. C. %I'nnnmg,. Di- rcctor of the Arizona Dcpnrtrnont of Mil~crnlResources, and llis engioccn for help in locatin:: many of the deposits ill the field. The Bureau of Mines has endeavored to contact the omen of all deposits visited for tho purpose of obtaining permission to publish the information. - Owing to changes of addresses a few may have been missed. PHYSICAL FEATURES AND CLIMATE Arizona is divided physiographicnlly into the Mohave and Yavapai Counties and virtually Colorado Platcnu region in the northeast and all of Coconino County. the Basin and Range province in the south and The Desert region is characterized by nu- west. The latter is divided into the Mountain merous mountain ranges separated b plains region and tho Desert rcgion (fig. 1). The or valleys. The ranges usually treng north- Desert region of the Basin and Rnnge province west to north, rou@ly parallel to the edge of covem Yuma and much of Mnricopu County, the plntcnu, and rlso abruptly from plains or the Mountain or Highland region covers ilia valleys. Theso mountains generally are low, lower parts of Mollavo and Yavapni Counties, narrow, and very steep and silpport only sparse and the Colorado Plateau region covers upper vegetation. Broad desert plains probably form
Flo~ae1.-Map of Arizona. 3 i 4 MANGAHESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA over half of this region. The climate is very minimum 35.6'; the highest temperature was hot and dry; the annual precipitation in the llOa nnd the lowest -21'. At Kingman these Yumn area averages only 3.70 inches, whereas temperatures are 76.8", 46.1°, 117', and 6', re- Phoenix, farther east, averages 7.76 inches. spectively. Most of the higher mountainsin this In the Yoma Valley the menn mnximum region nre covered with timber. The altitude temperature is 86.7O and the mean minimum at Prescott is 5,389 feet and at Kingman 3,453 52.3' F.; the highest temperature was 117O feet. and the lowest 14'. At Phoenix these tempera- The Colorado Plateau region is composed tures are 84.3', 56.Z0, 118", and 16', respec- essentially of a bland rollin plateau cut by tively. The altitude at Yumn -is 138 feet; many deep canyons. The cf mate is cool, as Phoenix is 1,107 feet above sea level. the average nltitude pmbnbl is over 6,000 The Alountnin region forms a belt some 60 to feet. Annual precipitation at 6lagstaff is 21.12 100 miles wide between tho Desert and Plateau inches from ruin during the summer and con- regions and is composed chiefly of mountain siderable snow during the winter. Annual rangcs rith a few broad plaidilte valleys. Tho precipitation at Gmnd Canyon is 16.71 inches. climate is cooler tl~anthat of the Desert region, The mean mnximum temperature at Flagstaff as the nltitude is considerably higher. Annual is 60.S0, the menn minimum 30.g0, the high precipitation at Prescott is 18.76 inches and 10ZO, and the low -30'. At Grand Canyon at Kingman 11.14. At Prescott the mean these temperatures are 62.3', 34.Z0, 103O, and maximum temperature is 69.7" and the mean -22', respectively. The altitude at Flngstaff is 6,907 feet and at Grand Can on 6,930 feet. Much of the plntenu is covered t y a large pine forest. HISTORY AND PRODUCTION
The occurrence of manganese in Arizona bas (table l), but nfter World War I production been known for many years, but evidently no dropped. In the 1920's most of the production production was recorded until 1915, when came from the Bisheearen; n small amount cnmc manganese ore as such wns mined in the Tomb- from the Long Valley region of Coconino County stone, Bisbee, and Globe regions.' Before thnt and some from the Artillery Mountains region dntc it hnd boen mined with tlre silver ores ant1 of soutlrcnr Mohave Count This tnpcrcd off used as a smelter flnx. During 1016, 1917, and in 1930-31, and during t r1e depression yenrs 1018 considcrublo mnnguncsc ore was protlncetl 1932 Ll~rougl~1930 no oro wl~ntcvcrappears
TABLE1.-Arizona manganese production
I Long tons Year County I IC-35 Over 35 Total percent percent
-- Cochise. Do. Do. Cochise, hlaricopa, Pinal, Yuma, and Santa Cruz. (1). (3. (?). (3. (7).m. (1). Cochise. Do. Cochise, Maricopa, Mohave, and Coconino. Cochise, hlnrico a, and Coconino. Cochise and hloxave. hlnricopa. Cochise, Coconino, Mohave, and Yavapai. Gila, Pinal, and Mohave. Mohave, Coconino, and Gila. Do. Mohave, Gila, Cochise, Coconino, Pima, Yuma, Yavapai, and Santa Crux Pima, Coconino, Ynvapai, and Alohave. Coconino. Do. Do. Coconino and Gila. Do. ('0. Virtually all counties. Do. Do. MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA
to have been produced. Mining again was 15 to 35 percent Mn and 17,210 long tons ,
begun in 1940, when 311 long tons wnspmduced. containing over 35 percent. ' Production then increased to 13,149 long tons The Wenden depot was closed in May 1955, in 1943 (this included 445 lon tons of fluxing but the' Deming dcpot remained open through ore and 7,544 long tons of mil7 ore). Most of November 1955. The nationwide ' cnrlot" pro- the ore was produced in Mohnve, Coconino, gram of General Services Administration for and Gin Counties. purchase of domestic manganese ore of An output of 7,891 long tons was recorded metallurgical grnde at shipper's railhead be- in 1944, but after World War I1 it again came available in Julv. 1952 and is still an drop cd, ranging from zero in 1946 to only a few nvailable tnarliet. hun &ed tons annunlly through 1952. Table 1 gives the Arizonn production from In Janunry 1953 General Services Adminis- 1915 through Novcrnbcr 1955. Thc data .tration opened a nlangallcs6 purcl~asingdepot througli 1052 were takcn from Mineral Re- at Wenden, Ariz. (another dopot had been sources of the United Stntes and Minerals opened at Deming, N. Mcx., in November Yearbooks. The figures for 1953 to 1955,
19511.~~ ~ inclusive, nre from the GSA purchasing depots' ~Gchaseof mnngnnesc ores containing 15 records and remesent shi~mentsto the Wenden percent mnngnnese (Mn) or more by these and Deming depots. These tonna es will not depots accelerated production, so that duriug be considered production for Mineraf s Yearbook the period 1953-55 the 2 depots received from urposes until shipment is made in usable Arizona 349,521 long tons of ore contnining rorm from the depots. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS Since the appraisal study was concerned same distance southwest of Winslom. These primarily with the evaluation of manganese towns are the district's nearest railroad shipping deposits in Arizona as to sizo and productivity, points. Clints Well, also known as the Long detailed classification of the manganese minerals Valley store, is about 2 miles solltllenst of the in the different dcposits by time-consuming nnd dcposits. The graveled Magstaff-Pine rontl elaborate X-ray analysis, microscopic esamina- passes through the central part of the mineral- tion, or chemical analysis was considered be- ized area. (See fig. 3.) yond the scope of this paper. To expedite the The district lies on the Mogollon Plateau in ~nvestigntion,therefore, the manganese minerals an area of low to moderate relief. Altitudes in the samples from the numerous deposits were range from about 6,900 to 7,200 feet above sea classified by visual examination of hand speci- leyel. Frequent summer rains and henvy mens. The guide used in the field for classify- wrnter snows furnish the annual precipitation, ing the mangnnese minerals was as follows: which amounts to about 25 inches. From late Wad was used as the generic term for soft, October to mid-April the roads often are blocked colloidal mixtures of hydrous manganese orides by snow, which usually restricts mining opera- with clay andiron oxides. Pyrolusite, Moo2, tions to about 6 months of each year. The was identified as material that had ahigh specific region is covered with a heavy growth of gravity, massive appearance, metallic luster, yellow-pine timber, and logging is the principal black streak, and the characteristic property of Industry during the summer and late faU. soiling the fingers when rubbed. The term Water is obtained from scattered springs, "psilomelane" was used to designnte the hard shallow wells, and artiticial tanks or reservoirs, manganese oxide minerals that occurred in which collect the runoff water behind earth- massive concretionary or botryoidal forms. filled dams. Manganite, MnO(OH), was restricted to pris- The manganese deposits in the area occur matic crystals that filled vugs or formed feltlike principally as small, irregular bodies distributed masses of small crystals in other manganese erraticall within gently dipping beds of the oxides. Kaibnb gmestone. Other minor occurrences have been found as accumulations in soil and COCONINO COUNTY detrltnl material. The ore-bearing limestone crops out in places along the sides of some of the Coconino County has comparatively few deeper mvines. The overburden varies in known mangnnese deposits, and these occur in thickness, ranging in the developed ares from the widely separated southern corners of the a few feet to as much as 60 feet. The ma'ority county (fig. 2). The principal occurrences in of the deposits in the limestone are smad, dis- the southeastern corner lie along the southern connected, lenticular masses more or less con- ed e of the Mogollon Plateau in tho Long forming to the strike and dip of the enclosing Vaf ley area and in the region extending south- limestone. The individual ore bodies, com- enst almost to the Navajo County line. So far posed of the higher grade manganese oxides, as known, only one other product~vedeposit has range in size from those containing a ton or so been found in other parts of Coconino County. of ore .to some that are said to have yielded as This deposit, known as the Johnson and Hayden much as a hundred tons. The ore mined in property, is near the soutl~westerncorner, some the limestone seldom has exceeded a m&rimum 25 air miles northwest of Seligman, Ariz. thickness of 2 feet. The principal ore minerals are psilomelane LONG VALLEY DEPOSITS and pyrolusite. The gangue consists essen- tiall of soft, sandy limestone and iron oxides. Manganese mineralization in the Long Valley ~geore occurring near the surface was district occurs within a northensterly trending mined in opencuts and pits. Where the over- area roughly 2 miles long and as much as ono- burden was too thick to be readil stripped, half mile mde. The area covers pnrta of secs. the:ore was mined in smd roodke stopes 19, 20, 29,,and 30, T. 14 N., R. 10 E. It is developed from &its and shafts. Close timber-, about 54 mdes south of Flagstaff and about the ing of tho underground workings wns necessary; . .. . . , . 7 ...... ,.- hUNGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA
.C.Lt - "ILL, FIGUEE2.-hlnngnnese Deposits of Cocooino County.
where the overlying material consisted of soft, explored, as well as mined, in some parts of the sand decomposed limestone. area and has yielded most of the jig concen- otter less important occurrences in the area trates. consist of small, scattered pods of ore, appearini HISTORY AND PRODUCTION as replacements in the residual clayey soil an as placerlike accumulations of the harder he manganese deposits in the Long Valley man anese minerals in the detrital material region, though known much earlier received ' resJ. t~g from the erosion of the original little if an attention until 1917. &me that , depos~ts. This detritnl mnnganese ore, con- time they lave been worked intermittently by ,. sisting largely of nodules and fragments of various o erators. The period of greatest '1: . , . . psllomelane, IS rather widespread in scattered activity fo\ owed the outbreak of the Second , BTW throughout the district. It has been World War. At that time many of the older? - - .,; DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 9 claims were relocated and consolidated into DENISON GROUP two separately owned groups that cover the larger part of the known mineralized area. The Denison property comprises nine pat These two groups are owned by the Denison ented claims lnrgely in the W}Vt: sec. 30, T. 14 N., Manganese Co., of Batesville, Ark., and L. E. R. 10 E. The group covers the southwestern Shoup, of Prescott, Ariz. portion of the principal productive deposits in Available information concerning the earlier the district and includes many of the earliest production from tl~edistrict is meager and in locations formerly known as the Black Dia- mond, hlcCloskey, and Linesba claims. The some cases contrndictory. The more reliable roperty is accessible over a short road that estimates indicate that up to 1054 the produc- erundles west from the main Fla tuff road tion from the area totaled approimntely 3,300 about 1.5 miles north of tho Lon~7alley store. tons of sorted ore, cont~tining40 percent ormorc The history and production of thc property manganese, and some 700 tons of ji, concen- before 1927 is not well known. According to trates, averaging 32 to 42 percent manganese. local informntion, therc was some mining
0448sm eo SCALE MILES 4 - FI~~E3.-Manganese Depoeita of Southeastern Coconino County...... ". . .,.~. '. ' . . MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA activity during World War I; a small these openings occurred as thin parallel seams 3 amount of ore may have been produced during and in short, disconnected lenses that generally ,l that period, although it was not officially were conformable to the gently dippin bedding > recorded. Activity mas resumed in 1927, when planes of the enclosin limestone. f n places I some of the clnims were relocated by Ben W. the bed was mineralizefto a limited extent over j McCloskey, who during the following 2 years a maximum thickness of 8 feet. In other ad- '! shipped about 216 tons of ore containing 45 to jacent areas there was no evidence of 48 percent mnngnnese. Apparently, the prop- minerals. At the time of the erty was not active ngam until 1940, when 1954) lessees were minin ore W. W. Linesba reportedly shipped about 200 inclined adit that followef a tons of ore containing somewhat more than 40 on the nortli side of the pit. Thus lens ranged percent manganese. Later in that year the from 6 to 10 feet in lcngth and 0.5 to 3 feet in . claims were nc uired and subsequently patented tl~icknessand had been followed alonr- the dio l by the ReedBenison Manganese Co. This for about 12 feet. company operated the property until 1950 and, The manganese-bearing detrital material from according to J. Reed Denison, produced during which the jig concentrates were recovered was thnt period some 2,200 tons of ore averaging mined from several areas along the side of Iron close to 45 percent manganese. In 1952 the h,Iine Draw. The contained manganese min- pro erty was leased to the Bosley Mining,Co., erals consisted of modules and fraements rane- of #lagstaff, Ariz. This company in conlunc- ing in size from grains of whe& to masses~0 . tion 1~1thAl Stovall, of Phoenix, Ariz., built a several inches in diameter. About 7,000 tons ., jig plant at the south end of Mormon Lake, of this detrital material was mined in open pits where water mas available. During 1952 and with a power shovel. The larger excavations . 1953 the Bosley Co. mined and concentrated were 50 to 100 feet long, 10 to 20 feet wide, several thousand tons of manganese-bearing and in places 15 feet deep. According to Don soil and detr~talmnter~al occurring on the C. Adams, a large part of the mined material , property and at the same time produced about contained about 10 percent manganese. 350 tons of sorted ore from the depos~tsin the limestone. The detrital material was trucked SHOUP GROUP some 28 miles to the mill at Mormon Lake, The Shoup property, comprising 14 lode 1 where after washing and crushing it was con- claims, 4 of which are patented, adjoins the : centrated in diaphmgrn-type jigs. Some 700 Denison group in sec. 30 and extends northeast :: tons of jig concentrates was produced before in parts of secs. 19, 20, and 29, T. 14 N.,'R. .. the plant was dismantled in 1954. Tbe 1953 10 E. The Flagstaff-Pine road passes through I output of ore and concentrates was shipped to the southwest end of the property. '1 General Services Administration, some on the Little is known of the history of the clnims :\ carlot uroernm and some to the Wenden pur- before 1939, when they were acquired by L. E. -;( chase dip2. Shoup, of Prescott, Ariz. The production from :> Thus, the available records indicate thnt the the property, accordin to Shoup, has nggre- .!- total ~roduetionfrom the Denison nrooertv un gated about 600 tons 05 high-grade sorted ore, j to 19k4 has been about 3,700 tons'of'ore-anh most of which was mined during World War 11. ; concentrates, all of which probably avern ed The exposed manganese occurrences on the about 40 percent mnnganese. When the $is- claims nro similar to those found on the Denison .; trict was visited in August 1054, the Denison property. Tho ore-bearing Kaibnb limestone is 4 and Shoup properties were lensed to Don C. exposed in n few places at the extreme south- % Adams and Howard Mottier, who were produc- western end of the property but is covered by ing ore from the southwestern part of the area. overburden to the northeast. . ~ The marpnese-bearing'. limestone on the The claims were explored by numerous scat- ':$ Denison clams was exposed in numerous pits tered pits, opencuts, and two verticalshafts. The I$ and adits scattered over a length of some 1,500 shafts are in the southwestern part of the prop- .'$ feet along the sides of an arroyo trending north- erty, several hundred feet fmm the outcrops of west, known as Iron Mine Draw. Most of the the ore-bearing limestone. They were inncces- older workings had caved. The largest and sible at the time of the visit but were reported probably the most productive of the accessible to be 60 to 70 feet deep. Both are said to have ... workings consisted of an open pit about 200 penetrated 6 to 8 feet of man anese minerdiza-:< feet long and 30 to 100 feet wide. The impure tion at a depth of about 50 feet. The area to ..i . sandy l~mestonein which the ore occurred was the northeast, between the shafts andmain , exposed around the lower part of the pit. mad, had been explored in 1941 by extensive .. ' . Several adita driven in the mineralized bed trenching. The larger trench, evidently ex ! .. extended outward in various directions from vated with a power shovel, ranged fmm 200, ,&j:t+.,,,,thesides of the pit. Themanganese oxides in 500 feet in length and from20 to 50 feat , . . , DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 11 width. None exceeded 20 feet in depth, and so posit is about 1,000 feet south of the Battle- far as could be determined all had apparently ground rond. bottomed in detrital material. The mnterinl The claim was located and explored ib 1949 removed from the excavations contained vary- by H. E. Jensen, of Winslow Ariz., and re- ing amounts of mnnganese frngments. Whether located in 1952 by Jerold C. ~osiey,of Flagstaff, this exploratory work was done to sample the Ariz. The production has aggre ated a few manganese-bearing soil and detrital material or tons of ore consisting of lumps o'I manganese to reach and explore the underlying limestone oxide, dich were handpicked out of the soil is not known. The claims northeast of tho excavated from shallow pits and cuts. Flngstnff mid had been explored by numerous In the explored part of the claim frngments shallow pits nnd opencuts. More or less frng- and nodules of manganese oxide were evident mental psilomelane was present in the soil and on the surface over an area several hundred detritnl material removed from these openings. feet squnre. Boulderlike mnsses ofpsilomelane Since the visit of August 1954 a 1,000-foot weighing up to 10 pounds were said to have been water well bas beon drilled on the property and found in the soil during the course of thc work. is reported to have produced 125 gallons per The esplornto~yopenings consisted of shallow minute when tested. pits and trenches, evidently excavated with a bulldozer. In places the soil contained more or BLUE RIDGE CLAIMS less manganese to depths of several feet. Solid bedrock did not appear to be exposed in any of The Blue Ridge property, comprising 3 im- the excavations. patented claims, is in sec. 35, T. 14 N., R. 11 E., about 8.5 air miles due east of the Long Valley HEBER DISTRICT deposits. The claims can be reached over 6 miles of a poor rond that brmches south from The Heber district is in the extreme south- the W'islow road about 4 miles north of the eastern corner of Coconino County about 17 Long Valley store. miles by road southwest of Heber. The prin- The claims were located originally in 1940. cipal manganese claims in the area cover parts When the area was visited in August 1954, the of secs. 17, 18, 19, and 20, T. 11 N., R. 15 E., property was held b Dennis Echol, of Wislow, and are accessible over the Youn Heber rond, Ariz. According to%cal information, a few tons which passes through the centrfpart of the of sorted ore was produced during 1942. district. Snowflake, Ariz., some 50 miles to High-grade manganese oxide minerals oc- the northeast, is the nearest rail shippin* point. curred on parts of the property as surface float The area lies on the well-forested bfoLPogollon and in small lenses or pockets in the soil over- Plateau at an altitude of about 7,000 feet above lying a sandy, decomposed limestone. The sea level. The relief is moderate, and climatic principal workings consisted of a few scattered conditions are similar to those of the Long o encuts. The larger of these openings was Valley region some 35 air miles to the north- ag out 10 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 5 feet deep. west. Mlning operations are sensonnl because A flat-lying lens of ore exposed in the face of the roads usually are blocked with snow during this cut was about 4 feet long and 2 to 8 inches the late fall and winter months. Water is thick. It was about 3 feet below the surface limited to that obtained from scattered springs and apparently was surrounded by soft soillike and artificial tanks. material. Similar but smaller pods of man a The first claims in the area were located in nese oxides were found in places along the si8 es - 1944 by Johnny Patrick, of Ove nard, Ariz. of another nearby opencut. Later, Alvis F. Denison, of Zbuquerque, Other deposits of a like nature are reported N. Mex., became interested in the district and to occur on Blue Ridge, about 4 miles northeast eventually acquired by purchase and location of the Long Valley store. These could not be appro.dmately 80 lode claims comprising grou s found when the area was visited in August 1954. known as the Mesa Verde, Hill Crest, CnmpbeE , and Denison. Denison a plied for patents to LOST APACHE CLAIM cover about 40 of these ,&ms in 1953. The United States Forest Sernce protested the issu- The Lost Apache is an un ntented claim, in ance of apatent on some of the claims, and a hear- sec. 7, T. 13 N., R. 11 E., agout 5.5 air nules ing was held late in 1953. So far as known, the southeast of the Lon Valley deposits. The matter was still pending before the Bureau of claim may be reached %ydriving 12 miles south Land Management in August 1954. The other from the Long Valley store, thence about 6 principal group of claims m the area, known as miles east over the Mogollon rim road to the the Rainbow, was held by Johnny Patrick. Battleground Ridge road, and north over the According to estimates made by Patrick, latter road for 6 miles At this point the de- production from the district to the end of 1953 ,- . i
12 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA totaled about 600 tons of ore containin 40 to being worked on a smali scale, and about 75 45 percent manganese. The early profuction tons of ore had been produced during the pre- was ship ed to the stockpile of the Metals vious 5 months of 1954. Reserve 8orporntion at El Paso, Tex., and that during the last 2 years was shlpped t? purchase JOHNSON AND HAYDEN DEPOSIT depots of the General Services Adimn~stratlon at Deming, N. Mex., and Wenden, Ariz. The The Johnson and Hayden manganese prop- records show that during 1953 some 87 tons erty is near the southwestern corner of Coconino of ore averaging about 37 percent mnngnncse County in NW% sec. 2, T. 26 N., R. 7 W., on was sold by Alvis F. Denison to the purchase land owned by the State of Arizona. The prop- depots. According to Patrick, about half of erty is accessible over 17.5 miles of poor road the ore ship ed in 1953 was produced by himself that branches north from United States High- from the kainbow claims and shipped in way No. 66 about 20 miles west of Seligman, Denison's name. Patrick also statcd that his Ariz. After leavin IIighway No. 66, the road production though 1953 from the Rainbow follows Aubrey ValF ey - northward for 15.5 miles group had totaled approximately 260 tons of ore to an east brnnch, which leads to the deposit. averaging about 40 ercent mangnnesc. All of This branch winds up a canyon trending cast for this ore was shippe(f. m the name of either the 2 miles in the Aubre Cliffs and terminates near J. Reed Denison Manganese Co., of Long the deposit at an artitude of about 6,200 feet Valley, or Alvis F. Denison. above sea level. The nearest available railroad The ore produced in the district occurs as shipping point is Nelson, a sidin on the Atchi- fragments and masses of manganese oxide son, Topeka & Santa Fe Ra'If way, some 30 found scattered sporadically through the clayey miles by road southwest of the property. residual soil overlyin the gently dipping The deposit wes discovered and slightly Coconino sandstone. %lnnganese oxides also explored in 1940 by Don C.Adarns and W. J. E. occur as seams along bedding planes and in Woody under a prospecting permit issued by fractures within the sandstone. However, the State of Arizona. So far ns known, no ore these bedrock occurrences were but slightly was marketed whiie the roperty was held by e-xplored and had not been productive. The Adams and Woody, and tReir permit eventudly ore in the soil is largely psilomelane in fragments was dowed to lapse. Interest in the deposit ranging m size from small particles to irregular was revived in 1952 and 1953 after establish- angular masses, a few of which are said to be ment of the Government depots at Deming, as much as 2 feet in their greatest dimension. N. Mex., and Wenden, Ariz., for the purchase of ;., The ore produced to date has been found within low-grade manganese ore. In that year E. H. ' ' a few feet of the surface and recovered from Johnson and R. E. Hayden, of Seligman, scores of pits and cuts that are widely scattered obtained a mineral lease on the pro erty from over most of the claims. The amount of ore the State and during 1952 shipped' about 37 vnries greatly from place to place and appears to tons of sorted ore containing 28 percent mnn- be localized in bunches that contain from a nncsc to the Deming, N. Mcx., purchase depot. few hundred pounds of ore fragmeuts to larger fater, the property was subleased to the accumulations that are said to have yielded up Bosley Mining Co., which during 1953 produced to 20, tons of recoverable manganese. Areas a proximately 275 tons of sorted ore averaging of resldual soil where the manganese fragments agout 24 percent manganese. This ore was appeared on the surface in the reatest abun- shipped to the Government purchase depot at dance were the only evident gui i! es to possible Wenden, Ariz. When the area was visited in underlying accumulations. August 1954, two men employed by the Bosley The workings in the district rn wed from small Mining Co. were producing small quantities of cuts made xnth pick and shove? to lnrge pits ore from the deposit. excavated with a bulldozer. Some of the larger Manganese mineralization on the property pits were 100 feet or more Ion 8 to 16 feet occurs within a steeply dipping fracture or wide; and as much as 10 feet flep. A few of brecciated zone cutting tbe gently dipping beds the claims were explored by shafts, the deepest of the Raibab limestone. The fracture zone of which was said to be about 60 feet. The ore on the surface ran es from 10 to 30 feet in was recovered by handpicking the larger frag- width, strikes nort% east, and is exposed in ments of ma anese oxide out of the soil places along the strike for over 1,000 feet. unearthed in Yt e various excavations. Con- Altllough manganese mineralization was evident siderable ore was found on the surface in the in several places dong the outcrop of the form of float. brecciated zone, the better mineralized portion When the district wesvisited in August 1954, appeared to be limited a proximately to a . both the Patrick and Denison properties were strllce length of 300 feet an i an average width - .. ~~ ~ ~ --
DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 13 of 25 feet. The principal workings were con- MARICOPA COUNTY fined to this area; they consisted of a centrally located crosscut adit with two short drifts and The principal 'manganese deposits in hiuri- several pits on each side of the adit. The copa County are in the northwestern part deepest of these openings was about 40 feet along the low foothills bordering the northern below the outcrop. flu& of the Bi Horn Mountains (fig. 4). In The manganese minerals, consisting of a this area, generafly known as the Aguila district, mixture of the common oxides, occur us irreplnr a score or more of manganese properties are mnsscs and senms distributed erratically wtbin distributcd within a belt about 15 miles long the brocciated nnd silicified limestono. The and 4 miles wide trending nortllcast (fig. 5). nnye, in addition to unreplnced wall-rock The central part of the district is 14 miles fro ments, consisted largely of chert, calcite, south of Aguila. The principal deposits are an3 iron oxidus. accessible from this village over graded dirt No regular rocedurc wns followed in mining roads. Aguila, a stntion on the Parker Brancl~ the ore; the Purger and higher rude mnsscs of the Atchison, Topclta & Santa Fe Railway, of mangnneso osldes were gougef out ns they is on United Stntes Highway No. 60-70, some were encountered in the exploratory openinp. 26 miles west of Wickenburg and 22 -miles The broken ore was hand-sorted before shp east of the Government manganese stockpile ment. . at Wenden, Ariz.
rnARIZONA
0 5 10 PO 30 40 SCALE - MILES F~aurc~4.-Manganese Deposits of Maricopa County.
445662'-668 14 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA
INDEX Of MINING PROPERTIES
I. L1011S OEM I. BLACK RAVEN 3. CROW 4. ""..C NO.. a. .LAC* SUE e. mom" r. WE.. e. ."I"IC." FIOURE5.- -Location Map, Aguila District Manganese Deposits. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 15 AGUILA DISTRICT depths ranging from 30 to 80 feet below the outcrops. The area occupied by the manganese deposits Late in 1951, when a lowcr grade mnngancsc is one of moderate relief at altitudes ranging ore could be marketed, attention was directed from 2,300 to 2,600 feet above sen level. The to the largcr lmv-gmde deposits for whicll climate IS arid, and the region supports only previously there wns no demand. When the sparse desert vegetation. Water is obtainable district mas visited in April 1954, nine of these from a few comparatively shallow \r-ells along lnrger mineralized shear and breccinted zones a broad valley thnt bounds the district on tho hntl beeu investigated by surfacc opcncuts nnd north and west. pits. Some were inactwe, otl~crswere being Geologically, the area is composed of a base- cxplorcd, and thrce wcre producing. They ment of older scbists and granitic rocks overlein varied greatly in size and shnpc. The lnrgcst, in part by later ilows of nndesite and light- as esposcd on the surface, covered an arca colored tuffs. The yonngcr flow rocks, where about 300 feet squnre. Others rnnged from 10 present, vary great1 in thickness, depending to 50 feet in width and from 50 to I50 fcct in upon the degree of !ocnl erosion. XInngnn
power shovels, evidently was used in mining- body was about 40 fcet long. Other discon- the ore. nected outcrops of manganiferous mnterinl About 500 feet northwest of the larne pit occurrin~~dong the west trend of the shenr a mineralized lens or podlike body haci been zonc ha8 been explored by cuts and trenches, explored by an inclined o encut. The opening but no mining had been attempted. was about 30 feet long an 18 to 15 feet wide and reached a maximum depth of 14 feet. Along PUMICE GROUP the south face of the opening the minerdizntion This property, comprising,a group of eight was 8 to 12 feet wide. The manganese oxides were distributed irregularly across the face of unpatented mining cla~ms,is in a school section owned by the State of Arizona. The claims the cut and in small fractures surrounding the cover part of the south half of see. 16, T. 5 N., fragments of brecciated wall rock. Some band- R. 8 W., and were leased from the State by sorted ore had been nroduced from this ooen- Roy Cornett, of Congress, hiz. The pro erty ing, but the amount nnd grade were not kn6mn. is about 15 miles southeast of Aguila an{ can A short distance north of the incline a vein be reached over a road that branches .south. trending east and dipping about 20° S. mas from the Buckeye road 7 miles south of Aguila. exposed in an opencut for nbout 30 feet along Thc clnims were located in 1952, and during the strike. The vein in this distnnce was 2 to 3 the follolr-ing year several hundred tons of feet wide and in places contained bands of mangnnese ore was mined and shipped to the manganese oxides that ran ed from a few inches Wenden purchasing depot. Early in 1954 the to as much as a foot in wifth. western part of the property mas acquired under Severd other exposures of man anese-bearing s sublease by the Motallic Recovery Co., of material on the property had notteen explored. Aguila, which was engaged in further explora- BLACK CROW (ATKINS OR MEADOWS) tory work when the property was visited. Manganese mineralization, in veins and brec- This property, formerly known as the Atkins oiated zones cutting lavns and tuffs, occurs on or Meadows, comprises a roup of 4 un- the claims in several separated areas. In the ntented claims in the centra'i part of sec. 10, western part of the property 4 veins, ranging !. !. 5 N., R. 8 W., 2 miles southwest of the from 2 to 6 feet in width, had been explored Snmbo Aguila group. The claims, owned by along the outcrops by a series of shallow open- Mrs. Susie Shorter, of Aguila, are accessible outs and an incliner1 shaft about 25 feet deep. over a side road, slightly over a mile long, that The principal manganese minerals are pyrolusite branches south from tho Buckeye road about and mangnnitc, occurring in a gangue of calcite, 13 miles south of Aguiln. quartz, and fragments of wall rock. The property originally was located in 1916 About 500 fcet northeast of the shnft a and during the First World War hecnme onc mineralized fraoturc zonc hnrl been opened by of the district's cl~iefproducers of high-grade a cut nbout 30 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 8 fcet manganese ore. Published records sl~owthat deep. As exposed in the cot, tl~cblack mnn- production from the property has totnlcd nbout gnnese oxides filled fractures surrounding the 1,200 tons of ore averaging well over 40 percent breccinted fragments of the wall rock. In the manganese. No production has been recorded immediate vicmit of the opening the miner- since 1923. In April 1954 the clnims were alized portion of tKe zone appeared to be abdut ' lensed to the Aguila Mining & Milling Corp., 50 feet wide. Its length and trend beyond the which wns reparing to operate the pro crty limits of thc cut were hidden undcr a covcr of Ore had Eee? nuned from three pnralfel veins soil and dctritnl material. About 100 tons of occurring w~th~na shear zone trending west in thomaterial broken in this opening was reported the older sehistose rocks. Granite and gneiss to have bocn shipped for test purposes to the were ex osed a short distance enst of the shenr mill of the Mnngnnese Corp. of Arizonn at zone. $he veins were 50 to 250 feet apart and Bouse, Ariz. ran ed from 2 to 5 feet in width. All appeared Another zone of low-grade manganese min- to fip steeply south. When the property was eralization was found in the southeastern pnrt visited in April 1954 virtually all the under- of the property. This deposit consisted of a ground workings were caved or otherwise network of small irregular seems of manganese .~naccesible.I,.. ; ...... I . .. . , . ,.. .. oxides impregnatiug .a breccinted lnvn. The ,, . . 1 8 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA outcrop of the mineralized zonc was trncenble, separated ore shoots found on both the eastern more or less continuously, for over 2,000 feet and western portions of the Valley View vein: alon the top of a low, northerly trending ridge. These ore shoots, ranging from 25 to 100 feet In p7 aces the mineralized portion of the zone in length and from 1 to 4 feet in width, were was several hundred feet wide. The man- mined from shallow adits and opencuts; ganese-bearing fractures rnnged from the thick- The more recent work on the eastern part ness of a knifc blade to several inches. Some of the property was devoted largely to explora- of the fractures were quite closely spaced, and tion of a low-grade zone of mnngnncse minernl- in other pnrts of the breccin they ~rercsepnratcd ization dong the footwdl of the Valley View by several feet of unmineralizetl lava. vein. This work consisted of a trench about Exploratory openings on the deposit were 80 feet long that crossed the trend of the zone limited to a few scattered sl~ullompits and an and nn opcncut along the vein. From the face opencut ncnr the north end of the mineraliza- of thc trench the opcncut followcd the hanging- tion. Tho cut was nhout 75 feet long, 15 feet wall portion of tho vein for about 50 feet. wide, and up to 20 feet dcep. According to Both openings were 10 feet wide and reached Ro V Waugl~tcl, who supervised the work, a maximum depth of some 12 feet bclow the m mples of tbe brokcn material removed surface. A bulldozer evidently was used to 7rom the cut avemgcd about 5 percent remove the broken material from the excava- manganese. tions. The work exposed a shear zone con- taining an:irregular network of narrow fractures VALLEY VIEW AND YARNELL GROUPS filled witl~mw~ganescoxides. The minernlized The Valley View and Yarnell properties, zone in the trench was about 40 feet wide. comprising adjoining groups of six claims each, Its length beyond the opening was obscured b are held under location by Dempsey Powell and a cover of soil and dctrital material. The mi 71 R. W. Yarnell, of A-ila, Ariz. Parts of the ore produccd in 1952-53 was mined from. this two pups were formerly known as the Prieta deposit. Chinda, Manganese Development, and Wheeler PURPLE PANSY (FUGATT) claims. The roperty is nbont 14 miles by innd southeast of lguila and occupies parts of secs. The Purple Pansy property, comprising three 17 and 21, T. 5 N., R. 8 W. unpatented claims, is owned by Fred Seifert The claims were located in 1916 and during and L. W. Smith, of Aguila. The property is World War I produced several hundred tons of about 15 miles south of Aguila approximately sorted ore containing 40 to 46 percent mnn- in unsurveyed sec. 24, T. 5 N., R. 9 W. It ganese. The property became active again in may be reached over a road that branches 1943 and during that year shipped about 75 south from the Buckeye road nbout 7 miles tons of sorted ore containing 39 percent soutll of Apila. manganese. During 1952 and 1953 lcssees pro- The claims were located originally in 1916 duced nbout 1,000 tons of mill ore from the and were known at that time as tlie Fugntt Valley View group. Several hundred tons was property. Early in 1950 the group was shipped to the Wenden purchasing depot, and rclocatcd by J. N. House, of Aguila. The the balance was concentrated in the mill of the present owners acquired the property in 1951. U. S. hfnnganese Corp. at Aguila. The prop- There is no record of any production before erties mere not active when visited in April 95During 1952 arid 1953 about 7,500 1954. tons of mill ore was mined from the deposit Tho mangnncso ininerals, consisting of pyrn- by Scifcrt and Sniitl~. SOIIICof this or0 was lusite, mnngnnitu, and psilomelane, occur on sl~ippcdto the Wenden purchasing depot, but the propert in four veins cutting an andesite the grcnter part was concentrated in the custom breccia. Ti" le veins nre 100 to 200 feet apart; mills at Aguila. When visited in April 1954,' all strike west and dip rather steeply south. the propert was producing about 200 tons of The principnl productive veln, known ns the mill ore dairy. . q Valley View, occupies the central part of the The deposit consists of innumerable closely: series. The other veins are less extensive and spaced veinlcts and irregular masses of man-: have ,not been. developed. The Vdlcy View gnnese oxides that occupy portions of nn" veln IS traceable on the surface for over 1,000 estcnslve zone of shenred and brecciated: feet and ranges from 1 to 10 feet in width. andesite. The mineralized zone trends north- The eastern hnlf of the outcrop lies within the west and appears to dip steeply south. It can-S . Valley View claims, and the western half, be traced more or less continuously on. the1 after crossing a prominent ridge, extends into surface for nearly 1,000 feet and evident1 ; . the adjoining Yarnell group of claims. rnn es from 200 to 300 feet in width. . ' ;.The hi her grade ore, shipped during the +he principal manganese mineral is, py* -. \ ,. . World Gars, was produced from several site, with some psilomelane. The gangue co *.y+.:,.,.:* ,:+ '." .
'. .I :I DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 19
sists es'sentinlly of calcite and unrcplncccl 2 to 4 fect wide, and 5 to 10 feet deep. The ore country rock. The manganese-bearing frac- shipped to tho Wenden purchasing depot duririg tures range from thin seams to veinlcts as much the early part of 1854 was mined from an open- as 6 inches wide. At some points, where two cut on thc east vein. or more of the minernlized fractures intersect, are irregular masses or bunches of manganese BLACK ROCK GROUP oxides several ieet I\-ide. The mangnnese con- The Black Rock property, comprising 3 tent of the deposit varies consitlernbly from unpatente$ chin=, is nhout 19.5 miles south place to place, depending largely upon how of Aonila approximately in unsurveyed sec. 26, closely the minernlized frnctures are spaced. T. 5%., R. 9 W. The property cnn be renclictl Mining opcrntions were being conductetl over 4.5 n~ilesof a road that branches cnst from near tho south eud of the deposit in an open pit, tlie muin western road of tlie district about 15 which at the tinlo of the visit covered an area ~nilcssoiithwcst of Awiln. ~rbout200 fcet wide ant1 300 feet long. Tho oru The cluims were f&ated ori inally in 1916 was l)rokcu in 2 be~~clicsabout 200 fcet lo~~g. ant1 probably were known at heat time ns the The lower bcncli was approximately 20 fect Black Warrior group. Although there is evi- high and the upper 10 feet. Vertical blast dence of early work, there are no records to holes spaced 3 to 5 feet apnrt were drilled along indicate that any ore was shipped from the the rim of the benches. A wagon drill, using property before 1952. In 1951 J. N. House, seve~l-eighths-incl~steel equipped with detnch- of Aguila, relocated tlie claims us the Black able bits set with tungsten carbide inserts, was Rock Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Early in 1952 A. R. used in the drilling. The holes were blasted Buell, of Aguila, acquired claims Nos. 1 and 2 simultaneously with electric detonators. The and began exploration and minino operations broken ore was loaded into trucks by a gnsoline- in March 1952. At the end of ?larch 1954 driven front-end loader. Compressed air for about 3,000 tons of ore containing 30 to 35 per- the wagon drill was furnished by a diesel-driven portable compressor. A bulldozer was used for cent manganese had been produced from the No. 1 claim. When the property was visited stripping a foot or more of overburden mld for in April 1954, ore was being produced at tlie cleaning the floor of the pit. rate of about 250 tons er month. It was KAT HEAD trucked directly to the %enden purchasing depot of General Services Administration. This property comprises four unpntented Manganese minerals, consisting of the com- claims that were forn~erl part of the Blccli mon ondes, are found on tlie claims in several Dinmond group. The crainls are about 16 northerly trending fracture zones that range miles south of Ayila approximately in unsur- from 2 to 8 feet in width. The enst vein, which veyed sec. 24, T. 5 N., R. 9 W. They may be is tlie most productive, occurs in tlie olclcr reached over a mile of road that brnnchcs west granitic rocks that occupy the greater part of from the graded Purple I'nnsy road a short the No. 1 claim. The other nnneralized frac- distance south of the Pump gold mine. ture zones to the west occur in the andesitic The claims were located originally during the lavns overlying the grnnite. The east vein dips Fint World War nnd may hnve produced a 20" W., and the west vem on claim No. 3 dips small amount of sorted mangnnese ore during 45" E. The east vein has been exposed under- that time. The property was relocated in ground for about 400 feet along the strike. The 1952 by the present owner, Northfleet Iinnbe, 3ther mineralized outcrops are less extensive of Aguila, Ariz. R. E. Hill, of \Virltcnburg, and have been explored only slightly. Ariz., obtained a lease on 2 of the claims enrly The principal vein on claim No. 1 was in 1954 and by midApril 1954 had mined and developed by nn inclined shnft, 50 feet deep, shipped 2 lots of hand-sorted ore to the Wenden and a single level from the bottom of the shnft stockpile. that followed the vein for nbout 400 feet. Manganese mineralization, consisting of pyro- Stopes, ranging from 50. to 100 feet in len th lusite and some psilomelane, occurs on the and averaging nbout 5 feet in width, exten f cd property in two veins cutting andesite. The to various heigbts above the level. The ore veins are several hundred feet apart and range was mined in o en stopes.supported by stulls from 2 to 4 feet in width. Both strike northeast and pillars of I' ower grade ore. Blast holcs and dip steeply west. The east vein could be were drilled with jackleg-type rock drills. The traced on the surface for nbout 300 feet. The ore, when blasted in the back of the stopes, fell outcrop of the west fracture appenred less con- to the floor of the level. A scraper, powered tinuous. The better mineralized portions of with a. double-drurn slusher hoist, wns used to both veins hnd been explored by shallow open- pull the broken ore to the bottom of the shaft, cuts and pits. The most extensive of such where it was shoveled into the ski After the , ' openings was nn openeut about 50 feet long, ore reached the surface, it was pgced in piles',' ,:. MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA near the collar of the shaft; it was then hnnd- The claims were located by Northfleet Knnbe, sorted and loaded into trucks with a small of Aguila, in 1951 and a short time later were power shovel. leased to F. A. Sitton and J. E. Robinktto. The west vein on the Black Rock No. 3 During 1952 and 1953 the lessees mined 10,000 claim had been explored in several places by to 12,000 tons of low-gmde manganese ore from shallow pits and opencuts. The most extensive 2 open pits. The mine materinl after being opening was an opencut about 100 feet long, cruslied was passed through a trommel screen 2 to 4 feet wide, and about 8 feet deep. During with %inch openin The come screen 1053 lessees produced several hundred tons of oversize was relectef. as waste, and tho fino mill oru from theso various openings. This m~ilerinl pus sir^ Llro screen openings was part of the property mas inactive when visited trucked to the aenden prmhnso depot; 1,000 In A ril 1054. Lo 2,000 tons of scrocned material, estimated ~8erthe visit of April 1954 Black Rock to contain 15 to 20 percent manganese, was claims Nos. 1 and 2 were purchased from A. R. produced in this manner. When vis~tedin April Buell by the Mohnve &,liningck Milling Co. 1951, the property was idle; all the equipment, with the exception of an ore bin and the BLACK BART conveyor trestle, had been removed. The Black Bart property, comprising two The mineralized material treated in the unpntented claims, is a proximately in un- screening plant was mined from two fracture surveyed sec. 35, T. 5 Pf, R. 9 W.,about a zones striking north and appearing to dip mile south of the Black Rock group. The steeply westward in brecciated granitic rocks. claims are accessible over a short side road that The east zone of mineralization, as exposed in branches south from the graded road about 1 an open pit, was about 60 feet wide and 100 feet mile west of the Black Rock shaft. long and had been mined to a mnximum depth The claims were located by Ralph Law, of of some 20 feet below the surface. The other Aguila, in 1953. When visited in April 1954, mineralized zone, about 70 feet west of the the discovery work and access roads had been eastern pit, was exposed in an opencut approxi- com leted, and preparntions were being made mately 150 feet long and 20 to 30 feet wide. by 8alph Law and associates to mine ore for The deepest part of the cut was about 15 feet shipment to the Wenden stockpile. below the surface. The surface surrounding Man anese minornliaation, consishg largely both of the exmvations was covcred with soil or of pyro9. us~te and some psilomelane, occurred broltcn rock so it was impossible to determine on the property in three fracture zones trending whether or not the mineralization was more north and cutting anitie rocks. The veins extensive than that shown in the openings. dip steeply westmar fand are spaced at intervals Other mnnganiferous exposures were noted on of 100 to 700 feet. The central vein of the some of the other claims in the group, but the series was traceable, more or less continuously, wo~kon these was confined to discovery pits. for about 200 feet and ranged from 2 to 5 feet The manganese minerals in the deposits were in width. The other two mineralized fractures, the common oxides, pyrolusite predominating. though not well exposed, appeared to he less The principal gangue constituents were un- extensive. replaced wall rock, calcite, and quartz. The The manganese oxides in the veins occurred manganese oxides occurred as fissure fillings and as seams and strands intermixed with nn- irregular masses and in a network of narrom ronlaced frarments.+ of wall rock. calcite. and scums surrounding breccinted fragments of qinrtz. -- country rock. The better mineralization ap- The exploratory openings on the claims mere peared to occur along the walls of the fracture limited to a few shallow opencuts and pits. zones, where in places it attained widths of A few tens of tons of ore, sorted from the several feet. material broken during the come of the exploratory work, had been produced, but none ROADSIDE had been shipped. The operator elrpected to, The Roadside group, comprisin 5 unpat- mine the future ore in opencuts. ented claims, is about 14 miles sout% of Aguila KNABE NO. 4 approximately in unsurveyed see. 21, T. 5 N., R. 9 W. The property is readily accessible by The Knabe No. 4 group comprises 9 a short road thst branches north from the main unpntented claims .about 20 miles south of ~adedroad about 2.7 miles west of the Black . . A ila approximately in unsurveyed sec. 34, T. Rock No. 1 mine. 5 %., R. 9 W. The property is accessible over Theclaims were located by J. N. House, of '.: a side road that branches south from the main Aguila, in 1952. Nothing is known of their aded road about 2 miles west of the Black earlier history or roduct~on. In A ril 1954"' .:. .- gock No. 1 mine. the property was Teased by J. N. Prouse to' . , . . , . , . - ,. 1.; .. '. . .~ ~ ~ DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 21
Frank McElrath and associates, of Long Beach, 500 feet to the west, had been mined along the Calif. When tbe area was visited in May 1954, strike, more or less continuously, for nearly 300 e. loratory work was just getting under way. feet. The west vein, about 100 feet west of the %he tnanganese mineralization found .on the central fracture, was exposcd in a series of property occurred in two fracture zones trend- opencuts for over 200 feet along the strike. mg north in andesitic lava. The west zone was The east fracture had been developed and traceable on the surface for about 100 feet and mined from underground workings extending ran ed from 4 to 6 feet in width. The outcrop from an inclined shaft. The shaft was over of tf lo other mineralized zonc, which was some 100 feet deep, but accordin to Roy Wauglltel 250 feet to the east, was traceable for about 300 the best ore wns found in tf le nppcr 60 feet of feet. In this distal& it appeared to rnngc from the vein. At the time of the visit the under- 20 to 30 feet in width. ground work had been discontinued, and ore was The central part of the western outcrop had being mined -from an opencut along the north been explored by an opencut about 30 feet side of the shaft. long, 4 to 6 feet wide, and about 10 feet deep. The other 2 veins had been mined in opencuts Some sorted ore evidently had been produced that reached a masimum depth of some 40 from this opening by former operators. At the feet. The ore as broken was removed from the time of the visit McElrath and associates had cuts by a scraper and a double-drum slusher started an opencut across the north end of the hoist. eastern zone of rnincralization. Arrangements Irregular areas containing a network of to concentrate this ore had been made with the narrow fractures filled with manganese oxides Harquahnla Milling Co., of Aguila. occurred in the brecciated andesite surrounding The manganese minerals, largely pyrolusite, the two west veins. In places this lower grade occurred as veiulets and seams surrounding the mineralization covered areas as much as 100 p.artly replaced breccinted fragments of ande- feet wide and was traceable for about the same slte. In addition to the mall-rock inclusions, distance along the strike. calcite was the predominating gangue mineral. Pyrulusite and some psilomelane near the surface were the principal manganese minerals. BLACK NUGGl3 (U.S. GROUP) Unreplnced fragments of wall rock and calcite The Black Nugget property of two unpat- were the chief gangue constituents. ented claims is approximately in unsurveyed BLACK QUEEN (ARMOUR GROUP) sec. 20, T. 5 N., R. 9 W. The claims are acces- sible over a short side rond that branches The Black Queen property, comprising northeast from the east fodi of the main graded 3 unpatented clauns, is approximately in un- road about 15 miles southwest of Aguila. surveyed sec. 30, T. 5 N., R. 9 W., and is The property, formerly linomn as the U. S. accessible over a mile of a side road that group, fist was wodied during World War I. branches south from the east fork of the main Published records show that in 1918 the produc- rond about 14.5 miles southwest of Aguila. tion totaled 222 tons of ore averaging about 39 The claims were located originally in 1916 percent manganese. An additional shipment and were known at that time as the hour of 42 tons containing 48.6 percent manganese group. During 1917-18 the property was i was recorded in 1924. The claims were re- credited with a production of about 1,600 tons located as the Black Nugget group in 1939 and of ore containing 35 to 40 percent manganese. may have produced a small amount of ore dur- The mine was closed in 1918 and was not ing the Second World War. After the war the worked n ain until the Second World War, when propecty remained inactive until 1052, when it a relative6; y small quantity of ore was shipped. was acquired by Roy V. Wauglitel, of Aguila. In 1051 J. N. House, of Aguila, acquired tho Production was resumed late in 1952, and property, and during the followin year lessccs during 1953 and early 1954 several thousand mined a few thousand tons of m% ore, which tons of mill ore was roduced. Part of this ore was 'concentrated in the jig mill of the U. S. wns shipped to the 1\ enden stockpile, and part Manganese Corp. at Agnila. Late in 1952 the wns concentrated in the custom mill at Aguila. property was purchased from J. N. House by The ore was mined largely from three veins the resent owners, Fred Seifert and L. W. j or fracture zones cutting andesite lava. The ~rnit!, of Ayila, who eqni ped and rehabili- veins strike north, dip moderately to stee ly, tated the mlne and resumel roduction early i I end range from.3 to 10 feet in width. %he in 1953. By the fint of ~~n!1954, 6,000 to I east mineralized fracture appeared to have 7,000 tons of ore containing about 18 percent been offset into two or more segments by cross manganese had been shipped to the Wenden / faulting. The longest and most productive of stockpile. When visited in April 1954 about '! these segments was exposed don5 the surface 25 tons of ore was being mined daily. i for about 150 feet. The centralvein, lying some The mangnnese mmerals, pyrolusite and ' , 440662'4H . .!...... ' .;..'.,;...,..'%;!. ,vv+j 22 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA psilomelane, occurred in a fracture zone trend- stope. This work exposed theoutcrop of a lower Ing north and cutting andesite and tuffs. The grade zone of mineralizat~onranging from 30 to outcrop of the mineralized zoae was exposed for 75 fcct in width and traceable for about 200 about 800 fcet along the strike and rnnged from feet along the strike. The zone contained a net- 5 to as much as 50 fcet in width. A group of work of veinlets and narrow seams of mnngnnese faults trending east and crossing the central oxides impregnating the brecciated xvnll rocks. part of the outcrop displaced the zone and sepa- Aside from the strippmg, no further exploration rated it into six or more oflset segments (fig. 6). of this lower grade materinl had been attempted. The indiridnnl segments ranged from 30 to 300 In April 1954 the higher grade ore in the three feet in lengtli. Some were displaced only a few north segments was being mined from stopes tens of feet and others as much as 100 feet. extending above the lower level. The ore mas Some dipped stceply westward and others east- broken in open stopes and hoisted from a con- ward. trally located inclined shaft. The walls of tlic Nenrly all the vein segments had been de- deposit were strong and required only occa- veloped to some extent. The higher grutle ore siounl stulle or pillar supports. was mined in opencuts and pits and from under- ound workings cstencliug from severnl shafts. BLACK SUE Yhc deepest mlne lcvel at tlic time of the visit The Black Sue group of 6 unpntented claims was about 100 feet vertically below the outcrop. is about 16 miles southwest of Ayiln, approxi- The higher grade ore in the northern segment of mately in unsurveyed sec. 31, T. 5 N., R. 9 W. the deposit had been stoped to various depths The property is 1.5 miles south of the Black for about 300 feet nlong the strike. The stope Queen mine over the same road. ranged from 4 to 12 feet in midth and appeared So far as known, the claims were located first to have reached a mnsimum depth of some 60 in 1950 by J. N. House, of Aguila. When the feet. The surface soil had been stripped from area was visited in April 1954, L. W. Curry and an area nlong the eastern or foot\vall side of the T. S. Heisc, of Wickenburg, tlriz., mere operat- ing the property under a lease and option from J. N. House. Operations mere started by the lessees late in 1953. By mid-April 1954 about 1,600 tons of mill ore had been produced. Ap- prosimately 1,100 tons of this ore was concen- trated in the A uila mill of the Hnrquahala Milling Co., and" the remaining 500 tons was shipped to the Wenden stockpile. Scvernl mnngnnese deposits occur on the property nlong a fracture zone in andesite. Tho zone strikes northwest and dips steeply soutll- ~cst.The mineralized part of the zone, which furnished the production, was traceable for about 350 feet along the strike and ranged from 20 to 40 feet in width. Other disconnected and rather widely spaced outcrops of manganese mineralization were found on the property along
the -renernl trend of the fracture~~~~ ~ zone.~~ How---- ever, tlic esq~loratorywork on these ehqIosures was t.oo linlitctl to intliorrte thoir extent. rllle 1 ore from Llie productive deposit was miued in an opencut or pit about 80 feet long ' and 35 to 40 feet wide. The cut had reached a maximum depth of about 18 feet below tho : surface when risited in April 1954. The best orc appeared to be localized nlong the rvnlls of ':\ the fracture zone. This hi her grade materinl, i ranging up to 5 feet in wit7 th, constituted tho 1 : ore that was shipped to the Wenden purchasing ?.#i dcYt.he pr~nclpal . . manganese minerals were the .)s common oxides, pyrolusite predominating. The c''. gangue consisted of wall-rock inclusions, cnlcite, 5 and quartz. . . , FIGURE6.-Surface Plan, Blnck Queen Mine. The ore was broken by vertical blast holes ~..,.., _...:_ ..- . (.. . , (2 ..I,. . . . DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 23 drilled along the face of the pit with a jack- APACHE AND DULCY CLAIMS (GALLAGHW AND hammer-type rock drill. The broken ore was FLYNN GROUPS) loaded into trucks with a asoline-driven front-end londer. When visite f late in April The Apache and Dulcy properties, comprising 1951, about 40 tons of ore was being mined adjoining grou s of tno claims each, nre held daily. under locntion eyJ. ~:~ouse,of Agoila. The claims are about 16 miles south of Aguila BLACK RAVEN AND CROW GROUPS (PITTSBURGH approximutely in unsw-vej;ed sec. 29, T. 5 N., GROUP) R. 9 Ti. They are nccess~bleover a side road about 2 miles long that branches soutl~westfrons Thc Blnck Raven and Crow properties com- the ninin graded road 2 niiles west of the Black prise adjoining groups of unpatented claims Rock KO. 1 mine. about 18 miles southwest. of Aguila in sec. 1, T. The property, originnlly lmo\m ns the 4 N., R. 10 W. The properties can be reached Gnllngher and Flynn group, wns locntcd during over a side rontl tlmt brnnclies eust from the the Fint World War. In 1918 the prodnction main road nbout 16 miles soutliwcst of Aguiln. totaled npproximately 70 tons of sorted ore The clni~nscover the nrea that wns known as containing 40 ercent manganese. The claims the Pittsburgh group during World Wnr I. were reloented!y J. N. House in 1951. During They were relocated in 1940 and cnlled the 1953 lessees sh~ppednbout 250 tons of ore, Wisconsin group. There nre no records show- containing about 18 ercent manganese, to the ing that any ore wns shipped from the property Wenden stockpile. f;n April 1964 the claims until 1953. The six claims comprising the were lensed to Frank hlcElrath, of Long Beach, Black Raven and Crow groups mere relocated Calif.. who was ~re~arineto o~erate the A. - in I951 by J. K. House, of Aguila. When property. visited in April 1954, the Blnck Raven claims Ore hnd been mined from 2 veins nbout 750 were lensed to H. R. Miller nnd Hans Christo- feet apart, striking north, with steep reverse ferson, and the Crow group mas leased to W. H. dips. The east vein, which is on the Dulcy Bracken. During 1953 and the enrly part of No. 2 clnim, occurs along a contnct between 1954 about 500 tons of ore wns shipped from the granite and andesite. Ore had been mined in 2 groups to the Wenden stockpile. Most of this rein from an opencut nbout i5 feet long this ore, containing 20 to 25 percent manganese, and 30 feet deep. The opening mnged from was mined from the Blncli Rnven group. 2.5 to 4 feet in width and followed the better Manganese mineralization occurs on the mineralized footwall portion of the rein. Lower properties in 10 or more ,veins and frncture grade mineralization, consisting of nnrrow zones cutting.the older schistose and granitic seams of mangnnese oxides surrounding brecci- rocks. The mineralized fractures range from 1 ated fragments of andesite, occur dong the to 8 feet in width and vary midelyin nttitude, eastern side of the cut. As exposed in places some striking north and dipping steeply wcst- on the surface, this zone of lower grnde min- wan1 antl others striliinr east and dipping cri~lizntionwns as much ns 30 feet wide. A moderately southwnrd. hee of the wider corer of soil prevented trncing the zone for nny veins were e-xposed for several hundred feet ap leciable distance along the strike. along the strike. !he Test vein, which is on the Apache claim, Ore had been mined in scattered opencuts occurs in granite and is exposed along the strike from 4 of the veins on the Black Rnven group for about 400 feet. It ranges from 3 to 4.5 feet and from 2 veins on the Crow claims. in width and dips steeply westward. Ore had Scvernl hnndred tons of ore contnininglcss than been mined dong the northern half of the vein 15 percent nianganeso was stockpilr~lon the from n series of disconnected o encuts antl pits Lliat reachcd depths of 25 feet. This vein i Black Raven group. The operators intended furnished the bulk of the ore produced from the to hnve this ore concentrated in a mill being , property. , built a few miles to the north by the Thomas Other less prominent outcrops of mnn- Mining & Milling Corp. When visited early in nniferous mnterinl were found on the claims, - April 1954, 5 men mere employed in exploratory gut the work on these consisted essentinlly of . work on the Blnck Rnven group, and 3 men discowry pits. were mining and sorting ore on the Crow clnims. The principal manganese minernl is pyro- The manganese oxides, chiefly pyrolusite nnd lusite, with some psilomelane. The gangue is psilomelane, occurred in the fracture zones as composed lnrgely of wnll-rock frngments and calcite. j rather persistent veinlets up to 6 inches in ; width and in nnrrow seams surrounding brecci- AMrnICAN ; ated frngments of the wall rocks. Calcite was The American group comprises four un- 1 abundant in dl the veins. patented claims approximately in unsurveyed L. 24 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA sec. 20, T. 5 N., R. 9 W. The property is gnnese oxides. The qineralized portion of tho accessible over a short side road that branches zone ranges from 30 to 50 feet in width and is t east from the southeast fork of the main road traceable for about 100 feet along the strike. f about 15 miles southwest of Aguila. The ore was mined in an opencut or pit about ; The claims were located onginally in 1939 by 80 feet long and as much as 50 feet wide. The ; J. B. Webb and John Rogen. In 1952 they deepest part of the pit mas not more than 25 : mere acquired b the present owner, Northfleet feet below the outcrop. Knnbe, of A~u&. When the district mas vis- Pyrolusite is the dominant manganese min- ited in April 1954, the propert was idle, but eral. The principal gangue constituents are un- it recently had been optioned to $. L. Robinson, replaced fragments of country rock, calcitc, and of Wickenburg, Ariz., who e.qected to start quartz. exploration work in the near future. A rela- tively small amount of ore was produccd from LIONS Dm I some of tho claims, but the tonnage and grade The Lions Den property, com rising two ' mere not known. nnpntented claims, is in sec. 35, '!. 5 N., R. Manganese mineralization on the property 10 W. The property can be reached over a occurs in three veins or fracture zones trending side road about 2 miles long that branches north and cutting andesite. The fractures are southwest from the west fork of the main rood separated by intervals of 200 to 500 feet, dip 16 miles southwest of Aguila. steeply westward, and range from 2 to 15 feet The claims were located in 1952 by Alton in width. The west fracture,of the series was Powell and Hal Richardson, of Aguila. In 1953 exposed in a shallow opencut for about 50 feet they were leased and operated by F. A. Sitton, along the strike. The higher grade materinl in of Phoeniu. When the area was visited in the cut ranged from 2 to 4 feet in width. The April 1954, the property was reported to be outcrop of the central mineralized fracture, under option to the Aguila Mining & Milling about 200 feet to the east, is traceable for 150 Co. Available information indicated that 500 feet and ranges from 10 to 15 feet in width. to 600 tons of mill ore was produced- from -the This deposit had been e-xplored by a discovery claims during 1953 and the early part of 1954. pit nnd several cuts. The east fracture was Some of. this ore was shipped to the Wenden exposed in a single opencut about 500 feet stockpile, but the greater part was concen- northeast of the west vein. The cut crossed 6 trated in the Aguila mill of the Haquahala feet of well-mineralized materinl. The outcrop Milling Co. The roperty was inactive when of this deposit was covered with soil, SO the visited in mid-~prf1954. lateral extent of the mineralization could not Manganese mineralization on the claims be traced for any appreciable distance bcyond occurs in brecciated zones trending north in the opening. andesitic lava. The mineralized portion of the The manganese minernls comprised a mixture principal deposit ranges from 10 to 25 feet in of the common oxides occurrinn ns strands and width and is exposed for about 100 feet along narrow seams surrounding i~lcrudedfragments the strike. Ore had been mined don the of the brecciated wall rock. southern end of the zone in an opencut ancf from NO. an inclined shaft. The opencut was 6 to 10 KNABE 6 feet wide, about 25 feet long, and 10 feet deep. The Rnabe No. 6 property comprises two The shaft, at the north end of the cut, was about unpatented claims approximately in unsurveycd 25 fect deep. Both openings followed the foot- sec. 6, T. 4 N., R. 9 W. The claims adjoin tho wall of the breccin, where the better mincrnli- Crow group and can be rencl~edover a side road zation a peured to be localized. About 250 about 2 miles long that branches east from the feet nort1 east of the opencut the soil cover had main road 16 miles southwest of Aguila. been stripped from the top of another mnn- The property was located in 1952 by North- ganese-bearing breccin. As ex osed by the fleet Knabe and later leased to F. A. Sltton and stripping, this zone is mineralize 1for about 150 J. E. Robinette, of Phoenix, Ark. During 1953 feet alon the strike and ranges up to 30 feet in the lessees mined 500 to 1,000 tons of ore con- width. ippnrently no material had been taining 8 to 10 percent manganese. This ma- mined from this deposit. terial was concentrated in the custom mill of The manganese minerals, consisting of a : the Harquahala Milling Co. in Aguila. The mixture of the common oxides, occur in irregu- property was inactive when visited in April 'lar masses and narrow seams surrounding the 1954. brecciated fragments of country rock. Tho The principal deposit is a northerly trending principal an ue constituents, in addition to shear or brecciated zone in granitic rocks con- the unrepf ace 8 framents of wall rock, are cal- taining innumerable veinlets and seams of man- cite and uon oxides. ... -- . , ,.. ,.: ',.,' .. .. , :. . DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 25 WEBB CLAIMS from United States Highway No. 66 and .from The Webb group comprises three un atented the south b im roved dirt roads branahing claims in sec. 25, T. 5 N., R. 10 6.The north from Jnitef states Highways Nos. 60-70 ropert is acceZsible over a short side road that and 89. The deposits in the southeastern part Eaves tKe west fork of the main road about 15 of the county are most readily accessible from miles southwest of Aguiln. both Wenden and Con ess, Ariz. Both of The claims, located originally in 1939 by these communities nre sgyinR points on the J. B. Webb, were acquired by tlle present owner, Atchison, Topeka & Santa e adway and are Northfleet Knabe of Aguila, in 1952. So far some 40 miles by road from Alamo crossing on as known, no ore has been shipped from the the Bill Williams River. This river is the only pTopertp. fIowever, durin the course of con- perennial stream in tho region and during slderab e evploratory morf in 1953 several flood periods may be impassable for weeks at a thousand tons of low- rade manganese ore was time. At such times the area can be reached mined and stockpilccf on tl~cproperly. The from Yucca about GO miles north of the River. owner expected to havc this ore conccntratcd Durihg 1053 two new crossings, known ns tho upon the completion of a mill being built in the Brown and Black Diamond crossings, were vlcinity by the Thomas hIinin 9 Milling Co. built across the river above Alnmo. The former is about 3 miles upstream from Alamo, No work was in progress when tfl e property was visited in April 1954. and the latter is approximately one-half mile Manganese mineralization on the claims farther east. The deposits along the eastern occurs in two fracture zones trending west and side of the Artillery Mountains region are cutting andesitic lava. The zones are about 75 most readily accessible from the new crossings, feet apart and dip steeply southward. The whereas those in tlle western part of the area northern fracture is about 20 feet wide and is can be reached more readily by crossing the exposed for 150 feet along the strike. The river at Alnmo (fig. 9). southern zone ranges from 15 to 20 feet in width The deposits in the southwestern part of the and is exposed for about 60 feet along the strike. county near the Colorado River are accessible Both deposits had been explored by opencuts. on unimproved desert roads that branch south The cut on the north zone mas approximntely from United States Highway No. 66 a few 100 feet long, 10 to 20 feet wide, and about 12 miles east of Topock, Ariz. feet below the surface at its deepest point. The opening on the south deposit wns about 60 HISTORY feet long, 3 to 10 feet deep, and 15 to 20 feet Though the occurrence of mangnnese in wide. Mohave County was known much earlier, the The manganese oxides, chiefly pyrolusite, deposits were of no economic interest until 1914 occur in the fracture zones as irregular bunches after the outbreak of World War I. Mnny and veinlets and in narrow seams surrounding clnims were located during this period, and the brecciated fragments of the country rock. the first orc appears to have been shipped in Calcite is abundant in the mineralized portions 1917 ' from n group of claims near the Colorado of the fracture zones. River some 35 miles south of Topock. The first known shipments from the Artillerg MOHAVE COUNTY Mountains were mnde in 1928, when about 4 carloads of sorted ore containing 41 to 45 The principal manganese deposits in Mohave percent manganese was shipped from the orig~- County occur in the southern part of the county nnl Black Warrior group. These claims are north of the Bill Wllllarns River and along the said to have been the first locations in the area Colorado River south of To och A few other and originally were held by one of the Rodgers kolated occurrences have geen -. found in the brothers, of Alamo. In 1928 the Black Warrior central and extreme northwestern parts of the claims were known as the Graham property. county (fig. 7). The most noteworthy depos~ts At present they comprise a part of what is are the manganiferous sediments of the Artil- commonly called the McGregor deposit. lery Mountalns region near the southeastern In 1928 Mack C. Lake examined the deposits corner of the county. This region is generally in the Artillerg Mountains region and, recog- recognized as containing one of the largest nizing their irnportanco, interested the Chapm reserves of low-grade man anese bearing ma- Bros., of Chicago, who formed the Chapin terial in the United States (fg. 8). - . Explorntion Co. This company acquired about Southern Mohave County is a sparsely 1,700 acres of promising ground in the central inhabited semiarid region characterized by part of the area and explored some of. the out broad desert valleys bordered by isolated crom durine 1929. The following ~enrD. W ,mountain ran s The re 'on is accessible from the north%+ desiit roa% branching south
DESCRIFTION OF ' DEPOSITS and R. J. Roberts, of the Federal Geological War and continued through 1945. Authentic Survey, in cooperation with B. N. Webber, records of this early praduction are not com- geologist for the M. A. HmaCo. plete. Estimates indicate that duringtheabove Between November 1940 and June 1941 the periods some 5,000 tons of high-grade sorted Federal Bureau of Mines explored an area cover- ore mas shipped from the county. Except for ing a part of the Maggie group.' The work a few hundred tons, all of this ore a pears to consisted essentially of surface trenching, the have been mined in the Artillery hKountains completion of 15 diamonddrill holes, and the from the original Black Warrior claims. The extension of an adit driven by the owners of earliest shipments (1928 to 1930) from this the property. Some ex~erimentalstoping was property were made in the name of W. H. done by the Bureau in the ad~tworkings to test Graham, and those during 1940 to 1945 were the strength of the ore and the overlyin6 beds shi ped by Norman W. McGregor. and to furnish ore for metallur ical testlng in 8urin the cycle of activity between January the Bureau's pilot plant at ~oJderCity, Nev. 1953 an$ December 31, 1955, the production Again, in 1949 the Bureau of Mines was of Mohave County totaled approximately authorized to undertake further exploration and 79,300 long tons of crude ore, averaging about underground development of the Maggie de- 18.5 percent manganese, and nearly 61,000 osit. The project work, which was begun in long tons of concentrates, averaging close to !uly 1949 and completed in July 1951, consisted 30 percent man anese. All of the crude ore essentially of additional diamond drilling and and virtually a% of the concentrates were the completion of some 2,100 feet of drifting shipped to the Government stockpile in either and crosscutting from 3 adits. The under- Weuden, Ariz., or Deming, N. Mex. ground work outlined and part1 developed a In addition to the crude ore shipped direct, suable block of ore in the bzggie deposit. estimates by the operators indicate that close About 2,000 tons of ore broken during the to 300,000 tons of ore was mined and milled, course of this work was shjpped to the Bureau's from which the 61,000 tons of concentrates ilot plant at Boulder C~ty,Nev., for metal- was recovered. The ore treated in the mile was &ical testing. mined largely from four deposits in the Artdlery In 1952, after the opening of the Government Mountains. ~urchasingdepots in Deming, N. Mex., and GEOLOGY Wenden, Ariz., manganese mining was resumed, and most of the more promising deposits in the The manganese deposits in Mohave County county eventually were placed in operation. occur as stratified or bedded deposits in sedi- During the next 3 years as many as 31 prop- mentary rocks and as veins and in sheared and erties produced ore, and 3 gravity concentrating brecciated zones that cut both igneous and plants were built along the Bill Williams River sedimentary rocks. The igneous rocks consist a few miles upstream from Alamo crossing. essentially of Precambrian granitesand basaltic Production reached its peak in 1954. The lavas probably of Tertiary a e The sedi- Wenden depot filled its prescribed allotment of mentary host rocks comprise %.aleozoic lime- 6 million long dry units of recoverable man- stones and beds of sandstone, clay, and con- ganese and closed on May 9, 1955. After the glomerate- that are considered to be of Tertiary dosing of the Wenden depot only a few prop- age. erties that fumshed ore to the mills continued The rocks in the Artill Mountains r ion to operate. The concentrates produced in the as named and described be~askyand WebT er " mills were shi ped to the Government purchas- include a basement of srecambrim runitel ing depot in 8eming, N. Mex., until that depot gneiss, and schist upon which rest 8 ew ex reached its quota and closed November 30,1955. posures of Paleozoic limestone and quartzite. When the area wes visited late in February Overlyin these older formations are several 1956, two of the larger mills on the Bill Wiiams thousanf feet of Tertiary sediments and vol- River were in operation and were shipping cnnic rocks, which are capped by younger their products under the Government carlot basalt flows. The Tertiary rocks, ~n order of ~urchasingprogram. age as subdivided by Lasky and Webber, include the Artillery formation, unnamed vol- PRODUCTION canics, the Chapin Wash formation, the Cob- webb basalt, the Sandtrap conglomerate, and Manganese was firat produced in Mohave the later basalts that now cap some of the larger County during the Fit World War and was mesas. mined intermittently through 1930. Production The Artillery formation consists of closed- was resumed m 1940 during the Second World basin deposits of reddish sandstone, clay, conglomerate, shale, some limestone and tuff,
8 Work cited h lmtmta L . . .$ 1 @ MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA and,a, widespread basalt member. In places some of the outcrops, the zone otheee re .th@Artillerybeds attain an estimated tliickness mains unexplored, and little or nothing 1s .of 2,500, feet. The Chnpin Was11 formation, known concerning its potentiality. which contains the principal manganese-bearing The deposits in the upper zone occur chiefly .beds,,:,is,.,:over 1,500 feet thick at its widest along the southern flank of the Artillery Moun- gointpd consists of alluvial-fan and playa tains, where they have been explored more or depos!ts :composed largely of sandstone, clay, less conti~~ouslyalong the str~kefor over 6 mudstone, and con$omernte. The different miles. The zone is made up of a succession of beds, inlathe formation mnge in color from mnngnnifcrous beds and ler~sesseparated by pe;througli reddish brown to bluck and in barren beds. Botli tlie manganese-bearing and plnces, contain luycrs of white tufi and lime- the bnrren beds vary vently in thickness and stone. Tlie reddish beds owe their color to in the number of eaciP that may be present iron :o~?esand the black beds to mananesc within different pnrts of the zone. In places oxides. A lava flow, known us the cobebb severnl relatively thick manganiferous beds basalt, rests upon the Cliapin Was11 formatiou. may bcscpurnted by only a few tlii barren beds, This basalt is up to 250 feet tliick and is over- mid in other places the barren beds may be lain by the Snndtrap conglomerate, a light- to thicker and more numerous than the mineralized dark-red rock consisting of sandstone and clay, layers. Tlie zone ranges from a few feet to ns with abundant pebbles rangin; from a qunrter nmch as 350 feet in thickness. Diamond drilling of an inch to several inclies ~n dinmeter, and indicates an average tliicla~essof about 65 feet occa~onnlbouldem us much as G feet in diam- in an area of over 1,000 acres. Drill holes have eter. After deposition of the Snndtrap con- disclosed tliat tlie zone extends for at lenst a glomerate, bnsalt flows covered much of the mile down the dip. area. Faulting and erosion ha\-e since esposed Five major faults, striking northwest, cross the underlying rocks and the mnngnniferous the region. Some of these have vertical dis- outcrops. placements of as much as 300 feet. Minor ,.Other deposits beyond the Artillery Moun- faulting with vertical displacements from a few tains r ion in southern bIohave and northem feet to 30 feet are quite common in many of the Yuma 2ounties occur in sandstones and con- exposures. glomerates similar to those found in the Some beds are virtually horizontal, and thoso Artillery Mountains. that are folded or faulted may. dip. as much as , . . . ,, . . .. 50". The chief manganese minerals in the unaltered -.: /..:"' ' .:..I MANGANESE OCCURRENCES bedded deposits are amorphous, wadlike oxides :' The"hdwn deposits in the Artillery Moun- intermixed with the detrital material composing @is':region of hlohave County occur in an the beds. These original mangnnese minerals area..roughly 8 miles long and some 3 miles are considered to have been trans~ortedand de- wide tbai hes northwest of the Bill Williams posited at the same time that th'e sediments in Rirqnear .the estreme southenstern comer of wluch they occur were laid down and thus form the.co$t$ Most of the mnjor mnnganiferous what are known as syngenetic deposits. Since outcr&~n' the area are in the foothills along deposition the beds have been altered, and pnrts the'southern flank of tlie Artillery hIountnins of some have been enriched by the introduction and across the valley near the northern side .of additional manganese minerals. This sec- of the Rawhide Mountains. ondary or supergene enrichment is believed to The ~ulcipnltypes of deposits in the re ion have been accomplished by circulating ground Gbr';clf Bedded or stratilied deposits, w&ich waters which leached the original manganese occur'.k "arts of the Chapin Wash formation from some areas and redeposited it in others, 'aiid Qi:i$!esier extent in parts of tlie Artillery largely in tlie form of psilomelane and mnn- , and Sandtrap formations, and (2) deposits that gnnite. This enriched material is called "hard .-.i ~ ' the north side of the Countyandalso in Mohave County somo dis- . some . Iow- tance west of the Artillery Mountains. . . .:,:., .:. ., The vein and .fracture;zone deposits in: the r ...... DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 31 region occur chiefly in the Artillery and Sand- the balance containing less than 15 percent was trap formations. The ore in the simple veins concentrated ili.local mills. occurs in comparatively narrow and short lentic- Reserves in the rest of Mohave County con- ular bodies distributed erratically along steeply taining 15 percent or more manganese ns iudi- dipping fissures that cut the formations. More cated from present exposures are estimated to extensive deposits have been,found in zones of be about 20,000 tons. shearing, faulting, and brecclation. This type Ln e outcrops of low-grade manganese-bear- of occurrence may consist large1 of a complex ing s%nentnry rocks have been found within network of seams and veinlets dled with man- a radius of about 20 miles west and northwest ganese oxides, which surround the fragments of of the Artillery Mountains. These deposits the enclosing rocks. Deposits of this nature are largely unexplored, and their avemge grnde have been found in the sedimentary beds and and full extent remain to be determined. .in the basalt nlemben of these beds. Where the mnnganiferous bedded deposits are cut by ARTILLERY MOUNTAINS REGION zones of fracturing or faulting, some of the beds have been enriched. MOHAVE hiINING & MILLING CO. In contrast to the bedded deposits, the mnn- ganese minerals in the veius and fracture zones The ,Molleve Mining & Milling Co. operates mere introduced after the roch in which they a 600-ton gravity concentrating plant in occur were deposited. Mohave County and a 1,000-ton combination The better ore in the veins and related types heavy-media-flotation mill and a sinteriig is generally found close to the surface. As plant in Yavapai County. A eneral office is greater depths are reached, the Lgher maintained at Wickenburg. 5. F. Lynn is ore in the veins generally gives way to Ydeower president, W. R. Ensley is general manager, gmde material. and A. B. Campbell is secretary and treasurer. During 1954 and 1955 the company con- RESERVES ducted mining operations on the Priceless and Price groups in Mohnve County and on mines On the basis of the exploratory work com- in Marimpn and Yavapai Counties. pleted up to June 1941, Lasky a estimated the When operations were begun, the ow was reserves in the Artillery Mountains region as concentrated in a log washer on the north bank follows: of the Bill Willinms River. Erection of a 600- As computed from drill-hole data, supplemented by ton concentmting plant on the same site was samples collected for the purpose by the Geological completed before the end of the year (tlg, 10). Survey and by measurements of areal extent and thick- The plant includes tables, jigs, and heavy- . ness beyond the limits of the diamond drilling, all interpreted in the light of geologic study, the upper media separation; the flowsheet is shown m zone (Chapin Wash formation) contains at lenst figure 11. 175,000,000 tons avenging 3.5 to I percent manganese. Since January 1, 1956, the company has It is estimated that of this total 70,000 tons contains 20 ceased mining operations and is engaged ex- percent or more of manganese, 450,000 tons contains 15 percent or more, somewhat over 2,000,000 tons coa- clusively in beneficiation of manganese ore on a tnins 10 percent or more, and 15,000,000 to 20,000,OM) custom basis. tons contains 5 percent or more. About 15,000,000 tons is hard (supergene) ore averaging 6.5 percent man- PRICELESS AND PRICE GROUPS ganese, about IO,OOO,MM tons is manganiferous sand- stone averaging about 3.5 percent, and about 60,000,000 The Priceless and Price groups, comprising tons is manganifemus clay averaging about 3.5 or 4 percent. 42 unpatented claims, were Located by the - Further exploration of known ore bodies may increase Arizona Manganese COT. in 1937 and mended these estimates, and additional ore bodies may bepres- in 194?. Tlre Corporation leased 19 of these ent in the many square miles as yet unexplored. It is claims to Charles Hart and H. F. Lynn. Later, probably safe to soy that the area contains an assured S. Borden became associated in this. lease, minimum of 200.000.MM tons averaging 3 to 4 percent G. manganese, of which about 20,000,000 tons cantaim 5 which soon thereafter was subleased to Mohave percent or more manganese and 2,W0,000 to 3,000,000 Mining & Milling Co. The latter company tona contains 10 percent or more. To what extent operated the Priceless and Price pits during theae deposits may become r source of mangnnese is a 1954 and 1955. metallurgical and economic problem. F In January 1956 the comoanv discontinued Since these estimates were made in June 1941 mining openitions, which no\; or; conducted by approximately 372,000 tons of ore was mined other operators. up to Janu 1956 from the Artillery Moun- The combined production of the Priceless and . tains area. 3f this amount, some 77.000 tons Price pits for the 3 yean 1953 through 1955 has containin 15 percent or more manganese was been approximately 51,000 long tons of con- shipped fiect to the Wenden stockdle, and centrates averaging 29 percent manganese. It is estimated that about 170,000 tonsof rawore - DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS into the out:rop on the east side of Bum Wash, p-hich here is a steep-walled canyon about 50 feet deep. Later in 1954 the Mohave Mining & Milling Co. took over the property, stripped the over- burden, and in 1955 worked the deposit as an open pit. In December 1955 the pit was a proximate1 90 feet long and 50 feet wide; tgl maximum $.e~ght of the face mas 30 feet. The floor of tbe torkings is just above the creek bed, and the stub ends of the original ndits are ex osed in the face of the pit. hganesemineralization occurs in the upper pnrt of the Clmpin Was11 formation. The top of the ore bed is an undulating erosion surface corered with recent gravel. A thickness of about 30 feet of this gravel hns been stripped for about 35 feet in advance of the present pit face. The ore, in general, is soft and friable; the harder but relatively fine-grahed manganese oxides occur nlong the fracture and joint planes. The manganese content appears to decrease nlong the outcrop south of the pit area. Stovall, while o erating the deposit, passed the ore through a f og washer to bring it up to salable grade, but the Mohave Co. beneficiates tbe.ore in its gravity concentrating plant on the Bill Williams River. Approximatel 200 feet east of the face of YO". I,, the pit and 60 Peet above, cuttings from a 20- FI~URE11.-blill Flowsheet, blohave Xining Sr Milling foot wagon-drill hole showed fair manganese Co. minerali~at~ion.In February 1936 the operator reparing to strip this area. About 200 Blast holes approximately !?f:inches in di- feetlVas P arther east an opencut 125 feet long and ameter are drilled with detachable bits set with 15 feet high has been excavated on the north- tungsten-cnrbide inserts on 1%-inch drill steel east side of a smnll hill; the cut shows strineers in lengths up to 24 feet. Compressed air is of manganese oxides in fine-grained sandstone furnished by dieseldriven portable compressors. dipping 45" NW. Vertical holes spaced about 6 feet apart are drilled from the top of the benches, which WORLD MANGANESE F. uwully are 25 to 30 feet high. Horizontal holes COUP. (SUCCESSOR TO A. are used in rounds drilled from the bottom of SITTON) the benches. Tho ore drills and breaks readily. About December 1055 the World Manganese Holes are loaded with cartridges of 40 percent Corp., ol California, acquired an o tion to golatin powder and dotonntetl with dulry-~ction urcl~aseall the htol~aveCount ho fdin of (millisecond) electric blasting caps. 5. A. Sitton, including the Mcde or, Xmo A front-end loader fills 15-ton trucks for Queen, Black Diamond, Black I%&, and transportation to the mill. Blossom properties, the heavpedia and log- washing plants on the Bill W hams River, and Price Workings the lease on the Needle E e claims. The The Price workings are in the SW%NW% corporation also had obtnined' ,leases from the sec. 12, T. 11 N., R. 13 W., on Burro Wash, Arizona Mnngnnese Corp. eoverln the Shannon about.600 feet muthenst of the Priceless it. and Lone Star g~oups. World dangnnese also Before 1942 the Arizona Manganese 'Gorp. obtained an optlon from A1 Stovall on the had explored the deposit by an ad~tand brunch Spring mine in northern Yuma County. drifts, a combined length of 250 feet. In 1953 The enterprise is operated under the direction and 1954 A1 Stovall, working under a lense, pro- of Macafee 4 Co., consulting engineers, of Los duced from the area several hundred tons of Angeles, Cahf. 0.L. Jaggers is president of log-washed ore. This ore was mined from a the corporation, and Bruce McDonell, of series of five lqe, closely spaced adits drives Maatfee & Co., is resident engineer...... MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA In February 1856 tho ~llamoQucen and one of the Rod crs brothers, of Alnmo. During Needle Eye pits were producing ore, and the First worb War they were acquired by preparations were being made to convert one W. J. Graham and associates, who prospected of the Black Diamond underground workings parts of the deposit but did not ship any ore. into an open-pit operatio~l Some ore was produced in 1928, and a year later the Chapin Exploration Co. obtained an McGregor option on the claims, which were incorporated The McGregor property, also known as the with their other holdings and surveyed for Black Warrior, Graham, and Bi Jim, is in the patent. Later the Black Warrior group was W% sec. 33, T. 12 N., R. 13 #., and. can be returned to the former owners., In 1939 Nor- ;; reached over a mile of road that branches north man W. McGregor acquired a part of the group from the Brown crossin road approximately 5 and operated intermittent1 until late in 1945. .? miles northwest of the %ill Williams River. In 1952 F. A. Sitton, -of $hoenix, Ariz., pur- .; The original claims, the Black Warrior Nos. chaaed the McGregor holdings and ac uirod 1 and 2, were located in the early 1900's by ~ewson some of the adjoining Warrior Qaim. 3 . ., MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA The following year Al Stovall, of Phoenix, surface. To reach some of the hard ore it was obtained a lease from Sitton and built a log- necessary to strip as much as 90 feet of the washing plant for treating, the ore on the Bdl overlying low-grade manganiferous sediments. Williams River near Brown crossing. Stovall Heavy earth-moving equipment, including bull- operated the property until early in 1955, when dozen, rippers, and carryall scrapers, were used S~ttontook it over and continued to mlne and in both stripping and mmng the ore. The mill the ore until shortly before the closing of overburden and the ore were soft enough that the Deming purchasing depot in November they could be broken sufficiently by rippers to 1955. A short time later Sitton transfel~edhis permit loading with carryalls. F. A. Sitton interest to the World Manganese Corp. estimated that some 70,000 tons of ore had The first known shipments of ore from the been mined in this manner and concentrated in property were made in 1928; shipments were log washers. agam resumed in 1940 and continued inter- mittentl through 1945. Authentic records of Needle Eye this ear7' y production are incomplete. Esti- The Needle Eye group of two unpatented mates indicate that perhaps as much as 5,000 claims is near the eastern end of the Artillery tons of sorted high-grade ore was shipped be- Mountains district in the north central portion fore 1946. Production from 1953 through 1955 of sec. 7, T. 11 N., R. 12 W. The property is amounted to approximately 9,350 long tons of accessible over a road about a mile long that log-washed concentrates, which averaged 33.8 runs north from the Black Diamond crossing. percent manganese. Over 80 percent of these The claims werelocated in 1940 by the present concentrates was shipped to the Government owner, R. S. Rodgers, of Alamo. Earl in urchasing depot in Wenden, Ariz., and the 1954 they were leased to J. E. Robinette, I? T. Ealance to the depot in Deming, N. hlex. The Evans, and D. C. Evans. Later that year the property was' idle when the district was visited lease was acquired by F. A. Sitton and in in Febmary 1956. December 1955 was transferred to the World The deposit is in the upper ma?ganiferous Manganese Corp. Production from the prop- zone of the Chapin Wash format,~on,which erty at the end of 1955 totaled 476 long tons crops out in the area alon a broad belt several of sorted ore averagin 21 percent manganese thousand feet long. In pacesf on the property and approximately 711K ong tons of concentrates the .maximum exposed thickness of the ma?- containing 31 to 40.2 percent manganese. The gamferous zone is some 90 feet. The beds in crude ore was shipped to the Government the zone dip gentl southwest and in part, at purchasing depot in Wenden, Ariz. Most of least, rest upon t ge older granitic rocks. A the concentrates were produced in the Sitton high hill west of the pit workii is capped by mill during the latter part of 1955 and were a remnant of the Cobwebb bas$. shipped to the purchasing depot in Deming, The ore mined from the deposit occurred in N- . . -Mex. - ... . parts of the manganiferous zone, where the The World Manganese Corp. was operating original bedded material evidently had bccn the pro erty in February 1856 and was mining enriched along a series of minor parnllel faults and milying several hundred tons of ore daily. lying adjacent to a major zone of faulting Manganese mineralization occurs iq a com- known as the Common Corner Fault. Near plcx pattern of fractures and irregular bunches the north end of the pit workings 5 of tho along a steeply dipping shear zone cutting both minor faults are e.xposed in a zonc about 250 the sandy beds of the Artillery formation and feet wide trending southeast. Thc fault frac- a basalt member of thnt formation. The zone tures dip 60' to 70°SW. and displace thc bods crops out on a steep hillsidc and is exposed for downward in that direction in a series of stops. approximately 250 feet northwest along its The vertical displacement on the individual str~keand over a width of as much as 150 feet. fractures ranges from 6 to 20 feet (fig. 14). The manganese minerals, largely. hard psilorn- The enriched material, largely hard psilom- elane and manganite, occur in fractures ranging elane, occurs along the fault fractures in veinlike from mere seams to veinlets several inches in , deposits and in the segments of a lower bed lyin width. In some par& of the zone the mineral- , between the faults. The hard ore in eacB I ized fractures are .closely spaced and form ranges from 2 to 6 feet in width. hands and sporadic masses of ore several feet ; The ore produced before 1953 was selectively wide and tens of feet long. mined in o encuts and adits driven along the The deposit was, mined in 2 benches from hi~herpa cr e portions of the steeply dipping an irre dar open pit some 200 feet long, 150 *, : m~neral~zedfractures. The ore produced later feet wi 2e, and as much as 60 feet deep. The ,:,? . - was mined along the strike in an arc-shaped minerahation in the upper 25-foot bench ;: open pit about 1,600 feet long, u to 250 feet occurs in basalt, which appeared to dip gently < ... wide, and in places..s much as 90 Peet below the southwest. The lower bench for the most part . ..'; ,. ;. .~ . : ...... , ..I . ><& ...... 3. &*:.:,*.,?..: ;: 8...... , .. ' DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS FZGUBE14.-Plan and Section, McGregor Pit. ,. ' ...... 38 NANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA ..!....- 37 was in the sandy sedimentary beds underlying drill supplied with 500 C. f. m. of air by$$ the basalt. '~ portable compressor,, The blast holes mere,?(; Blast holes were dried with a wagon drill, about 2 inches in d~ameterand mere loaded.!.; using 1%-inch round steel with tungsten- with cartridges of 40 percent gelatin and'? carblde bits. Compressed air was supplied by detonated by delay-action electric blasting'': a portable compressor. A diesel-powcrcd front- cnps. A4uch of the deposit originally was lt, end loader was used for loading tho broken ore covered with several feet of detritnl ov~rburde~.' :3 into trucks for transportation lo the mill. This wns removed in ndvnnce of tlrc pit openings .,), by bulldozers and carryall scmpers. ,% Alamo Queen (Manganosite) ' ,.... . b: . Black Diamond ~ro"~ ..,! Tlie Alamo Queen de osit is on an un atcnted claim known as the ?v Panganosite in tf re NEf: The Black Diamond roup comprises 22 sl; sec. 6, T. 11 N., R. 13 W. The mina workings contiguous, un atented c7 aims in sec. 6, T. j: are a few hundred yards north of the Brown 11 N., R. 12 2,with a slight overlap into the $, crossine--~~~~-- about 7 miles northwest of the Bill adjoining section to the north and south. It .- Williams River. is accessible by asteep 2%-miledirt road north ':: The claim was located in 1953 bv E. W. from the Black Diamond crossing on the BiU . . ,! ~atk-ofYucca, Ariz., and later purchased by Williams River. .; I?. A. Sitton, of Phoenix, Ariz. The latter These claims originall were located in .:; began operations in 1955 and after the comple- 1941 by George and Joe Lewis; the locations .,> tion of his heavy-media lnnt in Se tember were amended in 1953 by Claud Neal. Later 4; of that yew mined and mil f'ed several t Eousnnd Neal and C. C. (Pat) Patterson formed a tons of ore from the deoosit. The resultine partnership, exploited some of the more promis- .,:j concentrates, 3 or 4 carldads, were shipped in ing veins, and produced about 8,600 tons of .:i art to the Government purchasing depot in crude ore averaging 19.3 percent manganese. .: i!; beming, N. Mex., and in part under the cnrlot F. A. Sitton purchased the claims in 1955 and .!j purchasing program after the Deming depot produced approximately 600 tons of crude ore ..?, wns closed. Late in December 1955 the of similar grade. All this ore was shipped to ' <.; property and other the Wenden depot. During the remainder of :.! were acquired by his occupancy in 1955, after the Wendcn depot 'jl . - When the area was closed, Sitton continued to roduce ore, I: this cor oration was mining and milling several which wns concentrated in the &envy-media , 3 hundreg tons daily from the propert plant on the river. About December 1955 .: The deposit consists of a networ 7.c of seams World Manganese Corp. assumed control and i: and small podlike masses of mangnnese oxides soon thereafter temporarily suspended opera- .~,:.. . distributed erratically in an irregular zone of tions. -,1 .T shattered basalt. The basalt is a light-colored Black Diamond Workings.-Manganese min- ... vesicular rock apparently occurring as a member eralization has been localized in more or less ::> of the Sandtrap con lomerate The zone parallel fractures or veins within a fissure zone ',;i trends northwest thoug% relativeiy flat valley trending northwest and cutting the Artillery . ,-.> terrain lying along the base of the southwestern formation. Various workings and pros ect pits < side of a lava-cap ed plateau, known as have exposed mineralization along ti e zone. .'$.!?, Manganese Mesa. hemineralized area, as for approximately half a mile. :,~i . c~posedat the time of the visit, is about 1,000 Tlie principal operation has been the mine feet long and as much as 250 feet u6de. The that was opened and exploited by ;$ manganese-bearin fractures range from a and Neal. An 80-foot entry crosscuts fractlon of an inc% to several inches in width, and exposes numerous small fractures c and the podlike masses occasionally are several minor mineralization, a N. 35O W. ' feet in drameter. 2 feet wide, and the footwd vein The manganese miner&, chiefly hard wide. This latter vein dips 60° t silomelane and manganite, are readily freed It hns been opened by an adit level fy crushing from the enclosing basalt, and for to the south and about 250 feet to that renson the ore is amenable to simple west, and much of this explored lengt methods of gravity co?ceutration. sto ed to the surface (fig. 15). The ore was mined lo open pits, the largest 70-foot winze was sunk down of which is a proximately 750 feet long, 150 the footwd vein from the adit level. feet wide, an3 as much as 30 feet deep. It bottom of the winze a level was driven was broken in benches of various heights and southeast and 100 feet northwest. Sto loaded into trucks for transportation to the each side of the winze extended to the mill by a diesel-powered front-end loader. level. A 70-foot crosscut, driven enst . Holes were drilled with a s&-propelled wagon this level, intersects nearby mineralized, p ... .I. _. I DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS PLAN VIEW TRANSVERSE SECTION &-A' FIGUBE15.-Plan and Section, Major Black Diamond Workings. fissures. The east vein, di ping southwest, wash some 400 feet southeast of and about 30 appears to be the northeast si1 e of the minernl- feet below the mine entry. A 20-foot adit bed zone, ns the last 40 feet of the crosscut exposes 3 to 4 feet of fairly high-grade manp- penetrated barren sediments. A small sto e nese ore. This vein strikes N. 20' W., dl s that is now innccess~ble, extends from t Ple steeply east, and appears to widen with deptg. southeast end of the lower workiigs to the An 8-foot vein is exposed about 200 feet surface. southwest of this ndit and a little higher on the After Sitton took over the operation, work hillside. It is composed of vertical alternating was confined to production from the vein above bands of manganiferous material and white the adit level at the north end of the mine. cnlcite. An a&t was driven N. 18' W. on this A loading rnmo wns constructed on that level vein; at 45 feet the vein splits, one part swing- 150 feet kithi; the mine. The ore, broken in ing north. From this point to the face the the advancing open stope, was scrnped down m~nerahationdecreases. With the present to the ramp and into mine cm. The vein milling facilities, the man anese content of : also was opened by a continuous cut to a depth this vein appears to be too ?ow grade to minc. of 10 to 15 feet northwest to the brow of the Approximately 2,000 feet southeast of the hill. The end of the cut is npproldmately 400 major underground workings, a productive feet beyond the end of the mine workings. opencut has been developed in a vein associated ; The ore consists of hard manganese oxides with the same fissure-zone s stem. Tbe work- in stringers and ns irre ar nodules surround- ings are accessible by hdamile of steep, the conglomerate pebhK" es. The chief gangue nnrrow, truck trail that branches right from the minernl 1s calcite associated with small amounts rond to the principal workings 1.5 miles north ,' of qunrtz. of the Black Diamond crossing. Soon after acquiring this property, the World The vein crops out on the west side of a steep- Manganese Corp. temporarily suspended work walled canyon trending north. As the strike is in ths area and when visited in Februnry 1956 N. 17O W., the vein diverges only slightly from was~ ~~- formulatine ~- - -. olans to mine the entire width the come of the canyon. The maximum depth of the fissure zone in an o en pit o eration. of an opencut a proximatel 150 feet long is An extension of one of tge veins tiat traverse nearly 50 feet; t f e floor of tie cut is about 80 . .the developed area is exposed in the side of a feet above the road. The cut occupies the.full . , . .. ~.-.,..-,_.. , _., hlANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA width of the 6- to 8-foot vein, in which the best widely spaced veins and fracture zones that cut mineralization occurs in an 18- to 24-inch band the sedimentary beds of the Artillery formation. against the smooth conglomerate wall, which These occurrences are of the same type as those dips 70° NE. The manganese content dccreases found to the west on the Black Diamond claims. gradually toward the hanging wall. Five or more veins are ex osed on the Black A 60-foot raise in the vein was driven from Eagle group in an area rough i' y 1,000 feet wideand the face of ashort adit at road level to the opcn- 2,000 feet long. The mineralized fractures strikc cut above. Tho broke11 ore was drawn from northward and for the most part dip either ver- the opencut into the raise by a slushor hoist tically or very stccply west. Most of tho ore and scraper and ~iledup on tho floor of the was mined from two veins near the east side of stub adit. A diesel-powered front-end loa4er the property. Thc higher grade ore in the south filled the trucks for ans sport at ion to the mdl. vein had been mined in opencuts and from an As the raise was full of ore, the authors were ndit for about. 200 feet along the strike. Judged unable to inspect the vein at the ndit level, but by the width of the work, the ore ranged from the mineralization reportedly was similar to several inches to 3 feet in width. The south end that in the cut above. of the adit reaches a depth of approximately 40 The manganese minerals consisted entirely feet below the outcrop. In places open stopes of hnrd oxides, psilomelane and mangan,ite, extend from the ndit level to the surface. as nodules, fissure fillings, and nms Tho other principal underground workings aroundOCcurrin% t e breccia fragments, associated mainly are some 800 feet to the northwest and consist with cnlcite. of a drift extending about 100 feet northwest of About 1,500 feet northwest of this occurrence a crosscut adit of similar length extending a 170-foot adit follows a vertical vein trending northeast. The drift follows the hanging-wall northwest into the hillside. A 40-foot vert~cnl side of a fracture zone containing lenses of ore raise about 80 feet from the portal connects ranging from a few inches to 3 feet in width and with a shallow opencut on the surface. The up to 20 feet in length. One of these lenses had openeut exposes a mineralized lens a proxi been stoped upward for about 30 feet to the mutely 50 feet long and 2 to 4 feet wile. 1; surface. the adit the mineralizntion along the vein is Several hundred feet to the southwest other confined to stringers and small irregular masses manganiferous lenses are exposed in several seldom exceeding 6 inches in width. The chief places by pits and shnllow opencuts. According manganese minerals are pyrolusite and psilom- to George Lewis, several tens of tons of ore con- elane. The gangue is composed of calcite taining over 40 percent manganese was mined and pebbles and boulders of the conglomerate from one of these shallow openings. beds through which tho vein passes. On the west side of the property a wide, ver- tical fracture zone containing manganese min- Black Eagle Group eralization is exposed on the hillside about 2,000 The Black Eagle group of 12 contiguous feet east of the principal workings of the Black unpatented claims adjoins the Black Dinmond Diamond yuj. The course of the fracture group on the east and is mainly in the SWt: zone is out me by a shallow, dry wash dipping sec. 5, T. 11 N., R. 13 W., don thc top of the snnth high bluffs overlooking tho ~iiWilliams and htc in 1055 li'. A. Sitton dcvelopc'd an the Bi Sandy Rivers. The property is about opencut on this deposit. Where opened at road 3 rodmiles north of the river and can be level, the zone is 20 to 25 feet wide, strikes reached on the same steep winding road that N. 15O E., and has been mined to a maximum passes through the Black Diamond pro erty depth of 20 feet for about 100 feet up the hill- The claims were located in 1940 by 8eorge side. The vein material is manganiferous I and Joe Lewis. In 1950 the locations were calcite containin small nodules and irregular 1 amended by Geor e Lcwis, of Wenden, and inclusions of harf manganese odesand narrow : Claude Neal, of ~aqentinc,Ariz. During 3953 stringers of white calcite. and 1954 Lewis and Neal shipped about 356 Tho broken ore was drawn to road levcl by long tons of sorted ore contnin~ng28 percent a gasoline-powered double-drum slusher hoist man anese to the Government purchasing depot and scraper and loaded into trucks by a diesel- in dnden, Ariz. In 1955 F. A. Sitton accluired powered front-end loader. The ore' was trnns- the property but later that year transferred his interest to the World Manganese Corp. Some ported to the heavy-media plant at the river. ore was mined by Sitton and treated in his con- The fracture zone can be traced for some centratin plant. When the area was visited distnnie northward up the hillside, but it de- late in Fe5 ruary 1956, operations had been sus- creases in width to about 10 feet. A few minor pended temporarily. pits have been excavated on the extension of Manganese mineralization occurs in severnl the zone to the south. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 41 Shannon gnnese-bearing beds range from a few inches The Shannon group of three uo atented to 18 inches in thickness and usually are sepa- claints lies near the southwestern en P of the rated by unminernlized material of like thick- Artillery Mountains district in the unsurveyed ness. The zone appears to dip about 4s0 N. north half of sec. 1, T. 11 N., R. 14 W. The and in places contains steeper dipping manga- roperty is accessible on a short side road niferous fractures of various attitudes. At the {ranching northwest from the Yucca road time of the visit this zone had been crosscut about 7.5 miles nort.hwest of Alnmo crossing. by 3 opencuts spaced 200 to 400 feet apart in The original claims are said to have been a distance of some SO0 feet along the trend of located early in the district's history by Andy the mineralization. The cuts were about 20 Shannon.. Some yean later they were acquired feet wide, up to 100 feet long, and 15 to 20 1, the preseut owner, the Arizona Manganese feet deep at the face. The overburden had drp., of Chicago, Ill. As ori inally located, been str~ppedfrom the zone in several areas the oup consisted of nine cfaims, some of surrbunding the cots. The mineralized matc- whicfevtended north into sec. 36 owned by rial removed from the openings mas stockpiled the State of Arizona. Later the claims on the nenrb for future treatment in the conceutrat- State land were drop ed, and late in 1955 the ing p 9ant originally built by F. A. Sitton and locations were amen1 ed to cover the present recently acquired by the World Manganese group Corp. The first output of record was produced in The manganese minerals in the deposits con- 1954, when the pro ert was lensed by Ike sist essentially of wad, pyrolusite, and psilom- W. Kusisto, of Wic{en&ug, Ariz. At that elane. The wadliie oxides impregnate the time approsimately 50 tons of sorted ore sandy matrix and surround pebbles in the con- .averaging about 15 percent manganese was glomerate beds, whereas pvrolusite and psilom- shi ed to the Government purchasing depot elane are the most abundant alonu the frac- in wenden, Ariz. Late in 1955 the pro erty tures cutting the formation. The &ief gangue was held under a lense agreement by 8. L. minerals are calcite, quartz, and small amounts Jaggers of the World Manganese Corp. At of barite. the time of the visit in mid-December 1955 Lone Star the eastern part of the deposit was being es lored by the lessee. The Lone Star group of three un atented R~anganese mineralization occurs along a claims is at the northwestern end of t!e Artil- broad, irregular zone trendino east through lery hlountains district in NW% sec. 36 and the Sandtrn conglomerate. ~\ezone is min- SWt: sec. 25, T. 12 N., R. 14 W. That part eralized in p7 aces for nearly 2,000 feet along its of the group lying in sec. 36 is on land owned strike and up to 150 feet in width. It contains by the Stnte of Arizona. The claims in sec. 25 both mangnniferous beds and mangnnese- nre owned by the Arizona Manganese Corp., bearin fractures that cut the beds. of Chicago, Ill., and those in sec. 36 are held In tieK western end of the property tho zone by the same company under a lease from the crops out along a ridge exposing an irregular State. The property is accessible over some mineralized area rou hly 400 feet long and as 2 miles of road that branclles northward from much as 150 feet wife. In this area the man- the Yucca road about 7 miles northwest of ganiferous conglomerate beds have been dis- Alnmo crossing. turbed by faulting and folding so the dip of the The claims were acquired in the late 1930's zone as a whole is uncertain. The southern by the Arizona Manganese Corp. The first margin of the deposit is very irregulnr, and ore was produced during 1954, when the rop alluvium overburden lies adjacent to much of erty was leased to the Mohnve Mining &&ill- its northern side. To the west the mineralized ing Co. During that year the company did area tapers and pinches out entirely against some exploration work nnd mined a few hun- steeply dipping fractures striking east. Better- dred tons of ore, which was milled in its plant than-average grade material found alon, some on the Bill Williams River. The resulting con- of these fractures constituted the ore that was centrates, approsimately 70 long tons averag- ship ed to the Wenden depot. The workings ing 22.6 percent manganese, were ship ed to in tiis area were limited to a few shallow the Government purchasing depot in 19 enden, , opencuts and pits. Ariz. Late in 1955 a lease-option agreement Another manganese-bearing area several hun- on the property was obtained from the Arizona dred feet to the northeast is exposed in places hflanganese Corp. by 0. L. Jaggers of the for over 1,000 feet alon the strike. In several World Manganese Corp. opencuts where expose% it consists of mnngn- The deposlt occurs in a art of a basalt flow nlferous beds interlayered with barren beds that rests upon the San itrap conglomerate.' forming a zone up to 70 feet thick. The man- The basalt crops out for several hundred feet MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA along the east side of a steep bluff overlooking the dip from the outcrop. To the west, the the upper end of Sandtrap Wash. As exposed manganiferous bed was exposed in an area in thls area, the basalt is as much as 40 feet roughly 60 feet along the strike and 100 feet thick. However, the manganese mineraliza- alonw the dip. Several shallow pits and cuts tion is confined largely to a zone in the flow had %een excavated within the stripped areas. ranging from 6 to 10 feet in thickness, which Floyd Brown informed the writer that parts of occupies the upper part of the outcrop along these stripped areas, as well as those near the the top of the bluff. This mineralized member west end of the roperty, had been explored nppean to be more vesicular and scoriaceous by wagon-drill ho f' es. The cuttings from some than the underlyin barren basalts. It dips of these holes were said to have contained 12 to ently southwest an2 a short distance down the 15 percent manganese. %p is overlain by a light-colored barren basalt, The chief manganese mineral is amorphous which may be later in age. The northeastern wad rather unifornily distributed in the sand part of the mineralized area has been down- rains composing the bed. In places the bed thrown about 20 feet by a normal fault striking %as been enriched by stringers and small irreg- N. 60' W. and dippin about 60' NE. ular masses of the harder manganese oxides. The deposit had feen exposed largely by bulldozer strippin in an irregular area roughly Concentrating Plants 100 feet wide anf 400 feet long. In the area When F. A. Sitton began operations earl in exposed the manganese minerals, chiefly pyro- 1955, he moved the log-washing plant use d?' by lusite and some manganite, occur in seams, A1 Stovall from its original locatlon at Brown veinlets, and irregular masses distributed er- crossing to: the present site about one-half mile ratically in the basalt. Iron oxides and calcite upstream. The plant was constructed on a are the principal gangue minerals. mobile trailer unit. The flow sheet is shown in figure 16. Blossom Group The Blossom group, sometimes kno'm as the River View group, comprises three unpatented claims covering part of SEX sec. 12, T. 11 N., R. 13 W., and mtending into the extreme southwest corner of sec. 7, T. 11 N., R. 12 W. The oup lies in the bottom lands along the Bill %hams River about half a mile north of Brown crossing. The claims originall were located in 1912 by J. E. Rodgen and 8oy L. Fulton. During t 1954, 281 long tons of sorted ore averagin 17 7 ."O**EL ,C ercent manganese was ship ed by %loid y ., so- grown to the Government purcK. asmg depot in Wenden, Ariz. In June 1955 the claims were LoG-wf:c*h C"",*I"G*-- ROLLS purchased by F. A. Sitton and later that ear -1,.I C""1"C" were acquired by the World Manganese drp. The roperty was idle when the area was Y.ILI"O, COIYETO* .LLT Ix$ , visitea in February 1956. t near the eastern D 44 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA and some manganite occurring in a gangue of -SM' - -FL0.T - - - .La",- - - - calcite and quartz. The central part of the zone had been explored by 3 shallow opencuts ,...I,*, ranging from 10 to 25 feet in length. I0 t 2.. Approximate1 1 000 feet southeast of these 000 .TO" ,*EL .',Is' LO.-Hrl~ workings the aflu&m overburden had been 91i" D IClrrX 3'. 1' 1.10" stripped by bulldozers from areas several hun- o dred feet square. In part of these arcas the basalt contained widely spaced seams and small irregular bunches of manganese oxides. MAGGIE MINE - I The Maggio group comprises 29 claims, all ,Y*l <.lo' .*no .I.ION but 2 of which are patented. The group, cov- .," ering parts of sees. 29, 30, and 31, T. 12 N., R. 13 W., is accessible either from Alamo or Brown crossing over shout 9 miles of fair dirt road. The history and exploration have been briefly summarized in the section on History ,~~ (P. "3). The Maggie mine, the principal workings in . this group, is in NW% sec. 31. This is the site of the Bureau of Mines projects of 194041 and 1949-51. The latter project primarily con- sisted of driving 2,100 linear feet of 10- by 10- foot drifts and crosscuts outlining and partly Dtt. in3 developing a sizable block of ore in the top Fmuae 18.-Mill Flowsheet, World hlanganese Carp. section of the upper manganiferous zone of the Chapin Wash formation. This work is detailed RUDY in Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations- 5293. The Rudy group of 2 patented and 5 un- The Ma gie mine is in the South Maggie ore atented claims covers parts of SWX sec. 31, block of dnganese Mesa, the most thoroughly 5. 12N.,R. 13W.,andNWt:sec. 6,T. 11 N., explored area in the region. The mesa is capped R. 13 W. The claims can be reached over the by basalt, which unconformably overlies the Brown crossing road, which passes through the eroded surface of the Chapin Wash formation. center of the grou about 7.5 mdes northwest of Numerous driil holes in the vicinity of the the Bill Williams !Liver (fig. 9). Maggie workings have shown that an average The claims were located originally in 1918 by of 50 to 60 feet of virtually barren Sandstone S. K. Bnrhee loand were called the Nigger Boy lies between the basalt and the top of the ore rou . In the late 1920's they were acquired bed. gy tge Arizona Manganese Corp. and are now Fifty-eight core holes drilled from the Bureau held under a lease-o tion a reement by Mnn- of Mines adits and crosscut have disclosed that gnnese, Inc., of ~en&%on,%av. Although it the bed containing 5 percent or moro manganeso 1s reported that some ore was shipped earlier, is virtually horizontal and averages some 20 the only shipments of record were some 15 tons feet in thickness. The ore is a mixture of low- avera in 36 5 percent manganese shipped to grade, amorphous, wadlike oxides and enriched the 'C$enien depot in 1953 by H. S. West. ortions containing psilomelane and manganite. The deposit occurs in a steeply dipping fault &he principal gangue minerals are calcite and zone trending southeast and cutting the basplt chalcedonic quartz. member of the Sandtrap conglomerate. The The manganiferous zone is cut by numerous zone contains scattered seams and veinlets filled small normal faults, with the downthrow gener- with manganese oxides for about 250 feet along ally to the west. The vertical displacement of ,. the strike and over widths of as much as 75 these faults ranges from a few feet to as much feet. The best ore occurs in a series of lentic- as 30 feet. ular masses along a more intensely shattered In May 1950 Hewitt S. West obtaioed a area in the central part of the zone. Some of lease with option to purchase from the Arizona these masses are 2 feet wide and several feet Manganese Corp. A1 Stovall obtaioed a sub- long. The manganese minerals are psilomelane lease on the Maggie mine in 1954 and shipped some 8,500 tons of selectively mined ore that averaged 16.2 percent manganese. This pro- . .5 DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 45 duction mas obtained from n labyrinth of inter- Chnpin Wash about 6 rond miles norlllwcst of connected stopes developed along the Bureau Brown crossing on the Bill Williams River. drifts and crosscuts (fig. 19). In June 1955 The claims mere acquired in 1929 b the West assigned the original lease to Manganese, Chapin E.xploration Co.; they were later 3ensed Inc., of Henderson, Nev. to the hi. A. Henna Co. and then transferred Stovall mined the ore only from the higher to M.C. Lake. The group is now owned by grade beds of the deposit. Tbe broken ore the M. C. Lake estate. In 1953 A1 Stovnll, of was removed from tbe stopes with slusher hoist Phoenix, Ariz., obtnined a lease on part of the and scrnper and trucked to the Government pur- propert and during 1953 and 1954 shipped chasin depot in Wenden. The outcrop of the 33,126 7ong tons of crude ore averaging 18.8 ore be<7 west of the old Maggie adit was stripped, percent manganese to the Government pur- and n bench cut 150 feet long by 20 feet wde cllasin depot in Wenden, Ariz. The property was blasted. Apparently the production from mas id fe when the area was visited in February this cut wasinsigni6cant, as much of the broken 1956. material wns not moved. The ore mas mined in open pits from a btd Whcn visited in February 1956, the property in the upper mnnganiferous zone of the Chapm was idle, and dl e uipment with tlie exception Was11 formation. Tlle zone iu tbis pnrt of the of the ore bin had 1ecn removed. district crops out along Cllnpin Was11 in a broad belt trending northwest for near1 3,000 LAKE DEPOSIT feet. The roductive area, exploited by i tovall, occupies tE e southern end of the out~~p. The recently productive workings on the Most of the ore was mined from an enr~ched Lake property arc in the west central pnrt of "hard ore" bed ranging up to 6 feet in thickness SWf: sec. 33, T. 12 N., R. 13 W., on a patented and dipping 10' to 19' SW. The main mork- claim constituting one of 20 contiguous patented ings, an open pit about 500 feet long, follow the claims known ns the Chapin group. The prin- bed down the dip for as much as 300 feet (fig. cipal workings are in the northern end of 20). The overburden had been stripped from FIGURE19.-Plan and Section, Maggie Mine. .. . SECTION A-A' Fraunr: 20.-Plan and Section, ~akopit. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 47 the bed in scattered areas scvernl hundred feet shallow open stopes ranging from S to 12 feet to the north and northwest of the main pit. in height. However, little ore nppeared to have been On the west side of the mash an inclined shaft mined from these areas. At the upper or north has been driven S. 85' W. for at least 300 feet side of the large pit very little overburden down the dip of the manganiferous bed. The covered the ore bed, but as the work progressed dip changes from 25' to 13O about 180 feet down the dip lower grade or bmen material from the shaft collar. The deposit was worked over the ore increased until at the south face by o en stopes from at least three levels, driven of the opening the overburden in places was nortFl and south from the shaft. The property 20 feet or more thick. was inactive when visitedin February 1956, In the mining and stripping operations heavy and because of rock falls and other hazardous equipment was used, includ~ng bulldozers, conditions only arts of the mine could be rippers, carryalls, and front-end loaders. Both examined. The rower pnrt of the mine con- the overburden and the ore were soft enough tained an accumulation of water and mud from tbat they required no explosives. surface flooding. In the west end of the main pit an exploratory The drifts north of the shaft, driven on a adit, driven many years ago, extended north- hnuln e grade, followed the warped beds and west for some 220 feet. At its face a steeply veeref northwest. The drift at the 150-foot inclined raise, now inaccessible, had been driven (inclined) level mas open sntb extended about to an estimated height of 50 feet. About 130 400 feet from the shaft. The 200-foot level feet from its portal the ndit was crossed by a. was accessible for 200 feet north of the shaft northward trending fault zone, which appeared and nppeared to extend an equal distnnce to havo displaced the beds and thrown them farther. Except for pillars, the mineralized u ward along its wrst sidc. The extent of dis- cone updip from these drifts was stoped to the p I' acemcnt was not evident, but it appeared surface. that the raise was driven to explore the beds in On the south side of tbe shaft the 200-foot the upthrown segment of tbe fault. level was open for 100 feet to the face and ap- The manganese minerals consist of wad, eared to be similarly stoped to the surface. psilomclane, and p olusite occurring in gangue 5he probable dimensions of the deposit mined of sandstone and ccy. from the shnft are: Strike length, 500 feet; dip depth, 200 to 250 feet; and thickness, 8 to 12 PSILOMEWIE GROUP feet. The Psilomelane group of five conti ous un- The ore mined from the deposit appears to patented claims was located by S. J. r'ove, the have occurred in that pnrt of the manganiferous present owner, in 1950. The claims are in the zone where the original bedded material was west central part of sec. 3, T. 11 N., R. 13 'A'., enriched along shears and fractures associated on both sides of Chnpin Wash. The property with the deformation of the beds. is reached over the Chapin Wash road, approxl- Mining mas conducted in relatively flat stopes mntely 4% miles from Brown crossing. above each drift level, from which the broken ore was moved by slusher hoist and scraper Psilomelane No. 1 through chutes into mine cnrs. The cars were The productive workings on this claim were trammed to the shnft, dumped into a skip, and developed by Al Stovall under a lease agreement hoisted to the surface for transportation to in 1953 and 1954. A total of nearly 20,000 tons Wenden. of crude ore averagin 18 4 percent manganese Psilomelane No. 4 was shipped to the %enden purchase depot, most of which was mined by Stovnll. Late in The workings on tho Psilomelane No. 4 claim 1954 It. F. Monnahan, and S. J. Love, produced are approximately 1,000 feet northwest of the 5 nnd 14 pcrccnt of tho total tonnage, rcspcc- Psilonielane No. 1 shaft in tho same mineralized tively. beds. A lZO inclined shaft on the west side of The deposit is in the upper mnnganiferous Chapin Wash exposes a 2- to 3-foot mineralized zone of the Chapin Wash formation. In this bed for 100 feet down the dip, of which 50 feet area, which lies in the downthrown segment is in an inclined opencut. Immediately west between the Plnnchn Mountain and Common of the portal, four closely B aced minor step Corner Faults, the beds are tilted and warped. faults drop the minernlized ged a few feet to On the ridge immediately east of Chapin Wash the east. the mineralized beds crop out in an isolated The mineralization of this deposit consists of crescent, the limbs of which dip as much as 30° the wadtype oxides disseminated throughout I toward the axis of the warp. This art of the the sandstone and intimatel associated with sm blebs of white I deposit has been mined by a series oF relatively an abundance of very. . Jl . .., . . ~ . ... i '.I 1 48 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA Y calcite. Virtually no hard dxides were ob- A 140-foot ndit bearing S. 85' W. has been i served. driven into a man aniferous bed that lies in The inclined shaft was driven early in 1955 the upper part of :t %e Chnpin Wash formation. 'i b Mr. Love, using a slusher hoist and scraper. The mineralized bed is about 12 feet thick, 'de property was idle when visited in February strikes north, dips 5" to 7' W., and crops out A"--.146K in places for approximately 250 feet along the About 100 feet east of the shaft the same strike. Talus overburden covers any further - mineralization occurred in beds exposed by extension of the bed along the strike. The adit, an opencut in the east bank of Chapin Wash. following the mineralized beds downdip was carried about 12 feet high for 100 feet, and then ; the hack was stepped down to a 7-foot height 1 to the face. The Black Jack group of three un atented Manganese mineralization consists of amor- claims is approximately one-half air mi!e north- hous, wsdlike oxides that are more or less uni- northeast of the Priceless pit in the center of Pormly distributed through the beds that have . SWf:sec. 1, T. 11 N., R. 13 W. The deposit is been exposed in the adit. As there has been no ' reached by a steep,.rough, truck trail from the enrichment of this bedded deposit, virtually : north end of the Priceless pit. no hard oxides are present. Love states that ; The claims were located by Roy Eaton, who several assays showed an average manganese later sold them'to S. J. Love, the present owner. content of about 12 percent. A bulldozer cut i The Arizona Metals Co., of Wenden, Ariz, dong the outcrop for 200 feet south of the adit i leased the property and shipped 1,230 long tons has ex osed the same beds containing similar .: of sorted crude ore conta' minerafkmtion. iI manganese to the Wenden purc7 asing20.6 depotpercent in No ore had been shipped from the deposit, , 1954. The property was inactive when visited and it was idle when examined in February 'I in August 1955. The major work consists of a 1956. 120-foot adit driven N. 35" W. and a 60-foot branchdriven N. 60° W. from 20 feet within the BLACK CROW GROUP WILSON) main adit. Both drifts have been connected by raises or open stopes into surface cuts up to 40 The Black Crow group of two un atented ; feet above. A 12-foot pit 6 feet wide and 1.5 claims is in the west central part of I$)rnK sec. ; feet long had been excavated outside the portal. 33, T. 12 N., R. 13 W., on the east side of '; The longer adit follows a fault contact of the Chapin Wash. The claims were first located in i Artillery formation against ranite to the north- 1950 by Les Neilson and were purchased by S. J. : east. The branch adit fo 80n.s a fork of this Love, the resent owner, in 1954. The property fault nnd cuts into the Artillery formation. is accessibfe by a short branch road turning east .; Both faults dip steeply west. An ore body of from the Chapin Wash road approximately 7 1 6 to 8 feet of mnngmiferous material has been mined along these fault zones. The gangue miuernls are barite nnd calcite. On the hillside about 500 feet southest of the main workings a small lens of manganese ore was opened by a short ndit, from which a raise connected to a small surface cut above. The vein here is 2 to 3 feet wide and is a continuation of the vein that follows the major fault contact. PLANCHA MOUNTAIN GROUP southwest and is bordered on the The Plancha Mountain group of six con- tho older granitic rocks. tiguous unpatented claims IS' owned by S. J. of the belt is covered by Love, who maintnins a home in the Artillery Mountains area. The claims are in the east central part of sec. 4, T. 11 N., R. 13 W. and cover much of the up er part of a flat hvn- ed mesa known as !lancha Mountain. CaRemajor work has been confined to a small area on the east side of the mountain nenr the !ong, 12 feet wide, a quarter ,corner eommoo to. sew. 3 and 4. The ; the cut the man aniferous zon ,worlongs are .,accessible over :one-ha mile of . about 12 feet tfick and wa steep truck trail that branches northwest from -.strongly .mineralized beds 2 the mad into Chapin Wash. which were separated by v I ; . . I , . , . t,.. . ;$,& :,.,*; ,,,,.; ".&. .'.. . :. ,;, .:+> ...... ?.;:v,,:.,; . . ;'.. . . . ' DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 49 poorly mineralized or barren layers of sandstone LAST CHANCE and clay. About 350 feet to the southwest the upper The Lost Chance property comprises two man aniferous zone had been explored by a claims in the western part of the Artiller Moun- bulljozer cut some 80 feet long, 10 feet deep, tains~ ~ Reeion on lnnd owned bv the 6tate of and 12 to 80 feet wide. The mineralization Arizorm. lie claims comprise 4i) acres covering exposed in tbis opening was of the ssme type the -NEXNEKSWK ~- and the NWKNWXSEX.~ .~ sec. as that found in the opencut to the northeast. 36, T.. 12 N:; ~.'i4W. The &La is accessible The chief manganese minerals are soft wad- over- 1.5 miles of road that branches north from like oxides associated with minor amounts of the Yucca road about 7 miles northwest of psilomelane and manganite. The latter miner- Alnmo crossing on the Bill Wiiliams River. als are found largely in seams and fractures that In 1953 the claims were located, and a lease cut the beds. mas obtained from the State by R. S. Rodgers, Approximately 300 feet northeast of the of Alamo, Ariz. Operations were begun soon northern opencut manganese mineralization oc- thereafter and contmued until early in 1955. curs along a fracture in the Precembrinn gra- During this period Rodgers shipped about 180 long tons of ore averaging 34.4 percent ma!- ~~nitic ~ rock& The fracture strikes N. 20' E.. appears todip steeply eastward, and was ex: ganesc to the Government purchasing depot in posed by stripping for about 250 feet along the Wenden, Ariz. The property was ~dlewhen strikc. In places the fracture contains irregular visited in February 1956. mineralized pods as much ns 2 feet wide and High-grade manganese oxides were mined scvernl feet long. from small ore shoots occurring along the west- ern end of a fault zone cutting the Sandtrap BLACK WARRIOR NO. 11 (HURLEY) conglomerate. The fault strikes eastward, dips 50"-70' N., and can be traced nlong the surface The Black Warrior No. 11 claim, adjacent to for at least 1,000 feet. It is manganlferous in the Psilomelane group on the southeast, is laces throughout most of its extent. West of owned by R. B. Hurley, of Phoenix, Ariz. The 8andtrap Wash the fnult zone gradually loses claim is in the west cent.ra1 part of sec. 3, ''2. its identity. Several hundred feet east of the 11 N., R. 13 W., and can be reached by the same wash it cuts the basalt member of the Sandtrap road that passes through the Psilomelanegroup. formation. mere intersected by the fault, the A 180-foot inclined shaft was driven S. 70" basalt contains manganese-bearing fractures. W. down the 2Z0 dip of a mangnniferous bed. The ore was produced from two ore shoots This bed appears to be a continuation of the which cropped out along the fault zone on oppo- same zone that was mined from the Psilomelane site sides of Sandtrap Wash. The wed ore body No. 1 shaft workings, some 300 feet to the north. was about 150 feet long and 1 tq 3 feet wide. At an inclined distance of 130 feet from the shaft Near the center the ore shoot =as mtersected at collar a drift followed the ore bed 175 feet an acute angle by a narrow fracture stnking southeast. From this drift stub drifts were northeast, which evidently was ore bearing for driven updip 50 feet and downdip 20 feet. No several tens of feet beyond its intersection with stoping was done. the main ore shoot. The ore was mined from The work wns done under a lease ngcoement both deposits in more or less continuous open- by Ike Kusisto in 1954. Eighty long tons of cuts driven nlong the strike of the mineraliza- ore averaging 10.6 percent maiiganesc was tion. Most of the cuts had been backfilled, so shipped to the purchase depot at Wenden. All - the material that was mined was moved to the their nctual depths were not observable. surface by means of a slusher hoist and scraper. The other ore body, approximately 100 feet Manganese mineralization consisted of nrnor- east across the wash, was mined for about 80 phous, wadlike oxides distributed morc or less feet along the strike and up to 3.5 feet in width. uniformly throughout a 4- to 6-foot bed that Like the west ore shoot, it was intersected by was exposed in the shaft. Virtually none of narrow mineralized fractures along the north the hard oxides were present. The sandstone side of the main fault zone. The ore in the east gangue was intimately associated with ,an body was mined to the surface in open stopes abundance of very small blebs of white calc~te. above an adit level. Tbe deepest part of these On the adjacent Black Warrior claim to the workings was approximately 30 feet below the southeast manganiferous beds crop out on the west side of Chapin Wash. From minor work- outcrop. ings on this de osit a smnll amount of ore was The chief manganese minerals were psilome- ed to the%enden depot by R. B. Hurley lane and manganite. Calcite was the most Y. Bosley, C.,in 1954. ,, abundant gangue mineral. :ti%. , ...... - . . .. . . ~ MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA I BLACK MARY purchasing depot in Wenden, Ariz. Early in 1955, before the Wenden depot closed, E. W. Black Mary is a single un~atentedchin1 Tate shipfied several small lots of ore from the lying in the extreme northeastern corner of The mas idle when the dis- I sec. 1, T. 11 PIT., R. 14 W., and extending for trict was visited in February 1956.. a short distance into adjoining sec. 6, T. 11 Nr, pe oslts occur cornpara- R. 13 W. It is about 8 miles by road north: tively narrow lent~cuPnr shoots don parallel west of the Bill Williams River and can be fractures cutting the Sandtr?p cong7 omernte. reached on either the Brown crossing or The mineralized fractures str~keeastward and the Alamo-Yucca road. dip steeply north. The principnl ore body-in The claim was located in 1953 by E. W. Tpte, the ,,stem part of tile property-has been of Yucca, hiz., and n Year later as acquired . mined continuously in an opencut for approsi- I by the present ownem, J. E. R?binette and mately 250 feet along the stnke and to a maxi- associates, of Wenden, biz. DWlng 1954 the mum depth of some. 50 feet. The cut ranges deposit was el~loredby bddozer stripping from 5 to 8 feet in 1v1dt.11. The broken ore was and trenching. As far as known, no ore has hoisted from the opening in a skip running on I been shipped from the property; it was idle nn inclined track thnt extended out of the enst when the district was visited in February 1956. end of tile Manganese oxides in the form of stringers, About 250 feet south of the opencut a steeply veinlets, and irregular lenticular masses occur inclined shaft, estimated to be around 50 feet I in the claim along a steeply ~~PPWshear deep, had been,sunk on a pnra!lel mineralized zone cutting the Sandtrap conglomerate. The fracture approx~mqtely4 feet w~de. This frac- zone strikes N. 60° W., ranges UP to 150 feet ture mas exposed in place? on the surface for in midth, and is e.~osedin places for about 400 about 100 feet dong the stnke. It wns reported I feet along the strike. The manganese-bcaring that no drifting or stoping had been done from fractures range from mere seams to veinlets the several inches wide. Tlley are much marc A fe, llundred feet southwest of,tl~eshaft in numerous in some parts of the zone than in an area largely covered with alluv~um,a min- I ~~lferouslenses occur sP0- eralized fract,ure was exposed for a short dis- are as much as 2 feet tance in a sllallow opencllt, They appear to be hother manganese-bearing fracture crops most abundant along the northeast side of the out on the west claim (N~.5), ,!hich is some I zone. 1,500 feet northwest of the main-productive In addition to the strippin& the deposit opencut. This fracture ranges from 2 to 8 feet had heen explored by several scattered cuts in width, strikes N. 700 E., and can be traced and pits a maxhurn of a~~rO~-more or less cont,inuously for about 600 feet. I mately 10 feet. It has been explored near its west end by an PF~~~~~~~and manganite are the predomi- opencut 35 feet long and 10 feet deep. A short natin msnganeseminerals. Cnlcite,both whte distance west of the.cut the fracture nnrrows I and bTack, is the chief gangue mineral. and soon loses its ~dent~tyafter crossing a minor transverse fault. Overburden coven the POLIANITE GROUP area east of the outcrop. The Polianite group of 5 clnims is on State The chief manganese minernls in the various I land in EX 36, T. 12 N,, R. 14 w,, nborlt fractures are psilomelanc, pyroluslte, and man- 8.5 miles via the Brown crossing road north- ganite. The anguc cons~stsof unreplaced freg- west of the Bill Williams River. merits and pe7, bles of tile rocks, black and The claims were located and lensed from the white calcite, and small quantities of barite. . Statc of Arizona in 1953 by E. W. Tatc, of BLACK MOLLIE subleased ' and McBride. The Black Mollie group of 2 unpatented canceled, and claims is in the NEKSWK sec. 29, T. 12 N., R.: I Tate transferred his lease on the west claim 13 W., near the extreme north end of Chapin (No. 5) to J. E. Robinette, P. T. Evans, and Wash, some 8 road miles northwest of Brojvn D. C. Evans, of Wenden, Ariz. As far as crossing on the Bill Williams River. known, Tate still holds the State lease on the The claims were located in 1953 by the pres-. I remaining four claims. ent owner, R. J. Carpenter, of Wenden, Ark.. The production from the property has totaled During 1953 and 1954 a total of 614 long tomi; some 1,600 long tons of ore that averaged of ore averaging 18.3 percent.manganes8 wss;? close to 21 percent man anese. The bulk of - ship ed from the.pro erty to the Government.:: I this ore was mined by ?ohnson and McBride p~c\asingdepoj in $enden, Ariz. Part of this :< during 1954 and shipped to the Government tonnage was sh~ppedby R. J. Carpenter and.: I . . , :. ..-..;..* DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 51 the balance by several lessees, including Floyd of Kingman, Ariz. In 1954 F. A. Sitton ob- Brown, Johnson and McBride, and Don Levy. tained a lease on the group and completed a Operations were terminated late in 1954, and small amount of exp!oration work. As far as the property was idle when the district was known, no ore has 'been shipped from the visited in February 1956. property. When the area was visited late in The manganese-bearing beds are in the u per February 1956, Lewis and Peterson with the part of the Chapin Wash formation and ayong aid of two men were performin the annual a fault zone that cuts them. Ore was mined assessment work on some of the cfaims. from the bedded deposits in several shallow Manganese mineralization occurs in parallel opencuts and from underground morkings in a fractured and brecciated zones cutting the vertical faulting zone striking southeast. The sandstone and conglomerate beds of the Artil- underground work consisted of a 40-foot in- lery formation. The zones strike northwest clined (30') shaft, which follomed the dip of a and for the most part appear to dip rery steeply mineralized bed in the fault zone, and a drift northeast. They are manganiferous in places from the bottom of the incline that extended for as much a4 100 feet in width and for several S. 20' E. elon the zone for abont 30 feet. hundred feet along the strike. Where the zone Some additionak ore evidently was mined in the crops out along the face of a steep bluff in the zonc immediately west of the shaft from a nortl~enstcrn part of thc property, it contains shallow drift extending sonthenst for about 25 seams, veinlcts, and small, dissen~inntednodu- feet from the bottom of a pit 10 feet deep. lar particles of manganese oxides in variable This work appeared to be in a downthrown seg- quantities across a width of a proximately 100 ment of the bed that was followed by the feet. The western side of t7. le zone was ex- inclined shaft. plored by an adit driven alon the strike of a A~~roxirnateh300 feet southeast of the group of the wider mineralize f fractures. The ~nde;~roundw&k on the opposite side of the adit, said to be about 35 feet long, was blocked ridge a manganiferous bed some 20 feet thick a short distance from the ortnl b broken was exposed in an opencut 16 feet long and 12 material blasted from its bacR and siies. This feet wide. The bed in this area strikes N. 20° material reportedly was broken to obtain a W. rind dips about 30' SW. A short distance bulk sample for metallurgical testing. At the beyond the limits of the cut the outcrop of the portal of the adit 3 veinlets of hard psilom- mnnganifcrous bed passed under a covcr of elane were ex osed in a width of about 10 detrital material. According to R. J. Carpenter, feet across the 'inck of the opening. The vein- the ore shipped from this opening contained lets ranged from 2 to 12 inches in width and about 16 percent manganese. dipped steeply northeast. They were evident A few hunrlred feet south several scattered in the face of the bluff for sereral tens of feet opencuts e-xposed other manganese-bearing beds vertically above the adit. Toward its enstern ranging from 1 to several feet in thickness. side the zone contained widely spaced seams Strati aphically, these appeared to be some- and sporadic nodules of manganese oxides over what f=ower than the manganiferous beds to the a width of at least 100 feet. According to F. 0. northwest. Peterson, the zone can be traced along its Thc chief manganese mineral in the unaltered strike for several hundred feet nortlnvest be- beds wbs wad. The harder osides. such as yond the top of the bluff. psilomelane, pyrolusite, and mnngn"ite, werc Several hundred feet southeast of the adit present in places along zones of fracturing or another mineralized fractnre zone crops out in faulting. places along a hillside in an area lnr el covered with talus. As exposed 10 a few sf nP low cuts, AMERICAN the manganese mineralization in this zo?e a Tl~cAmerican group of seven unpntentcd pears similar in character to that found in t ?-m claims is in NNT,%scc. 7. T. 11 N.. It. 12 W.. zone to tho northeast. Because of tho talus well u on the &ope of 'the hills thnt border ovcrburden, its extent is not evident. the vaP ley along the northern side of tho Bill In several places along the access road b!- Williams River (fig. 8). The group is accessible tween the mineralized fracture zones, the =dl- over more than a mile of road thnt branches mentnry beds conthin areas in which the small north from the river abouthalf amile northeast nodules of manganese oxides arc quite plentiful. of Brown crossingd The lust part of the access The nodules appear to have been deposited at the same time that the enclosing sediments road leading to t e prmc~palworkings is very . .. were laid down: steep in places and is best negotiated in a jeep' , or truck. . .,. . INDIAN .. . The cl&s were .located in 1937 by George and Joe Lewis. They are now owned b George The Indian is a ,single claim adjokin the Lewis, of Wenden, Ariz., and. .,F..... 0. . . etemon, southwestside.of theAmerican group. ln &W%...... 8 52 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA sec. 7, T. 11 N., R. 12 W. It is about a mile beds of various sizes crop out in several places on north of the Bill Williams River and can be the ropcrty. Thelargest of these, the one that reached over a short road branching west from proiuced the bulk of the ore, is exposed for the access road to the American group. several hundred feet along the surface, where it The claim was located in 1938 by Rachel B. ranges from a few feet to as much as 12 feet Thompson and later transferred to her brother, in thickness. It strikes northwest and dips George Lewis, of Wenden, Ariz. The present moderately southwest down the limb of a minor owners are George Lewis and F. 0. Peterson, anticlinal fold. In the mined area the bed is of Kingman, Am. Tbo property is undevcl- cut by several steep1 dipping fracture zones oped, and no ore has been produced. along which some disp3 acement has tsken place. Manganese mineralization occurs in parts of So.me of these fracture zones contain seams and a broad breccinted zone cutting the conglom- ve~nletsof supergene manganese oxides, which ernte beds 'of the Artillery formation. The locally enrich the bed. zone appears to be one of a related series of The chief manganese minerals are wad, northwesterly trending sheared nnd brecciated pyrolusite, and s~lomelane. No doubt, the zones with which the manganese mineralization first is tho originayconstituent in the sandstono, is associated on the American, Necdlo Eye, whereas the pyrolusite and silomelane were Black Diamond, and Black Eagle roperties. inlroduced inter, niter the be(P s were fractured. As exposed on the Indian claim, t fl e zone is Calcite is the chief gangue mineral. about 200 fect wide, strikes N. 45' W., and The ore was mined largely in an opencut appears to dip about 70" NE. Within its about 150 feet long, 6 to 10 feet wide, and up to borders iams and irregular veinlets of the 15 feet deep. harder manganese oxides crop out in several areas of more intense fissuring and brecciation. OTHER DEPOSITS Some of the larger of these exposed mineralized areas range up to 30 feet in width and are as MESA MANGANESE much as 100 feet in length. The Mesa Manganese group of 27 unpat- The ex~lOratO~ waslimited to ashallow ented claims is 17 miles by road west of Alma adit about 20 feet long that had been driven crossing in sets, 20 and 21, T, 11 N,, R, 15 m, along the western side of One the larger Though the property may be reached from ; mineralized outcroPS. When the Property was Bouse, Ariz., it is most readily accessible from visited in February 1956, the ownem were ~lmoover about 15 miles of road that planning additional exploratory work on some bmnches west from the yuccarod approxi- : of the more promising occurrences. mately 2 miles north of Alamo crossing. The claims were located in 1949 by the ? OVERSIGHT present owners, T. J. Rodgers, of Alamo, and The Oversight group of three unpatented John M. Neal, of Kingman, Ark In 1953 the 1 claims is in S'CV~sec. 17, T. 11 N., R. 13 W., npert~was leased to the Shcey Bornt alon the valley borderin the north side of the bining Co., of El Centw Calif. During the 2 ~aw%deMountains. ~fepro ert is readily following year several hundred tons of ore was 1 aceessiblo over less than a & of road that mined from different Parts of the Property. branches east from the Yucca road about 4.5 Akhou h a small uantity of sorted ore was { miles north of Alamo crossing. shippef direct, the 1ulk of the material mined The claims were located in 1952 h the pres- Was treated in a small concentrating : ent owners, T. J. Rodgem, of A! amo, and plant built on the Bill Williams River a few John M. Neal, of Kingman, ,&z. During the miles southwest of the claims. The crude ore following 2 years approximately 1,360 long tons and concentrates were shipped to of ore containing 10 to 20 percent man anese merit purchasing depot in Wenden ww ship ed to the Government pur 4asing ore contained about 16.5 percen depot in kenden, Ariz. .Operations were sus- and the concentrates 43 percent. All operations pended late in 1954. , were suspended late in 1954. Manganese mineralization occun in sand- The rucks exposed in the area include Pre- stone beds which, according ~ssky,~are a cambrian granite and schist, Paleozoic lime- .' art of the lower manganiferons zone of the atone, Tertia sandstones and volcanics, and Lapin Wash formation. As far as known, this hter b-lt 7ow8 that now cap the higher property is the only one in the re 'on that has mesas. Manganese mineralization occm in mduced appreciable cquantities of' ore from the both the limestone and eandstone. row=. chapin Wash zone. Manganese-bearing hestone the ore is in steepl~di zones that cut the formation. ~fw - 18 me.8.0.. mnd wek, B. N. 'Maolrmaa RWA of the tion in the sandstone appears to . kY.dfWm~FWax. Mobre komt~.brk Oool. 6m.w Bm. m.lw.m,p~. . . bedded type and is exposed in a few places in ~?.<. ARIZONA ##D.CX 0, DCPOSlr$ I. "&""#S Ina~ro"1 + ,OX C.N.01 1°C. 3 .LUL IAHI 01111157 1 ,LAC< BOYS . .LAC*. IVC. . EUYYII8S 7. IISCUS "ITCMCLL to I0 . I. s"*ulsrqR .Wrrc" 0""f SOALL - MILL1 9. LA YCCOV' Floun~21.-Manganese Deposits of Ynvapai County. stretches of pinched and poorly minernlized is about 35 feet. The ore is screened and hand sorted vein matter. ~t the time of the visit flntl in order to obtain a product said to contain 38 percent inclined shaft had been stnrted to connect wid ~~~~$~~~ ~~&,~~~~&~~~t~~'i the lower part of the workinp , , mine produced about 600 tons of ore. It was re orted Jones," who examined t e mme m 1918, that the greater part of the ore has been mineffrom j describes it in part as follows: the deposit. The best ore waa obtained near the surface, and the C~ItImercialore at the time of limit of commercial ore in depth aa shown in the shaft generally consisted of material ~*JD~wE. L. 11. md Rmmm P. L. DewsII. 01 M.ngm~Om percent or more manganese. -j.;.-..';ln 4 ads&ay BUII. 710 in, IS$, p. 181. . operators believe that consid ;&. ,. . . ; "-8 . I ... . . '. . .. . <: 7.. ' . , ...... : ... ;,,:.. .. ' ...... :..~;?..r:l.'..;.:'.:'. - - , . :... .,J... . ;. I . ' ' . . . , )yj.:,:".. . &;:. ;,'~.::,,$;.~... ., ,. ;. . : ... 9. . ,. .. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 59 ore, acceptable at the Wenden purchase depot, from two different fracturcs. one of which was st.ill remains in the deposit. at the northern end of the Mistake group and the other several hundred feet northwest on BOX CANYON DEPOSITS the south end of the Black Top claim. The occurrences mere on opposite sides of the kIanganese deposits occur nlong the Hns- Hassayampa River, and both were near the snyampa River near a narrom steep-w-alled top of the steep walls of the c:~n>-on. The work- orge known as Box Canyon in sec. 12, T. 8 N., ings on the Black Top claim consisted of several A. 5 W., some S miles by rond north of Wicken- shallow opencuts and one or more adits that burg, Ariz. The deposits may be reachcd over followed the better ore for short distances into 6 miles of poor road that branches north from the north wall of the canyon. United States Highway No. 89 about 2 miles The minerhlized fracture on the Mistake northwest of Wickenburg. claim cropped out along the top of n r,idge The first manganese claims in the nren were trending south on the south side of the rlver. located in 1952 by W. L. Daris, Otto Baker, The workings tliere were about 160 feet and Henry M. Jones, of Kickenburg. It vertically above the rirrr. An acrid tram gcr~ernllywas not known at the time that the was used to lower the orr down to t11e nos Canyon nren in which the claims mere rond at the base of the ridyr. The deposit was located had previously been selected as n developed by n short crosscut ndit from which a possiblb dam site and withdrnm from entry by drift followed the ore along thr strike for about the Bureau of Reclamation. IIencc, tllcse 150 fect. Several opcu stopes extended to claim locations mere not vnlirl. Ho~vever,as various heights above the northern half of the the deposibs were some distance bclow the drift. The largest stop?, ot the extreme north proposed dam site, the Bureau of Reclamation end of the drift, ranged from 15 to 30 feet !n 11ad not as of May 1954 interferred with the length, bulged in places to ns much ns 10 fcct m mining operations, although the operators were width, and had been partly broken through to notified that they might be evicted at any time. the surface. The north end of the drift from Late in 1952 the Mistake group of five claims which the bulk of the ore hnd been produced was leased to Paul Pellegrini b- W. L. Davis and was 30 to 40 feet below the outcrop. TO tbc Otto Baker. At about the same time a group of south, because of the up\fi~rdslope of the hill- adjoining claims, knomn ns the Black Top, was side, the drift. had reachcd a depth of some acquircd by Lord M. Butler from W. L. Davis. 85 feet below the surface. In the dceper pnrt Mining operations werc begun on both proper- of the worlrings the veins ~vwenarrowcr and ties in 1953, and during that yenr the total pro- lower grade than those at the northcrn end of duction from the area amounted to about 7S0 the deposit. Thus, it nppmrrd thnt the widest long tons of ore containing 16 to 34 percent veins and best ore occurrcd nlong the fracture manganese. The greater pnrt of the tonnage, where the workings were onl>-a few tens of feet averagmg less than 20 percent manganese, was below the outcrop of the minrralization. produced b Paul Pellegrini from the Mistake Other manganlferous esposures were found claims. ~leore from both properties was both to the southenst and nortl~wcstalong the ship ed to the Government purchasing depot general trend of the frncture zones. Little if at $enden,'Ariz. When the district was visited any exploratory worlc 11nd bccn done, on these in May 1954, both properties mere active, and occurrences, and their estcut. \5-11s not ind~catcd. production mas continuing at the rate of several Claims to the northwest, l~ddby B. S. KII- hundred tons of ore montldy. patrick nnd Ross Fitch, wrro in this category, Manganese mineralization in the area occurs as were the locations of Otto Baker southcast nlong steeply dipping fractures in a volcanic of the Mistake grou breccia. The fractures range from 3 to 10 feet After the vis~to!'h,1ay 1955 1.hc arc* was in width and strike nortl~west,and some arc restored to the public domniu, tind tlm h.lollnyc more or less contiuuous for several nundred fcct Mining h Milling Co. bccnmc! intcrcstcd in tllls along the strike. Tho best ore is found in dis- district. The company obtained leases covcr- connected lenticular bodies spaced erratically ing part,s of secs. 2, 11, 12, end 13, R. 5 W., and along the fracture zones. secs. 7, 17, 18, and 20, R. 4 W., bolh in T. 8 N. The manganese minerals, consisting of n The property includes lcnscs on Baker nnd mixture of the common oxides, occur as irregular Jones' claims, including hlistalce Nos. 1 2, and bunches nnd veinlets surrounding unreplaced 3, Black Top claim, and State lenses. A 1,000- fragments of the volcanic breecm. Calcite, ton combination heavy-media-flotation plant quartz, and wnll-rock inclusions are the prin- was constructed in the Box Canyon we?, and cipal gangue constituents. later a sintering plnnt wns built on the radrond At the time of the visit ore was being mined about 2 miles northwest of Wickonburg. 60 MANG~ESEDEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA BLUE TANK DISTRICT Most of the ore produced from the deposit mas mined in an opencut. During tho late BLACK ROCK GROUP phase of the operations an inclined shaft was The Black Rock grou corn rises 6 un- sunk in the ore body to a depth of 80 feet. At patented claims in the slue fnnk mining 70 feet in the shaft, the deposit was explored district about 8 miles northeast of Wickenburg, by about GO feet of lateral work. Some ore Ariz. The property is in sec. 20, T. 8 N., It. was mined in open stopes that extended up- 4 W., and is accessible over a side road that ward from the underground work to the bottom branches north from the main Constellation of the opencut. The ore was handsorted, and road about 3 miles northeast of Wickenburg. some of the lower grade material was screened The side road forks some 2 miles north of the to obtain a grade of ore suitable for shipping. Constellation road. The right or east branch According to Clifford James, the engineer of the fork leads to and terminates at the ivho supervised the underground work, the best principal workings on the property. grade of ore mas found in the upper 50 feet of The claims were located in 1950 by H. A. the deposit. Birchfield, of Wickenburg, but were Inter leased to L. W. Curry. In August 1953 Shirley and BLIND CHILD Gunther, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., ~urchased1 This property comprises 4 un atented of the claims and obtained a lease on the other claims about 7 miles northeast of d'mkenburg, 3 claims of the group. Oreshi ments from thc Ariz., in the Blue Tank mining district. The pro erty to the Wcnden urc Plase depot were roup is in sec. 17, T. 8 N.,R. 4 W., and can ma Be by H. A. Birchfiel P early in 1953 and %ereached over a side road that branches north were continued b both L. W. Curry and from tho Constellation road about 3 miles Gunther and Shir9 ey until April 1954. The northeast of Wickenburg. About 2 miles north combined roduction of the diiorent operators of the Constellation road the side road forks, aggregate8some 1,400 long tons of ore that the left branch leading to the propert averaged about 17 percent manganese. When The claims mere acquired in 1952 & J. R. the area was visited late in April 1954, the Cameron, of Wickenburg, and later were roperty was idle and most of the equipment leased to H. K. Cameron, also of Wickenburg, pad been removed. who did considerable es loration work and Manganese mineralization occurs in a frac- produced some 60 tons o! ore in 1953. The ture zone trending north andcutting a conrse- ore, averaging about 24 percent manganese, wns grained yi,tic rock. The zone rnpges from shipped to the Government purchase depot at 8 to 18 eet in mdth and dips about 65" W. Wenden, Ariz. The outcro was ex osed along the strike for Manganese mineralization occurs on the 500 feet. A)ppfeciab?e quantities of manganese claims in four widely spaced veins cutting vol- oxides were endent along the fracture zone m canic rocks. The veins me 1 to 3 feet wide, 2 se nrate areas some 250 feet apart. The strike northwest, and dip steeply southwest. souti' ern mineralized area was the source of all The principal manganese mineral is pyrolu- the ore produced from, the property. The site which occurs in a gangue of unreplaced northern area of mineralizat~onappeared less wad rock and calcite. promisin and, though explored to some extent As exposed alou the outcrops, the better had not %een developed. Ore had been mined mineralized parts o'i the veins appeared to be from the southern or productive part of the limited to disconnected areas seldom exceeding zone for about 125 feet along the strike and to a maximum depth of about 70 feet. a few tens of feet in length. One of the most The width of minable ore evidently varied promising of the mineralized outcrops was ex- greatly in di6erent arts of the ore body. AS plored by an adit that followed the vein into exposed in the nort! end of the opencut, the the hillside for about 50 feet. At theface of fracture zone was mineralized over a width of the adit, which was about 25 feet below the as much as 18 feet. However, the best ore was surface, a winze was sunk in the vein to a depth localized along the wnlls of the zone, where it of 76 feet. From the bottom of the winze the occurred in irregular strands rnn ing from 2 to vein was eliplored by 112 feet ofdrifting. Ac- 4 feet in width. The lower graf e material oc- cording to H. K. Cnmeron, who did the work, . cupying the central part of the fracture was . composed largely of fragments of unreplaced virtually all the ore exposed by this exploration granite surrounded by seams and smd masses was found in the area lying between the adit of man anese oxides. and the surface. Only a few small scnttered ~~rofusitea eared to be the chief mauga- pods of ore were found in the upper part of the -nese mineral. '%e angue consisted largely of winze, and nothing approaching the grade of ' unreplaced wall rocf, calcite, and quartz. ore was encountered in the lower drift. :.*...':,..:'..:.;;" . : ...... ~ $' ...... -,- ..- !-+< .~.. . DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS .J BLACK DOME from the Black Hawk claim, owned by G. H. Seebold, nbout 0.5 mile southeast of the Black The Black Dome group comprises 4 un- Dome roup. The ore feud on ths Black patented clninls about 21 miles northeast of the Hnwk &im occun in short, high-grade lenses villnge of Morristown, Ariz., in sec. 26, T. 8 ranging from 6 to 18 inches in width. N., H. 2 W., of south central Yavnpai County. The property can be rencbed over 3 miles of BLACK BUCK steep, unimproved road that branches north from the Alorristown-Cnstle Hot Springs road The Blnck Buck group consists of 16 un- at the rnnch of D. C. Lnyton. The ranch patented clnims a short distnnce north of Castle buildings are 17.7 miles from Morristown and Hot Springs in sec. 34, T. 8 N., R. 1 W. The only a short distance north of the main road. property cnn be reached from Morristown by The claims were locnted in 1953 by G. H. traveling northenst over the improved dirt road Seebold, of Wickenburg, Ariz. Esploration of that lcads to the Cnstlc Hot Springs hotel. the deposit mas begun late in thnt year after About 23 miles from h,Iorristown the road forks, completion of 3 miles of access road. During the left brunch leading to the Chnmpie ranch. 1054 about 74 long tons of ore averaging 17.5 Some 2 milcs beyond the fork on the Chnmpie percent mangnnese was shipped from the prop- road n short right branch trending southeast erty to the Government purchase depot at terminates on the properby. Morristown is the IVcnden, Ariz. When visited i~ January 1955, nenrest available rail shipping point. the property was idle and the equipment had Some of the claims constituting the present been removed. grou were locnted during World.Wnr I, and a Mangnnese mineralization occurs on the smalY7 tonnagc of sorted ore was shipped in 1917 clnims along a fracture zone trending east in and 1918. The clnims mere acquircd some volcmic rocks. The zone nppenrs to range yenrs later by the prrscnt owner,:Mrs. Clnrn from 100 to 200 fcet in width, dipssteeply south, Cordea, of Glcndnle, Ariz. Late in 1952 the and is exposed for approximately 1,200 fcet. property was lensed by Dennis Newlin and as- Although much of the zone is more or less sociates, of Phoenix, hriz. manganiferous, the exploratory work indicated I%en tho property was visited in April 1954, that the more highly mineralized portions of the lessees had shipped about 600 long tons of the fracture were localized in two nreas some ore, nvernging 21 percent manganese, to the 600 feet apart. The soil and detrital material Government purchase depot at Wenden, Aria. covering these areas had been removed with a Six men were employed at the time of the visit, bulldozer. As exposed by this work, the better and 15 to 20 tons of ore was being produced mineralized material in the west exposure oc- daily. curred in an irregular area about 200 feet long The ore on the property occurs in severnl and up to 100 feet wide. In the other exposure veins or fracture zones cutting granitic rocks. the best ore appeared to occur within an area The veins range from 1 to 6 feet in width, vary roughly 150 feet long and 30 feet w~de. in strike from west to north, and dip rather . The manganese minernls, consisting essen- steeply southwest. Some are traceable on the tially of pyrolusite and psilomelane, occur, m surface for several hundred feet, and others seams and smnll irregular masses surrounding appear to be limited to strike lengths of less brecciated fragments of the country rock. The than I00 feet. The principnl vein from which deposit nlso contains large amounk of calcite, the bulk of the ore wns roduced contained a much of it dark-colored, suogestmg that the series of lenticular ore godies spaced rnther mnnganese oxides may bnve geen derived from closely and extendin for about 600 feet don the alteration of this dark-colored mangnni- the strike. The inividunl or8 lenses ferous calcite. from 1 to 4 foct in width and from 10 to Sevcnty-four tons containing 17.5 percent in length. They wrre, scpnratcd along both mnnganese was mined largely in shallow open- the strike and the dip 'by poorly minernlized cuts, which appeared to follow the more highly vein matter. mineralized occurrences exposed in the stripped The ore minerals, consisting of tho common nreas. The opencuts were 3 to 5 feet wide, and oxides of mnngnncsc, occur in irregular masses the deepest was nbout 10 feet below the surface. and in veinlets surrounding brecciated frag- The ore thnt was shipped nppeared to have been ments of wd rock. Cnlcite, both white and hand-sorted largely from the mnterinl broken black, is an abundant gangue constituent. in the cuts. Much of this lower nde rejected The ore wns mined large1 in opencuts rnng- mnterinl still remained in .~iles f one - the sides ing from 10 to 20 feet in fepth. An inclined of the openings. shaft near the southern end of the main vein During 1954 about 23 tons of sorted ore followed the fracture down the dip for ahout.67 'averaging 39 percent mangnnese wns shipped feet.. It was reported that the mmeralizat~on 62 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA exposed in the lower half of the shaft mns not work showed thnt the mnngnnese-bearing soil of minable grade. averaged about 2.5 feet in thickness and 72.6 ' Operating costs, according to Dennis Nedin, pounds of manganese oside nodules per cubic amounted to about $20 per ton of orc shipped- yard. The cleaned nodnles contained about $10 for labor. $4 for su~~lies.and $6 a ton for 4i percent mangancse. On this bnsis, the trnusporting 'the ore td he i~endenpurchase mnterinl averaged 34 pounds or about 1.5 depot, long-ton units of metallic manganese per cubic yanl. .. CUMMINGS CLAIMS T11c material trcated in tho mill was mined The Cummings group, comprisin 12 un- with a smnll dmgline shovel from serernl pits atented lode claims hovn as hK nngnnese nlong the bottom of the wash. The largest of hos. 1 to 12, is in the east half of secs. 13 and the escavations mas nbout 200 feet long, 10 to 14, T. 7 N., R. 1 W., about 7 miles southenst 20 feet wide, and 2 to 5 feet deep. The mined of Castle Hot Springs. The claims can be material mns trrlclted about a mile to the mill. reached from hlorristomn, Ariz., over 32 miles which was near a well that supplied mnter for of dirt rond that passcs the Castle Hot Sprin 9 the operntions. The mill cqnipmrnt consisted resort hotel. Beyond tho hotel the rond fh- of a tromnirl scrccn, 2 small jigs, and 2 con- lows the bed of Castle Crceli for about 5 miles centrating tables. to a rond fork, the left or north branch lending ''u ''u FISCUS AND MITCHELL CLAIMS to the pro erty The principal rvorltings arc about 2 mifes north of this road fork. This property of 4 unpntcnted claims, The claims were located in 1940 by R. P. known as the F and i\I group is on State High- Cummings, of Phoenix, Ariz. In the following way 69 about 3 miles north of Rock Springs, year a small ravity concentrating plant wns Ariz. The claims are in SEX see. 27, T. 9 N., R. erected on tt e property. The mill mas 2 E., and are accessible over a short side road operated by Cummings for a short time and is that leaves the east side of the highway a reported to have produced about 10 tons of fcm hundred feet north of milepost 245. concentrates containing approximately 45 per- The claims mere first located in 1950 by Dal cent mangnnese. In 1953 Ledermnn brothers, Fiscus and Guy P. Mitchell, of Bumble Bee, of Phoenk, and H. V. Bosley, of Flagstaff, Aria., Ariz. In 1953 the property wns lensed to A. J. obtained a lease from R. P. Cummings and IZelton who, while exploring the more promising o ernted the property during the latter pnrt mineralized exposures, shipped about 49 tons of 1953 and tlie early part of 1954. According of sorted ore averging 19.6 percent mangancse to H. V. Bosley, nbout 25 tons of concentrates to the Government purchase depot at Wendrn, mns produced during this period. The concen- Ariz. Thc property was idle when visited in trates, reported to contain about 40 percent mid-September 1954. man anese, were shipped to the Government Oxides of manganese occur on the claims in pwcfl nse depot at Wenden;'Ariz. The property smnll irregular masses and seams distributed was idle when visited late in April 1954. erratically in a gently dippin bed of soft li 11t Tho deposit is a placerlike accrunulntion of colored volcanic tuff. Thc %rd is exposefi in nodules of mauganesc oside occurring sporadi- places along the wcstcrn end of the cl@ns, mhwe cnlly in the soil and detrital material along the an arroyo trending south cuts, through the bed of a shallow mash. The wash occnpies the basalt that overlies much of the tuff. hlan- central part of a rehtivcly flat, gently slo ing gnnese mineralization was exposed in the upper mesa that extends soutliward from the footklls pnrt of the tuff in 4 or more disconnected areas of the Brndshnw Mountains. The ore fragments at intervnls of 200 to SO0 feet. found in the soil consist of hard psilomclnne These mineralized areas had been esplorrd ranging from particles the size of wheat to by shnllow pits and opencuts, tlie most estrn- smooth rounded nodulcs as large as an inch in sive of w11icli was a bulldozer trench nbout 500 diameter. Tho nodules were evident on the 20 to 50 feet wide, and as much as surface in scattercrl and varying amounts for a I;bP;e?ftep. Thc manganese minerals erposrd length of about 1,000 feet nlong the course of in the various openin s consisted largely of wad, the wash and in some places over a width of as which occurred in a fiverdied attern of smnll much as 300 feet. The mangnnese-bearing soil seams 1 or 2 inches wide, usuali' y separated by ranged from 2 to 4 feet in tl~icknessand rested a foot or more of unmineralized tuff. A fern of upon a rather hard cemented gravel that the seams mere closely spaced and formed ir- evidently contained little if any mangnnese. regular bunches of ore that sometimes covered In 1944 engineers of the Reconstruction an area of several square feet. Evidently the . Finance Corporation explored the deposit by ore shipped from the property came largely .,.. drilling eight prospect pits spaced at megulnr from thcse occurrences as exposed during the intervals over ,the area. The results of this come of the exploratory work...... :'. +;;.;.:.. . - .4 ..:...... :I . :, . DESCRIPTIOX OF DEPOSITS 63 A similar occurrence of low-gmde manganese trnrcrtine. The travertine ranges from 1 to mineralization wns noted in volcanic tulf near 10 feet in t.hickness and occupies the uppermost Hi-hway 69, some 4 miles south of the Fiscus portion of a much thicker series of sandy sedi- nn8 Mitchell claims. This had been esplorcd ments and tuffs that rest upon Precambrian by a single shnUow prospect pit, but the estent rocks. Erosion has exposed the manganese- of the mineralization mas not indicated. benring bed aronnd the southern end of a peninsula-shaped bench or mesa that separates ' BURMISTER MINE (BLACK MAGIC) tile valleys of Ash and Sycnmore Creeks. Except near thc ontcro ), the mineralized bed is Tho Burmister dcposit, also known ns the co-rercd witb bnsnkic (ava. Tbe bnsnlt orer- Black Ma ic, occupies part of 78 acrcs of dccdcd burden ranges from a few feet in thickness at ranch lanf in SW1: sec. 17, T. 11 X., R. 3 E., the southern end of the mesa to 50 feet orrnore about 14 miles by road southenst of Mayer, nt the northern end of the esplored porhon of Ariz. The property can be reached over 13 the deposit. The ore bodies occur in the miles of a grnded dirt road that branches south- travertine as disconnected mnsses rnnging in east from the east sidc of State Highway 69 size 'from those contnining a few bundred nbont 1 mile south of hfnyer. The nearest rail pounds to somc tlmt arc snit1 lo hare yicldctl shipping point is hfnycr, wI1ic11 is the lern~inus scveid tcns of tons of 11igl1-grndc. ore. Tl~c of the Prcscott Branch of the Atchison, Topckn best ore seldom exceeds 2 feet in tl~mknessand & Santn Fe Railway. is usually localized along cither the top or the Thc ownership of t,hc deeded lnnd on which bott,om of tlic gcntly tl~ppingtrnrertinc. No the deposit occus is divided between Cecil and structurnl trcnds or guides" to the ore occurrences Henry Burmister, of Mnyer, Ark. Titlc to mcre evident. thc wcstern part of thc trnct, comprising 57 ,.lhe cllicf rnnngnncsc mineral is psilomeln~~e, ncrcs, ,is held by Cecil Bnrm~ster, and thc which in ecn~rnlIS Iu1.rd and mnssirc and rendilv adjolntng 21 ncrcs is owned by Henry Bur- sepnrnter from thc soft traverbine mntris. mister. The line dividing the two tracts Opal and chalcedony are common gangue passes through t.he east sidc of the deposit. constituents. The first ore from the property mas shipped The ore produced from the deposit mas mined in 1917. Sinco that time t.he deposit hns bocn from numerous opencuts, adits. and shallow worked intermittently by sereral different shafts. As shown in figure 22, thcse openings operators, all of whom produced more or less Irere scattered irregularly over an nrea of some ore. Although there is some dilference of 7 acres. All of the older undergronnd workings opinion regarding the enrly production from mere caved and inaccessible. Slumped and the deposit, the most authentic information caved nreas on the surfacc indicnted tbat the iildicntcs that from 1917 t.hrough 1942 a total old underground workings were much more of 3,215 tons of ore containing 50 to 53 percent extensive than shown by the mnp. They manganese mas shipped from t.be property. appeared to be large enough to linre explorctl This estimate was made in 1913 by the lat,e and exploited the grenter part of some 250,000 Frank R. Giroux, a reputnble engineer and square feet of the productive bed. nssayer of Mayer, who ncted as shippmg rcprc- At the time of thc visit thc o ernton werc sentative for the operators and the owners of minio ore alon tho nortllc~ne&e of the old the property. The minc mas idle from 1942 stope! area. Tfis late development consisted until lnte in 1952, when operations mcre resumed of several hundred feet of latcrnl works driven by Cecil Burmister and Harry h.Inxwell. When within the travertine and esteodiw in various the property mas visited early in August 1954, directions from the bottom of n 25-Toot vertical approximately 270 long t.ons of ore had bceri sbnft. It mas necessary to sinli the shaft produccd by Burmister and hinswcll. About throngh some 20 fcct of bnsnlt to reach tl~c 226 tons averaging 52 pcrccnt manganese had mincrnlized bccl. Ore cnco~~ntrrcdby tlie been shipped to the Government purchase depot exploratory latcrnl work wns selectively mincd at wenden, Ariz., and some 40 tons was in the and sorted in smnll roomlike stopes. To afford ore bin. working space, 4 to 6 feet of wnsto in addition Thus, it appears that the total production to the ore had to be removed. A few posts from the deposit has been approximately 3,400 sometimes mere needed to support the back of tons of sorted ore averaging 50 to 53 percent manganese. the stopes. The orc-bearing bed wns soft and At the time of the visit two men were em- quite readily broken mith a hand pick so that ployed, and the average rate of production was little if any explosive wns necessnry in the about 15 tons of sorted ore a month. stoping or drifting operations. Wheelbarrows The ore is found in small irregular bodies mere used to transport the broken material to distributed errnticnlly within a flat-lying bed of the shaft, where it was hoisted to the surface . .. . 64 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA FI~URE22.-Geologic and Topographic hlnp, Burmister Mine. in a bucket. A small yline bois!, and a purchase depot at Wenden, Ariz. The property timber headframe were t e prlnc~palitems of was idle when visited in August 1954. equipment. hInnganese mineralizat!on on . the claims occurs in the same travertme bed In which the BLACK DUKE (BOB ALLEN CLAIMS) ore is found on the Burmister property. Much ' of the travertine that may liave esisteci origi- This property, formerly known ns thb Bob nally on thc Black Duke claims has been re- Allen claims, was relocated as the Black Duke moved by erosion. The portion of tbe favorable in 1953 by Mona and Jean Bennett, of Mayer, bed that has escaped erosion is limited to an Ariz. The claims are about a mile southwest of elliptical shaped area about 600 feet long and the Burmister deposit in NWX sec. 19, T. 11 N., 300 feet wide, which underlies a smd, rounded R. 3 E. lava-capped hill. The outcrop of the travertine, A few carloads of ore were reportedly shi ped encircles the up er part of the hiU at the base from the roperty by E. V. Bunker and E. S. of the lava. ~pebed was explored by many Rodgen gunng the Fit World War. The smd cuts and several adits spaced irregularly next output of record was about 8 tons of ore dong the outcrop. The principal undergound containing 36.9 percent mnnganese shipped by workings were in the eastern ortion of the the present ownera in 1953 to the Government travertme. his work consistej of 2 adits on DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 65 the south side of the ha, 2 or more on the derived from the weathering of the mineralized north side, and a shallow shaft thnt may have seams and veinlets in the grnnite.: The man- connected with some of the adit workings. All ganese-bearing soil appears to average not more were caved and inaccessible at the time of the than a foot in thickness and contains many visit. The size of the dumps at the portals of lar e boulders of granite. the ndits indicated that the undergound mork 'he exploration mork consisted essentially wns quite extensive and probabl had fairly of a discovery it on each of the three claims well cxplorcd what a peared to B e the more in tbe group. gamples taken in these openings promisin portion of tieP favorable bed. contained 3 to 7.3 percent manganese. The -~hougfevidently less extensive, the ore and mineralized material sampled ran ed from 1.5 its mode of occurrence was very similar to to 3 feet in width. The clean no cfules of man- that found on the Burmister property. ganese oxide found in the soil contained 46 percent manganese. LA McCOY GROUP This property, com rising three un atented YUUA COUNTY claims, IS a proximateP y in unsurveyerfsec. 17, T. 9 N., 8. 7 E., the Mazatzal Wilderness Manganese deposits are widcly distributed men of southeastern Yavapai County. It is over the northern and central parts of Yuma accessible from Phoeniu, via the village of County. No deposits of commercial interest Cave Creek, over 50 miles of road that ends at are known to occur in that part of the county the C?mpbell rnncli on the Verde River, some lying south of the Gila River. 15 mlles above the Bartlctt Dnm. From the Although smnll quantities of mnnganese ore rnncli the deposit can be renchcd over 13 miles wcro sliippecl from tho county during both of trail. The property also is ncccssible from World Wars, tho grentcst period of mining Cordes, Ariz., over some 30 miles of poor road activity began in 1953 after the Government thnt passes through Bloody Basin and ends purchase depot in Wenden, Ariz., was estab- on the west side of the Verde River about 7 lished. This depot began buving manganese miles north of Campbell's ranch. The claims ore on January 25, 1953, and after purchasmg can be reached by this route over about 6 its prescribed quota of 6,000,000long-ton units miles of trail. of recoverable mangnnese mas closed on May The deposit wns examined by an engineer 9, 1955. During th~speriod over 91,200 long of the Bureau of Mines in September 1941. tons of crude ore and approximptely 11,760 As the property has not been worked since long tons of concentrates were sh~ppedto the that time, the following description is based Wenden depot from 30 or more deposits in upon the results of that examination. Yumn County. The crude ore averaged about The claims were located in 1910 by James B. 18 percent manganese and the concentrates Ballinger and Carl Goslin. The last known approsimntely 25 percent. address of Ballinger was Lnveen, Ariz. There The locations of the various deposits are is no record that any manganese ore has ever shown in figure 23. been shi ped from tbe property. The &posit follows the top of the southern NORTHERN YUMA COUNTY spur of McCoy Mountain, which rises some 500 feet above the north fork of Sycamore Creek. Several manganese deposits have been dis- In this area manganese ?ide minerals occur covered along the northern boundary of Yumn as seams and narrow .veinlets, which fil! an County. They occur largel~in the foothills irrcgular pattern of lo~ntsand fractures 111 a bordering the valleys of the l~illiamsand Snntn coarse-qa~ned granitic rock. Tho veinlebs Maria Rivers. The region is rather isolated range Prom # to 3 inches in width and appear and spnrsel inhabited. The most accessible to be present within an area c0verin.g several towns are %ouse and Wenden, Ariz. Paved acres. In most of the exposures the m~neral~zed highways and the Atchison, Topeka & Snntn Fe fractures are widely separated by varylng Railway pass through both of these towns. amounts of granite; some of them, however, Bouse is some 26 miles by road south of the de- are closely spaced and form fissure zones posits in the western end of the area, md attaining widths of several feet. Because of Wenden is 27 to 40 road miles south of the east- a cover of soil and the lack of ex loration, it ern occurrences. could not be .determined if any or the.occur- During 1953 and 1954 over 76,000 tons of low- rences were contipuous for more than a few feet. grade manganese ore wns mined in this pert of The soil overlymg much of the mneralized the county. Nearly 90 percent of lt was pro- area contains fragments of hard manganese duced from the Doyle mine, which at the end oxides ranging from small particles to nodules of 1954 had delivered more ore to the Wenden , as large as hen's eggs. These fragments were stockpile than any other single mine in Arizona. -. :._ . .i 66 MAXCANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA INDEX . '/ DEPOSITS DROUP NO.) WAR EAOLE BLICX ClOW LUCKY OROUP NO. a BLACI CHIEF B1RD nucn STUD BLICI HAWK I I CINDY lL4CK BEAUTY t SCOTTI ? BL4CK CRUST D BLACK BELUTI ( PERRI I 0 HIDDEN TRCASURC 10 DREISLR I1 NATIONAL DElT 12 LA maon. 13 *ETATE I4 FOOLS FOLLY 15 110 ISCLFI I7 BLACK DAHLIA I. .LAC* *INS I. nOVAllLl 20 SHEEP TANKS 21 BUCI nbwr 22 BLACK TOP 0 10 m 30 '. 1 I -- 7 SCAU - MILLS Y. 1. I , .'.,,"J FIGURE23.-Manganese Deposits of Yuma County...... DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 67 The deposits in the area differ considerably rnrious esposures by an engineer of the Bureau in their mode of occurrence, some occurring in of Mines. The samples, representing widths ' steeply dipping fracture or brcccinted zones and of 5 to 20 feet, averaged about 15 percent . others in flat-lying beds of limestone, sandstone, mnngnnese. and clay. Descriptions of the principnl deposits along BLACK CROW GROUP the north end of thc county follow. Tl~cBlack Crow group of unpatentcd clnims WAR EAGLE (mON KING GROUP) is nbout 1 nir mile south of thc War Engle- group. The Wnr Elglr roup of 3 nupatented The Bureau of hlincs is not at liberty to clnims is 26.5 miles t rond north of Bouse in publish a description of the deposit. the cnst centrnl part oh.ION., R. 17 W., nbout 3 miles southwest of the old Planet copper mine. LUCKY GROUP Tlle property is at the end of a rough 1.3-mile rond thnt branches west from tlic Plnnet road The Lucliy group consists of several un- 25.2 milcs north of Bonsc. From tlle end of pntentetl clnims in the west central part of T. tlic rond the denosit cnn be reached over 300 10 N., It. 17 W., npproximntely 1.5 air miles yards of fairly skep trail. south\vest of the Wnr Engle deposit. Tile The clnims were first located dnrine World property is accessible by 2 miles of sandy rond Wnr I nnd rere known at that ti& nsTlie Iron tl!nt branches northwest from the Planet rond King group. In 1924 they were relocated as 24 milcs north of Bouse, Ariz. I11e War Englc by S. J. Cnrtis, of Bousc, Ariz. The clnims wcrc locntcd in 1952 by F. E. Thc present owncr is D. 11. Curtis and esso- Mcrrill nnd nssocintrs. Thv Inter wero nc- cintes, of Phoenix, Ariz. qnircd nnd csplorcd by F. A. Silton, of Phoenix, So far ns ltnomn, only 1 cnrlond of ore llns A.Opcrntions wcre bcgnn in 1953 and con- been shipped from the property; this was tinned until mid-1954. During that time pro- produced in 1916. Dnring the late 1920's duction amounted to 275 long tons of crude the deposit \vns esplored further by S. J. Curtis. sorted orc nvernging 20.6 percent manganese Since that time activity has been limited lnrgely rind 97 long tons of concentrates containing to the performance of the annual assessment 33.6 percent mnn nnese. Both products were work. shipped to the 1I$ enden purchase depot. The Manganese mineralizntion occurs in irregular ore from which the concentrates mere recovered bodies distributed erratically along an es- wns treated at Bouse in a smell gravity mill tensive ironstained shear zone cutting beds of on-ned by the Linda K Mining Co. quartzite and silicified limestone. The zone The princi al deposits mere discovered near striltes northwest and dips steeply northenst. the south en 1of the group on the Lucky No. 2 It ranges from 30 to 100 feet in width and is claim. The ore, cousisting of manganese and exposed for over 1,000 feet along the strike. iron osides, occurs in irregular replacement The ore occurs in disconnected lenses or pods bodies in limestone. The limestone in places generally IocnIizcd in the shattered quartzite is 50 feet or more thick and dips about 15" SW. along the footwnll of the shenr zone. Over a Its outcrop encircles the northern end of a ridge distance of about 800 feet 5 such occurrences rising a fcrv hundred feet above the surrounding mere esplored by widely sepnrnted shallow mashes. Brown sandstones nnd older crystal- cuts and by a short drift driven from the bottom line roc,ks underlie the limestone. of a 25-foot verticnl shaft. The ore in these Mining operations had been conducted in various openings rnnged from 3 to 20 feet in two minernlizcd outcrops on opposito sides of width. The lnrgest of tile csposed ore bodies the ridge. An opencut on the cast side c~posed wns nbout 30 feet long, nnd thongli it bulged in the rninernliznlion for solno 50 feet along t11c plnccs to a maximum width of 20 feet, it prob- strike and for about 40 feet on the dip. The nbly averaged less thnn 10 feet. mineralized zone ranges from a few feet to 12 The manganese minernls, principally p,yro- feet in thicltness and appeared to dip slightly lusite, are intimately mixed wit11 iron oxldes. southwest in general conformance with the Most of the ore contains more iron than man- bedding of the limestone. The ore zone ends The other gangue constituents nre abruptly along the strike nt the south end of %:Ezi%dfra ments of quartzite, chert, barite, the cut and gradually fades into the limestone and calcite. %ecause of the intimate associn- a short distance north of the o ening. Strip- tion of the iron and manganese minerals, the ping operations farther north {ad uncovered ore presents a difficult metallurgical problem small, scattered areas of manganese mincrnliza- nnd IS not amenable to conventional methods of tion along the strike of the bed. concentration. The work on the west side of the ridge In 1942, seven samples were taken from the explored a mineralized zone appnrently associ- ated with steep-dipping cross fractures in the aged somewhat less than 15 percent manganese; limestone. The mineralized ortion of the arrangements were, therefore being made to zone was about 25 feet wide, antfits outcrop had upgrade the mntenal by screenihg, with the been followed into the hillside by an easterly expectation that the screen undersize would trending opencut for some 30 feet. In the face contain enough manganese to be accepted at of the cut manganese minerals mere ex osed in the Wenden purchase de ot seams, v,emlets, and small irre ular gunches Both igneous and seimkntary rocks are surroundmg masses of unreplnce8 dtercd lime- exposed in the vicinity of tlie mine. Coarse- stone. Overburden covered the extension of grained granitic rocks are in contact with the the zone to the east. A few hundred tons of west central side of the ore body and extend to low-gradeore mined in the cut was piled nearb the southwest, where they occupy a large area. Appromnately three-fourths of a mile nor& The sedimentary rocks consist principally of west. of this zone another steeply dippin frac- sandstones and conglomerates that resemble ture zone containing manganese minera'i s had parts of the playa deposits found in the Artillery been explored by a few scattered shallow pits Mountains reglon. In general, the sediments and cuts. This zone, striking northwest, was di slightly northeast and overlap the eastern in the old crystallinc roclts. The mineraliza- siB e of the grnnite. The area immediately tion occurred in disconnected bodies ranging north and east of tlw mine workings is covered from 3 to 10 feet in width; some were traceable with alluvium and detritnl material. for a few tens of feet along the strike. Over- Mangnncse mineralization occurs in a bed burden covered much of the area and obscured within thc sandy sediments. In addition to the full extent of the occurrencrs. the common oxides of manganese, it contains The ore minerals on the claims consist of a many unreplaced inclusions of both iwneous mixture of the common oxides associated with and sedinxntary rocks. Some of the inchsions an abundance of iron oxides. The other rinci are an,&r fragments, and others are in the pal gangue constituents are wall-rock incPusionH form of smooth, well-rounded pebbles ranging and calcite. from the size of a pea to occasional boulders as much as a foot in diameter. The bed strikes DOYLE MINE (LAST RESORT) about N. 30' W. and dips from a few degrees The Doyle mine is on a group of 8 un- to 25' NE. The ore as mined varied greatly patented claims known as the Last Resort in in thickness. Some parts of the worltings, mere NE% sec. 36, T. 10 N., R. 14 W., about 27 evidently as much as 50 feet below the onginal miles north of Wenden, Ariz. The property is surface, and UI other placcs the pit wna only a reached from Wenden b traveling north over few feet deep. Several faults or shear zones the Cunningham Pass--d nmo road for 16 miles of various attitudes were exposed in exploited to a road fork, then north on the left fork portions of the deposit. Movement had taken along the El Paso Natural Gas Co. pipeline place along these shears, resulting in some dis- road for 9.5 miles, and thence eastward on a placement and tilting of the ore bed. The branch road for 1.5 miles to the deposit. thickest and best ore appeared to be localized The claims were located in 1928 by the in those parts of the pit where the shearing was Doyle brothers (Harrison and Robert N.), of the most pronounced. Vista, Calif. No appreciable quantity of ore The open-pit workings covered an irregular roduced until 1953, when the property area approximately 400 feet long and 100 to mnswas Peensd to A1 Stovnll and associates, of some 200 feet wide (fig. 24). The Ion dimen- Phoenix, Ariz. After operating the mine for sion of the o ening was oriented afout N. more than a year, Stovall relinquished the 30° W. along tR e general strike of the ore bed. lease in the summer of 1954. Shortly tbere- Low-grnde manganese mineralization was ex- after, Floyd Brown, of Wenden,, mined a small osed in places on the surface for about 300 quantity of ore. Early in 1953 the property feet southeast of the workings. Some of these was lensed to C. R. Mnddux, of Kingman, nlinernlized areas had becn stripped and A47 sampled, but no minin had bccn attempted. .a. .,,. Production from tho &posit during 1953 A virtually bnrrcn, re8dish-brown sandstono and 1954 totaled 67,211 long tons of ore aver- formed the northwestern face of the pit and.. a ng slightly less than 16 percent man nncse. apparently limited the extent of the ore don ', & was mmed in an open pit and defivered the. strike to the northwest. An enaterly tren5 il by truck to the Government purchase depot ing shear, dippin moderately north, crossed the in Wenden. central part of t %e workings. The floor of the;; When the deposit was visited in 1955, C. R. pit north of this shear was . , Maddux and associates had mined about 2,000 a gently' dipping clay tons of ore, which was stockpiled on the ore rested. The bottom of the south ... .. property. It was reported that this ore aver- the pit was very uneven and :.. , . . ,. . . . DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS I -PLAN w,QcGR LEGEND SECT1 ON A-A' ' - - FAULTS 111111111 MINED ORE GR GRPNITE SS SANDSTONES ) ORE IN PLACE SECTION 0 - 0' FIOURE24.-Sketch Map, Plan and Section, Doyle Pit. areas of poor1 mineralized material. The ore was exposed in an opencut for about 180 southwestern si~7 c of the ore bod was bounded feet along the strikc. It was 12 feet thick at by a rominent fault plane striing riorthwest the faco of the cut and di pcd about 20' NE. and gp in about 50' NE. The ore lyin A brown sandstone forme c! tbe hanging wall of agninst tie %aaing wall of this fault wns mme 3 the ore. The larger art of the ore stockpiled in places to a epth of some 50 feet below the on the property at t!7 c time of the visit was ori ind surface. Farther east, away from the mined from this deeper portion of the deposit. fajt, the ore diminished in thickness. Where The manganese nunerala consisted of pyrolu- explored dong the southeast side of the pit, it site, psilomelane, and some manganite. In was said to have been only a few feet thick. addition to the unreplaced rock inclusions, cal- Another fault, strking northwest and di ping cite was the most abundant gnngue constituent. about 60° NE., was exposed dong the nortf~ east The ore produced during 1953 and 1954 was corner of the workin . Recent work east of mined by conventional open-pit methods. A this fault disclosed tgt the ore bed extended bulldozer was used for stripping overburden downdip out of the former exploited area. This and for general cleanup purposes. Blast holes 70 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA were drilled with a wagon drill and hand-held SPRING MINE (KAISERDOOM GROUP) jackhammers. The broken ore was loaded into The Spring deposit .is situated on a group of trucks hy a 1-yard gasoline shovel. The drill- several unpntented claims known as the Black hole cuttings were sampled before blasting. Bitch; they occup portions of secs. 15 and 22, This prnctice was found to be a great aid in T. 11 N., R. 11 d The property is accessible eliminating nreas of submarginal material. over 13.8 miles of fair road that branches north- BLACK BAND (MANGANESE KING GROUP) east from the Alarno road about 33 miles north of Wendcn, Ariz. The Black Band prospect, formerly known The clnims originally wcre located in 1918 as the h.Ian~aneseKing group, is in $W>i sec. and were known at that timc as the Kaiser- 36, T. 10 fl., R. 14 W., nbout one-half mile doom group. In 194Zthey were relocatc(l by soutl~westof the Doyle mine. The! dcposit is George W. Wdtcrs, of Glcnclalc, Ariz. During accessible over a short side rond that bmnches 1953 and 1954, the property \vns lensed and northwest from the access rond lending to the worked for short periods by several different Do le mine nbout three-fourths mile east of the operatom, including P. T. Evans, D. C. Evans, El gnso Natural Gas Co. pipeline road. Del W. Fisher, and R. R. Hare. Tn mid-1954 The claims were located in the late 1920's by Floyd Brown obtained n sublease, built a small the resent owners, Harrison and Robert N. washing plant, and operated the property for DOYE. Some of the claims are on land belonu- a short time. Early in 1955 Al Stovall, of ing to the State of Arizona. These are herd Phoenix, Ariz., acquired the claims and built a by the Doyle brothers under a lease from the 1,200-ton concentrating plant on the property. State. In 1953 the claims were leased for a Production during 1953 and 1954 totaled short time to D. C. Roberts, and a small lot 1,890 long tons of sorted ore and concentrates, of ore containing about 10 percent manganese which averaged about 19 percent manganese. was shipped to the U. S. Manganese Corp. mill When the property was visited early in April at Aguila. The property was inactive when 1955, about 120 tons of jig concentrates con- visited in March 1955. taining 25 percent manganese was being pro- The deposit occurs in the same general series duced daily by Stovnll. of sedimentary rocks that are found in the The ore occurs in a bed of sandstone and clay Doyle mine. On the Manganese King No. 1 in the Artillery formation. The mineralized claim manganese oxides occur in a brown con- portion of the bed is 4 to 10 feet thick, strikes glomeratic sandstone, wluch crops out along northwest, and dips about 8' SW. It is the west side of a namw, steep-rvalled arroyo. mangnniferous in places for weU over a mile The bed dips about 20° W. and is exposed for where it crops out along the lover art of the some 350 feet along the strike. Mineralization bluffs overlooking the flood plain oP the Sauta in the bed occurs in three superimposed layers Maria River. or bands that are separated from each other The manganese minerals, chiefly psilomelane, by several feet of interbedded bnl~ensand- occur in the bed in overlapping layen and sheet stone. The 2 uppermost mineralized layers like seams intcrbedded with sandstone and clay. range from 2 to 4 feet in thickness and are a The layers are irregular lenticular bodies fern tens of feet in length. The lower band is ranging from 1 to 12 inches in thickness. exposed in places for about 150 feet along the Ore had been produced from the bed in two strike and ranges from 5 to 8 feet in tl~icliness. areas about thrce-quarters of a mile a art To the north it passes under the detrital mate- In the workings near the northwest end of. the rial in the bed of the arroyo. At the northern roperty the bed had been mined in an opencut end of the band mineralization appears to grade for nbout 1,300 feet along the strike and for as out gradually into barren sandstone. This much as 200 feet on the dip. The work to lower band was explored by a 15-foot adit and the southeast consisted of 2 opencuts about by s few shallow cuts. The mineralized mate- 500 feet a art. In each of these openings the rial in the face of the adit was about 6 feet bed had 1een mined for 250 feet along the thick and was estimated to contain 10 to 15 strike and 50 to 150 feet on the dip. In all percent manganese. this work 10 to 60 feet of overburden had to Pgrolusite was the most abundant ore min- be stripped before the top of the ore bed could eral. Thegangue consisted chiefly of sandstone be reached and mined. and calcite. Heavy earthmoving equipment, including BLACK BEAR bulldozers, rippers, and large tractor scrapers or cnrryalls, were used in the later stripping The Black Bear claims are about 1.5 air miles and mining operations. Both the overburden east of the Doyle mine. . . ' and ore were soft enough that they could be The Bureau of Mines is not at liberty to broken sufficiently with rippers to permit ,publish a description of the deposit. 5;: .' . . loading with carryalls. ., , . , . , .. .. , :; .:. . ., . ,, ...... DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 7 1 The concentrating plant contained a jaw zone crops out in an arc along,the north end crusher, a lnrge duplex log masher, rolls, and and west side of a low hill sloping gently dinpllragm-type jigs. Power mas furnished by south. As measured along the strike, the out- diesel-driven electric generator units. Ore mns crop is about 450 feet long and is ex oscd in delivered to a stockpile at the head of tbe places on the dip for approximately t\ e same plant by the carryalls. A bulldozer was used distance before it passes under a thick series of to push the stockpiled mnterinl into the crusher overlying scdiments. A sill-like body of basalt bin. After being cruslicd, the ore entered tllc underlies parts of t,he mineralized bed. The log wnsher. Tlie washed product was cruslwd east end of [lie zone tcrrninntes abruptly against to about %-inch size in rolls and then passed a cross fault trending north. Bnsnlt occupies Tlie jig tailings nnd the un~lerflow the area irnmediatcly cast of the fault. Beyond from t i;lgs.e log mushcr tlowed by gravity to the tho outcrop to the west the upper part of tho tailings pond. The jig concentrates mere mineralized bud has been eroded. trucked to the Government purchase depot in The manganese minerals are pyrolusitc and Wenden, Ariz. psilomelane occurring in a gangue composed All work on the property mas terminated essentially of sandstone. early in hlay 1955 just before the Wenden The exploratory work consisted of a few purchase depot was closed. shallow opencuts and some stripping along During Stovnll's operations in 1955 estimates parts of the outcrop. indicate that about 90,000 tons of ore nveraginp 4 to 5 percwt mn~~grluusewas mined UIKI miilcd. MAGNESITE The rcsultinr- concentrates a"wrutcd-- - 8.173 long tons averaging 25 percent manganese. The Magnesite deposit was. inadvertently Thus, about 2.27 units of manganese was overloolied when the area mas visited in May recovered per ton milled. 1955. The property is on State land in sec. 16, The deposit does not appear to be exhausted T. 11 N., R. 12 W., and is said to be held by and no doubt still contains suhstnntial quan- Warren Rodgers under a lease from the Statc. tities of material similar in grade to that mined. During 1053 and 1954 it was operated by L. W. However, the parts of the ore bed that can be Smith, of Aguila, Ariz., who ship ed over 900 chea ly mined by o en it workings have been tons of ore averaging approximate Py 22 percent lnrgJy exploited. fn ige face of the present mnnganese to the Wenden depot. o enings the ore is covered with 40 to 60 feet o !' overburden. At no great distance farther BOUSE (PLOMOSA) DISTRICT down the dip the thickness of the overburden Manganese deposits occur near Bouse, north increases so rapidly that the cost of stripping central Yuma County, in two areas, one a few soon would become prohibitive. miles west of Bouse and the other east of the town. The westcrn deposits are in a belt that follows the foothills north along the eastern The Manganite deposit is on State land in flank of the Plomosn Mountains. The otlrcr NW% sec. 16, T. 11 N., R. 12 W:, about 1 belt of mineralization first appenn about 1.5 mile south of the Santa Maria Rmr. The miles east of town and extends east along the property can be reached from Wenden by southern side of the Bouse Hills for several traveling north on the Alamo road for 37 miles miles. to a northeast branch marked Black Diamond The orc in the deposits along the Plomosa crossing, nortb on this branch for 1,.2 miles, Mountains occun largely in comparatively and thence cast 2.4 miles to the depos~t. small bodies of manganese oxides, which follow .The property is held by E. W. Tate, of narrow fractures in lava flows, and in the under- Yucca, Ariz., under a lease, from the State of lying sedimentary and igneous rocks. The Arizona. The deposit was explored to a eastern belt in genernl IS characterized bv limited extent in 1953, and a small amount of larger areas of low-grado mineralization scai- low-grade ore was shipped at the time to the tered along a series of broad irregular- zones of Wenden depot. fracturin k volcanic rocks. Manganese mineralization on the property Tbougf 1 occasional small lots of ore were occurs in a bed of brown snndstone in ,the shipped during both World Wan, the bulk of Artillery formation. The sandstone stnkes roduced in these arens was mined in westward and dips about 15" S. The mlnernl- 1953 Ore'! an 1954. Nearly all of this material wns ized ortion of the bed is composed of manga- concentrated in two mills erected on the out- nese-gearing layers interbedded with barren skirts of Bouse. The lar est of these mills, sandstone in a zone 6 to 12 feet th~ck. The and the first of its kind butt in Arizona, was a manganiferous layers range from. a fraction of heavy-media separation plant of 250 tons daily an inch to a foot or more in th~ckness. The capacity. This plant was constructed in 1953 72 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA by the Manganese Co. of Arizona and after which is in the western end of the zone and the operating for about a year was dismantled in otherabont350feetto theeast. Nearly allof the the summer of 1954. During this same eriod production came from the western area, where the Linda E Mining Co. operated a smaly con- the ore was mined in an opencut that followed centrator, using jigs and tables. In the latter the footwall of the zone for about 550 feet. art of 1954 this mill was moved to the Trigo The cut ran ctl from 12 to 30 feet in width and K~ountninsmanganese - district in west central averaged a kout 25 feet in depth. In the Yuma Count eastern area some ore had been produced from The actuar tonnage and grade of the ore slinllom cuts and pits scattered over an irregular trented in the mills IS not known. Estimates area about 200 feet long. The art of the zone indicate that as much as 35,000 tons may have that sepnratcd the two exploite‘f' areas had bccn been milled durincr 1953 and 1951. The oxplored by several trenches and its, but no renter part of this tonnage was trented in the appreciable quantity of ore had r, een mined &envy-media plant. The concentrates pro- from this part of the fracture. duced in both mills totaled 3,052 long tons aver- The chief manganese minerals were manga- aging 23.0 ercent manganese. These were nite, pyrolusite, and psilomelane. Calcite and shipped to tf e Government purchase depot at brecciated fragments of lava were the principd Wenden, Ariz. In addition to the concentrntes, gangue constituents. about 800 tons of sorted ore containing 17 to 36 The manganese minerals occurred in a net- nercent manganese. was mined in the district work of seams, veinlets, and irregular bunches &ring 1953 and 1954. deposited around fragments of unreplaced lava. Descriptions of the individual deposits in the In many places the best ore was localized along vicinity of Bouse follow. the footwall of the fracture from which it ap eared to grade outward into the poorly BLACK BIRD deg ned hanging-wall portion of the zone. In the large o encut the ore evidently had The Black Bird group is about 1.5 miles di- been broken in genches and loaded from the rectly east of Bous! and comprises 8 un- floor of the cut into trucks with a smdgasoline- patented claims covermg arts of sees., 24 and powered shovel. The blast holes were drilled 25, T. 7 N., R. 17 W. T1 e property IS acces- sible over 2 miles of dirt road that branches with a wagon drill. Compressed air was northeast from State Hi hmay 72 at Bouse. supplied by a portable gasoline-driven com- The claims were locate5 a number of years pressor. Two inclined opencuts extending into ago by the present owner, J. C. Townsend, of the bottom of the pit served as passageways for Bouse. Active development of the manganese the entrance and exit of the trucks. The ore was hauled directly to the mill, a distance of deposit was begun late in 1952.. The first ore about a mile. was shipped by Townsend early in 1953. Later that year the property was leased and operated BLACK HILLS GROUP by the Manganese Co. of Arizona until mid- 1954. During that time, it is estimated that This group of 8 un atented claims is about 20,000 to 30,000 tons of low-grade ore was 3 miles east of the rack Bird deposit in the mined. Nearly all of this tonnage was treated central part of unsnrve ed T. 7 N., R. 16 W. in the heavy-media plant owned by the lessee. The property is accessib 9e from Bouse by travel- ' Production from tlie property has totaled ing east about 5 miles on a fair road that follows 2,815 long tons of concentrate, averaging 22.2 a wash alone- the southern side of the Bousc percent manganese, and about 670 tons of Hills. sorted ore, averaging close to 17 percent The claims were located early in 1954 by the manganese. The ore and concentrates were present owners, John and James C. Townsend, shipped to the Government purchase depot at of Bouse, Ariz. When the area wns visited in Wenden. Information co~erningthe average January 1955, all the work performed on the grade of the ore treated in the ant is not property had been of nn exploratory nature and available, nor is the percentage o P' manganese only one small lot of ore bad been shipped. in the materid recovered by the heavy-media Manganese mineralization occurs on the process known. claims m several parallel brecciated zones cut- Manganese mineralization on the property tin volcanic rocks. The zones strike northwest occurs dong an irregular fracture zone in an anf appear to dip steeply southwest. They andesitic lava. The zone strikes about N. 70' crop out where they cross the northern slopes W., dips steeply southward, and is exposed of an eastward-trending chain of low hills. some 1,100 feet on the surface. The mineral- The more promism outcrops in two of the lar er ized arts of the zone range from 10 to 30 feet in mineralized zones %ad been put1 explored ty . widti. . . strip ing and shallow openeuts. &ripping with ,;.'.Ore had been mined from two arens, one of a bu Pdozer at the western end of the group hnd -13 :&&, -. .., . i -. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 73 exposed an irregular mineralized area approx- Manganese mineralization occurs in a hrec- imately 500 feet long and 250 feet wide. Over- ciated zone similar in strike and character to burden surrounded most of the stripped area, so such zones found farther west on the Black Hiils it could not be determined whether or not the group. Two mineralized areas, separated by work had disclosed the full extent of the min- about 400 feet of alluvium overburden, were eralization. Within the stripped area man- e.xposed along the outcrop of the zone. In ganese oxide minerals occurred in innumerable the northern outcrop rather widely spaced seams and veinlets surrounding unreplnced seams and frnctures filled with manganese fra ments and masses of brecciated .country oxide minerals were exposed within an area roca . The seams and veinlets ranged IU width approximately 100 feet long nnd 50 feet widc. from the thickness of a knife blade to as much Some of the wider fractures locally renched as 6 inches. The wider veinlets often were widths of as much as 18 inches and were persistent for several feet and usually were persistent along the strike of the zone for 20 onented in a northwest direction more or less feet or more. These had been selectively arallel to the strike of the brecciated zone. mined to depths of as much as 10 feet and were heamount of manganese in the area varied the source of the ore produced in 1954. greatly from place to place. In some parts of The southeast deposit cropped out along the the zone the mineralized frnctures were num- top of a lorn ridge. The mineralized part of the erous and closely spaced, forming masses of outcrop was exposed for about 150 feet along higher grade material several feet in width. the strike to a width of 60 feet. Both ends of In other parts the fractures were less numerous the zone beyond this area were covered with and separated by several feet of unreplaced lava. overburden. The manganese-bearing seams In the stripped nrea cuts and trenches up to and veinlets in the exposure coalesced in 8 feet deep had explored some of the more places, forming irregular scattered masses of highly mineralized parts of the zone. A trial ore several feet long. sh~pment(5.7 tons) of the material broken in At the time of the visit the operators, V. S. some of these openin s was shipped to the Townsend and associates, had just started an Government purchase 8epot at Wenden, Ariz.; opencut, which when completed mould crosscut the lot averaged 11.1 percent manganese. a promismg ortion of the southern exposure. Approximately half a mile farther east man- The cut had geen driven into the deposit nbout ganese mineralization was exposed m the out 12 feet and was 6 feet deep. Approximately 20 crop of another brecciated zone striking N. 50° tons of ore, estimated to contain 10 to 15 W. Scattered and varying amounts of man- percent manganese, had been recovered from ganese minerals were evident in the outcropover the opening. The operators planned to con- an area about 250 feet long and 100 feet wide. centrate the ore from the deposit on jigs and The possible extension of the zone to the tables in a small mill recently built a short northwest was obscured by overburden. The distance northeast of Bouse. mineralization in this area was similar to that of the west zone. The deposit bad been ex- UNDA K plored by several shallow cuts and pits. So far This group, also known as the Mildred or as known, no ore had been shipped from this Hart property, comprises several unpatented occurrence. claims in the north central part of unsurveycd The ore minerals in both zones are the com- T. 7 N., R. 16 W., nbout 7 miles by road east mon manganese oxides, pyrolusite predominat- of Bousc. The property can be reached from me Calcite, gypsum, nnd limonite are the the Laurella deposit by traveling enst-northeast principal gangue minerals. about 2 miles on a fa~rroad. The claims were originally located in 1918 by J. N. Dobbins, who produced a small amount of The Laurella group of 3 unpatented claims high-grade ore during the year. Soon after the is 5.5 road miles east of Bouse nnd adjoins the close of World War I, the locations mere allowed northeast end of the Black Hills roup. The to lapse. The next owner of record was John R. property is accessible from Bouse iy the same Hart, of Los Angeles, Calif., who so far ns known road that serves the Black His group. still holds title to the claims. In 1953 the Linda The claims were located in April 1954 by the K Mining Co., of Bouse, operated the property present owners, V. S. Townsend, of Bouse, under a leaseqption agreement until the s ring Ark, and 0. R. Reed, of Inglewood, Calif. of 1954. Durmg this period estunates inicacate Later that year a few tens of tons of sorted ore that 1,500 to 2,000 tons of ore wss mined and was mined from the central claim of the group. milled m a 100-ton concentrator a short distance When the'claims were visited in January 1955, southwest of Bouse. The resulting concen- three men were employed in further exploring trates, amounting to 238 long tons and sverag- the deposit. ing 32.3 percent manganese, were shipped to the . . .:a 74 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA '' ,'$ - 3 Government purchase degot at ,Wenden, Ariz. J. C. Townsend, of Bouse. During 1953 it was .$ The property was idle w en vlsited m January operated under a lease-option agreement by the t9 1955. Mringanese Corp. of Anzona, and about 2,000 .::: Manganese mineralization on the claims oc- tons of ore was mined and treated in tbe com- ' r: curs along two frncture zones cuttmg volcanic any's heavy-media plant near Bouse. The .: rocks. The wider zone strikes N. 50' W. and hli of t11e concentrates recovered in the plant .. dips steeply southwest. The other fracture contained too much iron to meet stockpile '. bears nbout N. 60' E., dips moderately north- s ecifications and therefore had not been .. west, and evidently intersects the wider zone. slipped at the time of the visit. Records con- Most of the ore produced was mined in the cernlng the grade of the ore and the recovery : immediate vicinity of this apparent intersection. obtaiued in the mill mere not available. Thc ': Seams and veinlets of manganese oxide minerals property was idle when visiled in January 1955. ' were exposed in this area for about 150 feet The ore occurs along a steeply dipping vein nlong the strike of the wide zone and to a maxi- trending northeast in the older metamorphic mum width of approximately 100 feet. Any rocks. The roductive part of the vein ranges extension of the niinernlization further south- from 2 to 6 k' eet in width and crops out along east was hidden by overburden. The ore pro- the crest of a bill for about 300 feet. duced from the area was mined lar ely in an The manganese minerals-the common ox- . opencub about 100 feet long that fofi owed the ides--occur in lenticular masses and strands northeast fracture to the poult wherc it crossed deposited in an irregular pattern mithin tho the wider zone. The cut ran ed from 10 to 20 brecciated vein matter. Iron oxides and calcite feet in width and reached a f epth of about 25 are therincipal gsngue minerals. . feet below the higher parts of the outcrop. The eposlt was developed and mined from North of the intersection both fractures had an ndit, which followed the vein for about 250 been explored by scattered shallow openings. feet and reached a maximum depth of approxi- Apparently, no appreciable amount of ore had mately 60 feet below the higber parts of the been ~roducedfrom these openings. vein outcrop. An open stope about 100 feet The ore shipped during the First World War Ion extended to the surface from the southwest was mined from the northeast frncture in an enfof the adit workings. Although much of area some 1,500 feet southwest of the recent the underground work was inaccessible, most work. of the wider and higher grade parts of tho vein The old caved workings indicated that this appeared to have been mined in the area lying early production came from narrow lenticular between the surface and the adit level. strands of ore that were localized nlong well- defined shears within the zone. The ore had BLACK CRUST been mined from severnl opencuts that extended The Black Crust group, including 1 clnim along the strike of the fracture for about 80 feet. known as the Rincnnada, comprises 10 unpat- Few of the cuts exceeded 3 feet in width, but ented claims along the east side of the Plomosa some reached depths of nbout 20 feet. Strands Mountains in sec. 31, T. 6 N., R. 17 W. State of high-grade manganese oxide minerals u to Route 95 crosses the central part of the group 4 inches wide were evident in the pilarsP about 9 miles southwest of Bouse, Ariz. se arnting the o encuts. The claims were located in 1942 by C. L. $'yrolusite anJ' psilomelane were the principal Terry, of Bouse. In 1953 the were acquircd ore minerals occurrin~on tho property, and cnl- b Walter S. Wilson and W. 1. Severinghnus, cite and wall-rock tnclusions were the chief o i" Phoenix, Ariz. During the early part of gangue constituents. 1953 about 67 tons of sorted ore containing 25 percent manganese was produced from -the '$ BLACK CHIEF Rincanada clam. Somewhat later the property 3 '.The Black Chief property of six un atented was lensed and further explored by the Man- tj claims is near the southern end of tYI e mnn- ganese Corp. of Arizona. No work was in : I ganese-bearing belt that extends along the east progress when the area was visited in January :I s~deof the Plomosa Mountains. The claims 1955. y are about 5 miles by road directly west of Two different types of deposits have been :$ Bouse ap roximately in unsurveyed sec. 24, found on the property. Manganese minerah-. ':< I .T. 7 N., I!. 18 W. They are accessible over a zation on the Rincanada claim occurs in steeply ,.:; fair dirt road that branches west from State dip ing irregular fracture zones in volcanic ;.' Hi hway 95 about 1 mile southwest of Bouse. ag omerate. The fracture's strike about N. . i? 'he claims were located during the Second 30d W. and range from 2 to 6 feet in width. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS ade man anese ore was created by the estab- on timber skids. Upon reachin the surface, ghment of the Govemhent purchase depot at the ore was carefully band-sorte f before it was Wenden, Ariz. Early in that year the first placed in the ore bin. manganese claims in the central part of the Cibola No. 3 Claim.-The deposits on the Trigo range mere located by the Power brothen, Cibola No. 3 claim occur along a fractured or of Yuma, Ariz. Other locations soon followed brecciated zone about half a mile north and and, when the area was visited in 1954, 10 slightly west of the occurrence on the Cibola properties were active. As estimated by the No. 1 claim. The zone of brecciation, ranging varlous operators, production from tlie d~strict from 10 to 20 feet in width, strikes nortb, d~ps on May 1, 1954, totaled some 3,600 tons of steeply westward, and can be traced on the ore containing 22 to 30 percent manganese. fl surface more or less continuously for over 500 of this ore was trucked directly to the Wenden feet. The better mineralized parts of the fmc- stockpile, a distance from most claims of ture appeared to range from 3 to 6 feet in width. about 100 miles. An area of lower grade mineralization up to 20 feet in width was exposed on the surface for a Cibola Group short distance near the center of tbc brecciated The Cibola oup of 9 unpatented claims zone. coven parts o~approximntesecs. 34 to 35, The more promising mineralized outcrops of unsurveyed T. 2 S., R. 23 W. The claims along the fracture hnd been explored by a short, are accessible over 6 miles of winding mountain- shallow adit and 2 shafts nbout 30 feet deep. ous road that branches east from the Cibola The shafts were about 400 feet apart, and the 1 road about a quarter of a mile north of Jim's adit was some 90 feet north of the north shaft. Landing on Cibola Lake (fig. 25). At the time of the visit the adit was being The operators, N. (Doc) Power and J. F. driven to reach the ore in the north shaft. Ex- Power, have constructed several mi!es of access p!oration of the zone had not pro,messed suffi- roads and have begun mining operntlons. When ciently to indicate the extent of the ore bodies. the area was vis~tedlate in May 1954, the About 50 tons of sorted ore containing 30 per- production from the Cibola claims, according cent manganese had been ,shipped from the to the Power brothers, totaled about 2,800 tons claim to tbe Venden stockpde. of ore avernging 25 to 30 percent manganese. Cibola No. 8 Claim.-This claim, about a This ore had been mined from three clnims of mile northeast of Ciboln KO. 3, is traversed by the oup, the Cibola Nos. 1, 3, and 8. a steeply dipping fracture trending north and la No. 1 Claim.--Manganese mineraliza- cutting volcanic rocks. The manganese min- tion in Cibola No. 1, the south claim of the erals occur within the fracture in a series of group, occurs in a fracture zone that trends disconnected lenticular shoots that range from north and follows a fault contact between the 1 to 10 feet in width. older granitic rocks and the younger volcanics. The deposit, known as the Power No. 1 The vein is exposed along the strike for several mine, was developed by a steeply inclined hundred feet. It ranges from 2 to 10 feet in shaft 70 feet deep. From the shaft two levels width and dips 30' to 45' W. mere driven along the fracture. The upper The mineralized part of the fracture was de- level, 35 feet below the collar of the shaft, wns veloped by an inclined shaft that followed the 325 feet long, and the lower level, 70 feet vein down the dip for nbout 132 feet. A single below tlie sbaft collar, was about 220 feet long. level at an inclined depth of 120 feet extended Several lenses of ore occurrin at irregular along the vein for 125 feet north of the sbaft intervals along the fracture had t een sto ed to and some 30 feet south. Several lenticular ore various heights above the levels. The irgest shoots were e. osed by this work. At the time of these stopes (on the upper level) was about of the vmt development had just been 125 feet long, 20 to 30 feet high, and about 10 completed, and a stope about 50 feet long was feet at its widest point. From this maximum being started in the north drift. Accordmg to width the ore decreased radudy in thickness Power, about 700 tons of ore containing 22 to until it wns less than 2 feet in width at each 30 percent manganese had been produced from end of the stope. The other stopes were less- the deposlt. Future production at the rate of extensive and were separated from each other approximately 200 tons of ore a month was by narrow, poorly minerahzed vein matter of anticipated. various lengths. The ore lenses on the lower The equipment included a portable air com- level a peared to be shorter and not as well ressor and a small hoist, both dnven by gaso- mineraEzed as those on the upper level. [ne engine. type rock drills were Pyrolusite was the chief manganese mineral. smallBL-'YThe bro en ore was shoveled The gangue consisted la ely of unre laced i$akdi%eelb-ws and trnmmed to the wall rock, calcite, and proba'5 ly other carlkste shaft, where it was hoisted in a bucket running minerals. i ... . MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA I ! I The ore was mined in open stops. Only M. Brown, of Blythe, Calif. When visited in occasional stulls were needed to support the May of that year, mining operations were just walls. The blast holes were drilled \nth light getting under way, and only a few tens of tons air-le t pe rock drills. The broken ore was of ore had been produced. shove%g by hand into wheelbarrows and Manganese mineralization occurs along a trammedto the shaft, where it was hoisted vein or fracture zone trending north in volcanic to the surface in a small skip: The ore was rocks. The vein dips about 30" W. and was carefully hand-sorted before it reached the esposed for about 100 feet along the surface. ore bin: The higher grade ore within the fracture ranged Production from this deposit on May 1, from 2 to 3 feet in width. Two lenticular ore 1954, according to Power, had aggregated shoots about 25 feet long were being explored nearly 2,000 tons of ore averagmg about 25 from inclined shafts that had reached a depth of percent manganese: In May 1954, 150 to 200 about 20 feet below the surface. The principal tons of ore was bang produced monthly. mangnnese mineral was pyrolusite occurring in The major equipment consisted of a portable a gangue of calcite and wall-rock inclusions. asoline-driven compressor, a 10-hp. gasohne Triple foist, and 2 dump trucks. H The Tri le H claims are approximately in Hess, Hess, and Lilly Claims unsurveyelsec. 34, T. 2 s., R. 23 w., about This group, known locally as the H. H. and half a mile west of the Cibola No. 3 claim. L. property, is about 4 miles southeast of Jim's The grou was located in 1954 by Robert Landin- in see. 4, T. 3 S., R. 23 W. The Bishop, of B? ythe, Calif. When visited in May claims Be along a road that branches south 1954, the property had recently been lensed to from the Cibola road (fig. 25). Floyd Brown, of Wenden, Ariz., and esplora- The claims were located in 1953 by Hess and tion of the deposit was just getting under way. Lill and later were acquired and explored by Manganese mineralization was exposed in a ~iriand Lea, realtors of Bell, Calif. So far shallow opencut for about 75 feet along the as known, the production has amounted ,to strike. The higher grade ore, ranging from 2 only a few truckloads of sorted ore, whlch to 3 feet in width, occuls along the footwall of a according to Joe Lowe contamed about 30 steeply di ping fracture trending north and percent manganese. When visited in May cutting votnnic rocks. In places, lower grade 1954, the roperty was idle, and dl the equip- mineralization up to 10 feet in width was ex- ment had \ een removed.. posed along the hanging wall of the fracture Mneralization occurs within a brecciated zone. About 30 tons of the higher grade ore zone that strikes northeast and dips steeply had been mined from the cut and was awaiting west in volcanic rocks. The deposit had been shipment to the Wenden purchase depot. A e.xplored by a shallow open pit about 75 feet lot of similar ore that had been shipped to long and 10 to 20 feet wide. Tbe manganese Wenden contained about 23 percent manganese. minerals exposetl in the pit occurred in irregular, discontinuous masses and veinlets surrounded Black Diamond Group by masses of unreplnced lava. Several hundred The Black Diamond group, comprising 6 un- tons of mineralized material had been removed patented claims, is in the south central part from the excavation and placed in stockpiles of unsurveyed T. 2 S., R. 22 W., about 14 miles along the road. by road east of Cibola Lake. The property is The manganese minerals, consisting of psilom- acccssible over 9 miles of a road thnt branches elane and pyrolusite, occur ln a gangue of east from the access road to the Cibola claims silicified volcanic rock. about 5 miles east of Jim's Landing. When Another group of claims known as New Year visited in May 1954, a new road extendin Nos. 2 and 3, held by Kirk and Len, is a short northeast was under construction; this wi fi distance southwest of the H. H. and L. claims. ,make the property more readily accessible from The manganese occurrence on this property was State Route 95 and materially shorten the simiiar to that found on those cla~ms. About distance to the Wenden purchase de ot 10 tons of sorted ore had been shipped. At the Tho claims originally were locatef-id 19.53 time of the visit 3 men were employed in break- by Cornelius Lopez and were acquired a short ing and sorting ore from an opencut about 40 time later by K. C. Gibson, of Roll, Ariz. feet long. By the end of April 1954 about 800 tons of ore containing 21 to 34 percent manganese had been Peggy B Claim shi ped to the Wenden purchase depot. Sev- The Peggy B group of two unpatented claims er3 hundred tons of similar ore had been is about a mile east of the A. H. and L, deposit. mined and stockpiled, awaiting t,he corn letion The claims were located early iu 1954 by John of the new road before being trucked to dnden. DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 81 The manganese deposits on the property were Montoya Claims (Black Jack) found within an extensive zone of brecciated Two unpatented claims owned by Ernesto lava. The zone, striking northeast and dippin Montoya, of Blythe, Calif., are about 3 miles steeply west, was as much as 450 feet wide an 8 northwest of the Black Diamond group. The was traceable for over 600 feet. Within the deposit was discovered and located shortly central part of this brecciated area, three or before the area mas visited in May 1954. more separate ore bodies had been discovered bInnganese mineralization, consisting of the and developed. The principal ore bodies were common oxides, occurs in s lenticular ore shoot rougl~lyparallel and were spaced 150 to 200 within a fracture zone trending north and cut- feet apart. The eastern ore body had been ting volcanic rocks. The deposit was exposed explored by a sl~allowopencut about 50 feet in an opencut for about 50 feet along the strike. long. The central deposit was developed by The higher grade ore ranges from 1 to 3 feet 2 shafts, 30 and 50 feet deep, and by 150 fect in width and appears to dip 35' W. Three of luternl work. The western ore body was men mere employed, and a few tens of tons of opened by an adit that followed the mineraliza- sorted ore had been produced. Other discon- tion for 160 feet along the strike. The face of nected mnnganiferous outcrops were evident the ndit mas about 60 feet below the surface. along the trend of the fracture zone. The minable ore exposed in these openings occurred in a series of lenticular shoots ranging KBC Claims (Self Mine) from 2 to 8 feet in width and from 20 to over The ABC claims, known as the Self mine, 100 fect in len tli. The ore shoots were separ- comprise a roup of 6 unpntented claims on ated by iriterva5 s of poorly mineralized material. the eastcrn s? ope of the Trigo Mountains about The chief manganese minerals were pyrolusite 5.5 air miles nortlieast of the Blnck Diamond and silomelane. The gangue was composed deposit. The property is in SW%sec. 1, T. 2 S., large? y of calcite and brecciated fragments of R. 22 W., and can be reached over 12 miles of the wall rocks. a road that branches south from the Cibola The ore was mined underground in open rond about 12 miles west of State Route 95. sto es The walls of the ore bod~eswere strong The claims were located in 1948 b Carl and ancfnkeded very little support. Wheelbarrows Harvey L. Self, of Yuma, Ariz. &ring the were used in place of cars and track for tram- following 2 years the Self brothers operated the ming the broken ore. Compressed air for the property and produced several hundred tons of air-leg-ty e rock drills wns supplied by portable sorted ore averaging slightly over 40 percent gasoline-cfriven compressors. Small gasoline manganese. This ore, the first produced from hoists were in use at the shafts. west central Yuma County, was trucked to Production from the property in May 1854 Blythe, Calif., and shi rail to different was at the rate of about 250 tons of ore a month. steel manufacturers. This was expected to be increased materially erty was lensed to E. upon completion of the new rond. The mine When visited in May 1954, the camp was a short distunce west of the workings. lesseesMcNell? lad shpped. about 34 tons of ore con- taining some 41 percent manganese to tho Andrus Claims Wenden purchase depot. The Andrus group of two unpntented claims The manganese deposits on the property is on top of a prominent ridge about half a occur in two parallel veins cutting volcanic mile nortb of the Black Diamond group. rocks. The veins are about 150 feet apart, The claims were located in 1954 by V. A. strike north, and dip steeply west. The ore in hndros, of I3lytIi0, CuliI. When tlic area was both vcins had been mined in o encnts that visited in May 1954, two men employed by rencl~eda maximum depth of a 6out 20 fcet Andrus were exploring tlie deposit. About 50 below the surface. The higher grade ore tons of sorted ore had been, mined, but none exposed in the cuts ranged from 1 to 3 feet in had been shipped. An ,nenal tramway was width and had evidently been mined more or under construct~onto fncllitnte the removal of less continuously along the strike of both vcins the ore from the top of the r~de for about 125 feet. At the time of the visit Manganese mineralization, 7.nrgely psilome- the lessees were starting s shaft on the north lane, occurred.in bunches and ve~nletsalong a end of the west vein, from which they intended fracture zone in volcnnm roeks. The work at to develop the deposit at greater depth. the time of the vwt was limted to a few scat- Psilomelane was the predominatm manga- tered surface cuts and pits, which d~dnot nese mineral. The gangue consisted f argely of indicate the extent of the deposit. brecciated fragments of wnll rock. 82 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA Fools Folly Highway No. 60-70 about 12 miles west of The Fools Folly group of five claims coven Quartzs~te,Ariz. parts of secs. 1 and 2, T. 1 N., R. 21 W., near The claims were located late in 1953 by the the north end of the Trigo Mountains. The present oyner, Jesus Daniels, of Blythe, Calif. property is owned by E. W. Jarrell, of Yuma, Operations were begun in 1954, and at the end Ariz. It is accessible over 10 miles of poor of April 1955 a total of 194 long tons of ore road that branches northeast from the Cibola averaging 41 percent manganese had been road about 22 miles west of State Route 95. shipped to the Government purchase depot in It also may be reached over 13 miles of ve~y Wenden, Ariz. Fivc men were employcd when poor road that branches nortlwest from State the property was visited in April 1055. Route 95 about 16 miles south of Quartzsite, EI~&gmde bodies of manganese oxides occur Ariz. on the property as irregular replacements along Tbe claims are said to have been located as a minor fold in limestone; The limestone early as 1930, and a small amount of ore was strikes north and dips moderately west. Coarse- produced at that time. They were relocated grained granitic rocks are exposed a short early in 1954 and operated by a partnership, distance east of the deposit. Alluvium covers Snipes, Smith, Jarrell, and Richardson. Be- the area immediately west of the mincrnlized tween May 1954 and May 1955 about 236 long outcrop. tons of sorted ore averagmg 20 percent mangn- Ore had been mined from disconnected nese was shipped from the deposit to the Gov- bodies for about 50 feet nlonr the strike~ ~ - of-- t.lm...- ernment purchase depot in Wenden, Ariz. limestone and to a depth of-25 feet below the Two men were employed when the property surface:. The individual ore bodies ranged was visited on July 14, 1955. At that time from a few inches to several feet in thickness and ore was being mined for treatment in a custom from 3 to 12 feet in length. The largest body mill recently completed near Jim's Landing on exposed at the time of the visit bad been mined Cibola Lake. more or less continuously for about 20 feet Manganese minerals occur on the claims down the dip. It appeared to be localized in a along a steeply dipping fracture zone trending westerly dipping fissure zone cutting the north- east in volcanic rocks. The fracture extends ern flank of the fold in the limestone. more or less continuously for about 700 feet The ore was composed largely of soft pyro- along the strike. In this distance 2 ore sboots lusite relatively free of gangue. Very little about 500 feet apart had been found and sorting was necessury to attain a grade of 40 developed. The western deposit had been percent mangnnese. explored by a 125-foot crosscut atlit that inter- The workings consisted of several opencuts sectecl the frncture about 50 fect below tl~csur- and u 25-foot vcrticnl shaft. At the time of the face. Tllese were old partly caved worlcings and visit a drift hnd been started on an ore body were not visited. According to E. W. Ja~~ell,a exposed new the bottom of tlie shaft. small quantity of ore had been mined in this area in the early 1930'8, and some ore still La Angora rernaincd in the workings. The ore consti- La Angora grou of 2 unpatented claims is tutlng the late prodnct~onwas mined in the in sec. 15. T. 3 N., k. 21 W., about 1.5 air miles- - eastern deposit from an opencut and an inclined northeast of the Metate deposit. The same shaft said to be 67 feet deep. The ore body road from United States Highway No. 6C-70 exposed in the opencut was about 35 feet long serves both La Angora and the Metate Dron- and 2 to 6 feet wide The shaft, which is in erties. . . the east end of the cut, had been abandoned The claims were located in January 1955 by and largely filled with waste. Some ore was W. R. Snndovnl and associates, of Blythe, still exposed in the bottom of the opencut and Calif. Production at the end of April 1955 also in its west face. totaled about 136 long tons of ore avernging Pyrolusite was the principal man anese min- 43.7 percent mangnnese. SLYmen were em- eral. The gangue cons~sted largef y of unre- ployed when the property was visited early in placed fragments of the volcnnic country April 1955. rock. The ore occurs in irregular bodies in limestone under much the same geologic conditions as on Metate the Metate ro erty The rincipal ore body, The Metate group of three unpatented claims which fur& Refe the bulk. of Ea Angora produc- is on the west slope of the Dome Rock Moun- tion, ap eared to follow a beddin plane frac- tains in sec. 22, T. 3 N., R. 21 W. Tho pro erty ture str%ing north and dipping a&kL40° W. is accessible over 3 miles of unimprovecfdirt The ore, ranging from a few inches to 2 feet in road that branches aoutli from United States thickness, wna exposed in places for about 30 DESCFUPTION OF DEPOSITS 83 feet along the strike and to a depth of some 20 mined in an open stope from a short adit level. feet below the outcrop. About 500 tons of sorted ore was produced from Pyrolusite was the chief man anese mineral. this occurrence. The angue consisted of sm af quantities of unrep-? aced limestone and calcite. Hidden Treasure magic Group) The workings consisted of an open pit, which The Hidden Treasure property of three claims followed the ore down the dip for some 20 feet. is near the base of the southern slope of the Harquahala 'Mountains in see. 29, T. 5 N., National Debt R. 11 W. The elaims are at the end of a 6-mile The National Debt group, comprising four road that branches northeast from the Salome- unpatented claims, is in sec. 35, T. 4 N., R. 16 Hassayampa Road about 12 miles south of W. The property is accessible over 4 miles of Salome, Ariz. The access road ends at a cabin dirt road that branches south from United from which the workings can be reached over a States Highway No. 6&70 about 22 miles west short northerly trending trail. of Wenden, A&. The property has been operated intermit- The claims rere located early in 1953 by the tently as a gold mine since its discovery in 1932. present owner, L. C. Huthmacher, of Wenden, According to the present owner, Edwin J. Ariz. Mining was begun short1 thereafter, Johnson, of Salome, Ariz., the mine has pro- and during 1953 and 1954 a totJof 796 long duced about 50 cars of shipping ore valued at tons of sorted ore averaping 20.2 percent man- approximately $50,000 in gold. No manganese ganese was shipped to the G&ernnient urcbase ore was produced until 1953. During 1953 and depot in Wenden, Ariz. Of this tot4 lessees 1954 several small lots of sorted ore containing produced some 19 tons, and L. C. Huthmacher about 20 percent manganese were mined and mined the balance. The property was idle shipped by lessees to the Government purchase when visited in September 1954, but it was depot in Wenden, Ariz. The pro erty was idle reported that Huthmacher resumed operations when the area was visited in ~arcg1955. early in 1955 and shipped an additional 16.5 Manganese oxides occur on the roperty in tons of ore during January 1955. seams and irregular replacement bo&es along a The ore occurj in tvo steeply dipping fracture fracture zone m limestone. The zone strikes zones cutting volcanic rocks. The zones stdie north, dips very steeply east, and ranges from 2 west and dip north. The productive parts of to 8 feet in width. In a distance of several the zones are rell orer half a mile apart. The hundred feet two separate areas containin ap- ore in the west zone occurred in a lenticular preciable quantities of man anese have teen crescent-shaped body about 100 feet long. The found along the outcrop. 8hese mineralized central part on the surface was about 14 feet areas contain numerous seams and occasional wide. From the center of the lens the ore odlike bodies of manganese oxide surrounded gradually pinched along the strike to a width & unreplaced limestone. Most of the ore of a foot or less at each end. It likerrise shpped to the Wenden purchase depot was pinched down the dip, and at a depth of about mined from the larger of these occurrences in an 30 feet below the outcrop the ore was less than open pit about 25 feet lone, up to 8 feet wide, and a foot wide. not over 10 feet deep. fieore was less than a The ore produced from the other occurrence foot wide at each end of the opening. The at the eastern end of the property was mined bottom of the pit was covered with broken rock, from a fracture zone exposed for some 300 feet. so the downward extent of the ore body was not The higher grade ore in this zone occurs in disclosed. In the other occurrence to the south- irregular disconnected masses ranging from 1 west the ore was about 2 feet wide and was ex- to 3 feet in width. Lower grade material up to posed in a shallow opencut for a few feet along 10 feet in width occursin the wall rocks adjacent the strike. to the better ore. The principal manganese mineral is pyrolusite. The principal manganese minerals on the The an e is composed of calcite, limonite, property are pyrolusite and psilomelane. The and &cKd limestone. gangue consists chiefly of unreplaced fragments of wall rock and calcite. Dreiser zone consisted The Dreiser roperty comprises three pat- pits spaced at ented claims anBa millsite, known as the lron the outcrop. The Trail, Star Nos. 2 and 3, and Dreiser S ring 25 feet below the millsite. They are near the summit oP the C. Huthmacher, south slope of the Bar uahala Mountains, m about 300 tons of ore was produced in this area. sec. 16, T. 5 N.,R. llh., about 3 air des The crescent-shaped western ore lens was northeast of the Hidden Treasure mine. The . . 84 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZONA claims are accessible by 2 miles of foot trail that is in secs. 33 and 31, T. 1 N., R. 12 W. The follows the west side of a northerly trending , property is about 35 miles - by road south of canyon about half a mile east of an old cabin . Salome, Ariz., and some 30 miles north of at the Silver Queen mine. This cabin can be Horn, Ark, a siding on the Phoenix Branch of reached from Salome by traveling 12 miles the Southern Pacific Rnilroad about 50 miles south over the Hassayampa Road, thence 3.6 west of Gila Bend, Ariz. The claims are north miles east-northeast toward the Hidden Treas- of Horn on a desert road passing through we mine to a faint road forking eastrrard, and Clanton Well and Deadman Tank. Other un- over the east fork for 3.2miles to the cabin, improved roads lend to the property by way where the road ends and the trail begins. of Salome or from the Sheep Tanks mine road The history of the property is not well born. from thenorth and west.. The claims are said to have been located in The claims were located in 1941 by A. B. 1916 as a gold prospect. They were patented Miner and J. R. Liringst.0~. A small quantity in 1920 and are owned by Arthur H. Dreiser, of sorted ore rvas produced in 1942. So of Pasadena. Calif. There areno records in- far as known, there was no further actirity dicating that any gold or manganese ore was until 1953, when the property was leased to ever shlpped. The propert.? has been dormant L. A. Aplington, of Quartzsite, Ariz. During for many years. May 1953 approximately 38 tons of sorted ore Manganese oxides, associated with an abup- containing 22 percent manganese was shipped dance of iron osides, occur on the claims m by Aplington to the Government purchase lace replacement bodies along a broad zone depot in Wenden, Ariz. The property was idle of metamorphosed limestone. The limestone when it --as +ited on >.far 4,1955. strikes east, dips 15" to 30' N., and is esposed The deposit consists of stringers and irregular for severnl thousand feet in an arc partly en- veins of manganese osides occupying, a north- circlii the north end of a bodie canyon. westerly trending zone in volcanlc rocks. Aong this arc 10 or more disconnected bodies The zone contains numerous widely separated of iron and manganese oxides crop out in a manganiferous outcrops in an area well over a zone 1.50 feet wide and some 2,000 feet long. mile long and as much as sereral hundred feet The larger mineralized bodies range from 100 wide. The mineralized fractures strike and to 500 feet in length and from 10 to 30 feet in dip in various directions and range from an inch width. They occur in the zone in an over- to 2 feet in width and from a few feet to as much lapping pattern and appear to be more or less as 150 feet in length. The ore in the wider and conformable in strike and dip to the bedding more persistent veins occurs in disconnected planes of the limestone. In places mineralized lenticular bodies spaced irre,darly along the cross fractures up to several feet in width ex- outcrop. In some places the thin seams and tend outrrard from the dls of the larger veinlets are quite closelr spaced, forming irregu- bodies. Faulting is quite prevalent in parts of lar areas of low-grade mineralization. the area where it appears to have offset the Pyrolusite and psilomelane are the principal mineralized zone. manganese minerals. The gangue consists Pyrolusite and psilomelane are the principal chiefly of calcite and jasper. manganese minerals. The gangue is composed The workings comprise 1.5 or more scattered largely of limonite, goethite, and cnlcite. pits and shallow opencuts on themore promising Goethite, an oxide of iron, occurs in glossy outcrops. The largest of these openings was dark-brown radiating,crystals. about 150 feet long, 5 feet wide, and up to 10 The principal worlimgs consisted of a 60-foot feet deep. The ore was hand-sorted from a adit and a single-compartment shaft estimated much larger qunntity of the lover to be about 80 feet deep. These openings were matter broken in the various pits an, Fdeopencutsve? about 300 feet apart. About midway in the adit a shallow, sl' htly inched winze had been Black Dahlia sunk along thel%a&ng wall of one of the The Black Dahlia group of fox claims is in larger mineralized bodies. Both the shaft and sec. 7, T. 2 S., R. 16 W.,along the southwestern the winze were inaccessible. flank of the Kofa Mountains about a mile north- The manganese content of the deposits vnries east of the old King of Srizona gold mine. The greatly from place to place. A few character- property is accessible from the Roll-Wellton , istic samples collected m different parts of the semi-improved country road, which branches property ranged from 7 to 20 percent man- east from State Route 95 at Stone Cabin, s ganese and from 20 to 35 percent iron. ssoline filling station about 28 miles south of uartzsite and 56 miles north of Yuma, Ariz. .: Black ~a&k(Livingston) 8rom Stone Cabin, the claims can be reached The Black Hawk group of eight claims, by traveling east over the Roll-WeUton road for :; owned by J. R. Livingston, of Quartzsite, Ariz., 15 miles to a northeast branch, north on this ,i r! . . .. - 4 ',?6 DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 85 branch for 8 miles, and thence 2 miles on a Railroad are some 25 mile to the south and southenst fork to the deposit. are the pearest rail shipping points. The claims are said to have been located The claims appear to hare been located and origiinlly during World 'Xar I1 and then abandoned severnl times since the Fist World abandoned. Glenn Morten, of Quartzsite, War. In 1939 they were held by Samuel Neahr, Ariz., relocated them in 1950. In 1953 the of Yuma, Ariz.; in 1952 the? were relocated by property was urchased and worked by AIton TiamRugles; and 2 Fern later they were B. Carter, of glythe, Calif. Durin 1953 and acquired and o erated by the Sturge?-Worth- 1954 a total of some 230 long tons of sorted ore ington hlining Eo., Yumn, +iz. Dunng, 1954 areraging about 27 ercent manganese was and the early part of 1955 thls companr shipped shipped by Carter totE e Gorernrnent purchase about 384 long tons of ore areraging 26 percent depot in Kenden, Ariz. Operations were manganese to the Government purchase depot terminated late in 1954. in Kenden, -4ri.z. The operation was dis- Manganese mineralization occurs on the continued in hlarch 1955. property along two fracture zones in ~olcanic Several manganese-bearing reins cutting vol- rocks. The fractures are about 100 feet apart; canic flow rocks are esposed on the roperty. both strike northwest and dip very steeply They strike northwest. and dip steepP r north- northeast. east. The vein that has -elded most of the ore The eastern zone was e.xposed for about 150 can be traced for several hundred feet along feet along the strike and ras mineralized in the outcrop. It ranges from 2 to 6 feet in places to widths of ns much as 8 feet. n-idth. A few hundred feet to the south 2 The western fracture rras traceable for other relatively short reins 2 to 3 feet aide appro.dmately 300 feet along the strike and crop out. ranged from 10 to 20 feet in mdth. In the main vein the ore occurs in discon- The ore in both zones occurred in irregular, nected lenticular shoots composed of stringers disconnected bodies composed of veinlcts and and podIike bodies of manganese osides inter- bunches of manganese o.ddes distributed er- mingled 4th calcite, qunrtz, and rock frag- ratically within mnsses and fra-pents of the ments. fractured country rock. The reinlets ranged P-yrolusite and psilomelnne are the principal from a fraction of an inch to serernl inches in mangnnese minerals. riidth. Some of the mangnniferous bodies \rere The ore shipped to the Tienden purchnse several feet in their greater dimension. depot mas sorted from the lower grade rein ma- Ore had been mined from both zones in a terial mined in opencuts that estended for about series of opencuts spaced at irre,dnr intervals 200 feet along theoutcrop of the mnin rein. The along the better minernlized portions of the deepest openmgs were some 30 feet belom the fractures. The largest and deepest of these cuts surface. was about 100 feet long, up to 10 feet wide, and Lower gmde material consisting largely of 10 to about 30 feet deep. The ore shipped to rnanganiferous calcite rns found in the bottom Venden was hand-sorted from the material of the deepest cut. broken in the rnrious operungs. The greater part of the mated mined was rejected as Black King waste. The Black King group of 19 claims is 32 miles The manganese minerals are essentially by road northwest of Horn Siding in unsur- pyrolusite and small mounts of psilomelnne. reped T. 3 S., R. 15 W. The property can be Calcite is the most abundant gnnge minernl. reached from Horn by trareling north for 10 The best ore was found near the surface. The miles on the Clanton Fell road and thence rein material e.qosed in the bottom of the northwest for 22 miles on an unimprored desert deepest openings consisted largely of low-grade road. manganiferous calcite. The claims are said to hare been located dur- ing World War I. Theywere abandoned a short Black Top time later and appear to hare been reloyted in The Black Top grou of fire claims follows 1939 by Cecil >furtin, of Lordsburg, h. Mes. the foothills bordering t!e east side of the Castle In 1951 they again were relocated by V. R. Dome Mountains in the west central part of Morrison, of Quartzsite, .biz. In 1952 the unsurveyed T. 4 N., R. 17 W. The property claims were ac uired bv the present owner, can be reached over a short access road that F. A. Sitton, of ?'hoeni.,*Ariz. branches mest from the Roll-Wellton County The hornproduction from the property has road about 25 milea southeast of Stone Cabin totaled some 47 tons of sorted ore containing 25 on State Route 95. Roll or Growler sidings on to 30 percent manganese. This ore was shipped the Phoenix Branch of the Southern Pacific by lessees in 1951 to the Government purchase 86 MAXGAKESE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN ARIZOEA . depot in Deming, N. Mex. No work vas in of Salome, Ariz. During 1939 and 1940 lessees progress when the area was visited early in.May shipped 1,283 tons of gold-silver ore to the 1955.-.. Hayden smelter. Manganese mineralization on the property As far as horn, no manganese ore, as such, occurs in six widely separated veins cutting has been shipped from. the property. Not until volcanic rocks. The seins strike north and dip 1953, after the opemug of the Government steeply both west and east. They range from manganese purchase. depot in Wenden, .biz., 100 to several hundred feet in length and from was any attempt made to mine the ore strictly . 1 to 10 feet in width. The ore m the veins for its manganese content. At that time lessees occurs in disconnected lenticular bodies com- selectively mined several tens of tons of the posed of veinlets and irregular pods of manga- higher grade manganese-bearin material, but nese oxides surrounding unrmneralized frag- apparently it was not shipped. hen the mine ments of the brecciated wall rocks. The higher was visited on May 5, 1955, this material still grade ore bodies are 10 to 50 feet long and 1 to remained in two small piles near the former 3 feet wide. In places lower grade material millsite. extends into the valls of the fractures to as hIanganese osides occur on the property in much as 10 feet. several veins and brecciated zones cutting vol- Pyrolusite and psilomelane are the principal canic rocks. The principal vein, known as the manganese minerals. The gangue consists of Resolution, strikes west and dips north at a low manganiferous calcite and wall-rock inclusions. angle. It is exposed:for appro.dmstely 700 feet The veins had been explored b a number of along the strike and ranees from a few feet to shallow openings consisting large& of pits and as much as 40 feet in &th. The vein is com- opencuts. The bulk of the ore shipped from the posed of irregular masses and streaks of limo- claims wns mined Lrom adit workngs near the nite, p-olusite, qunrtz, and calcite. Nost of west side of the property. These workings mere the gold-silver ore formerly produced was mined inaccessible, but from the surface the ore above from this de osit in a number of stopes estend- the adit level appeared to have been stoped ing above a Pong tunnel level. from a series of short lenses that e-stended for Another vein some 300 feet to the north ras about 150 feet along the strike of the vein. esposed in the tunnel workins. It st&-es northwest and dips about 50' NE. As esposed Sheep Tanks several hundred feet of drifts, it averawes The Sheep Tanks property of 14 claims is in abl out 4 feet in mdth and contains irredar sec. 1, T. 1 S., R. 15 W., near the southern bunches and streaks of pgrolusite intermingled margin of the Little Horn Mountains. It is with masses of limonite, quartz, and calcite. accessible over 27 miles of desert road that The brecciated country rock between this vein branches south from United States Highway and the Resolution vein contains numerous No. 60-70 about 10.5 miles west of Salome, Ariz. narrow seams med with limonite and pyrolusite. The property has been operated intermit- Other manganiferous occurrences were found tently as a gold-silver mine slnce its discovery on the Red Top Xo. 5, Resolution So. 3, and in 1909. It was purchased in 1927 b the Resolution NO. 5 claims. These are all north Sheep Tanks Mies Co. Dy1928 ani1929 and east of the north portal of the msin tunnel. o erations were conducted by bex Mines Co. On the Red Top Xo. 5 claim,.about 1,200 feet TPhe production in 1929" totaled 801 tons of north of the tunnel, a vein trending northwest : smeltmg-grade ore containing 1,303 ounces of crops out in places for several hundred feet gold and 12,525 ounces of silver valued at along the strike. It ra es from 1 to 4 feet $33,514. The ore was trucked to Vicksburg in mdth and is composedY argely of a brecciated . and Hyder and shipped by rail to the Hayden, porphp cemented by seams and irregular : Ariz., smelter. In 1931 the dnozira MiigCo., stran s of manganese oxides. The exploratov .; which later became the Sheep Tanks Consoli- work consisted of a few shallow opencuts. , dated Mining Co., purchased the property and Farther southeast and extending into the .. did considerable prospecting and develo ment is Resolution No. 5 claim a broad, mineralized ; work. A 100-ton cyanide mill was bdt and zone consisting of widely s aced st ers and , . operated during 1934 and 1935. After some xcasional bunches of pyrofusite anxonite. i 15,000 tons of ore had been treated, the opera- The zone is exposed on the surface for sbout 200 ,; tion was terminated, and the mill and other ieet along the strike and a peared to be aa . J equipment were liquidated. A short time later nuch as 50 feet wide. AL~20 tons of the property was purchased by Ed* W. Mi, aniferous materid, piled nearby, evidently .1 lg~=aaof-. w~s~mosd~h.uea-. 1010. lad een mined in an opencut from one of the m.59.m. )etter mineralized areas in this zone. .lb DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS 87 On the Resolution KO. 3 claim, some 600 feet the Government purchase depot in Wenden, east of the main tunnel, a manganese-bearing Ariz. rein occurs along a fault striking northeast Manganese oside minerals occur on the claims and dipping steeply southwest. It is e.sposed in reins and shear zones cutting volcanic flow in places for about 150 feet along the strike rocks. and ranges from 2 to 6 feet in w~dth. Man- The rein found on the Barhie group, don ganese omdes in a gangue of limonite and the rest side of the property, strikes X. 20" $ calcite occur in the rein as disconnected and dips steeply northeast. It was exposed for masses that in places =ere sereral feet long about 150 feet along the strike and ranged from and as much as 2 feet aide. The work here 1.5 to 6 feet in ndth. Ore had been mined was limited to a few- shallow pits and opencuts. from the wider art of the rein in an opencut In October 1941 approsimately 10 tons ,of that estended ai-' ong the outcrop for about 100 Sheep Tanks ore was mined by personnel of feet.. The cut reached a mamnum depth of the Federal Bureau of Mines for metallurgical some 25 feet below the surface. The ore testk in an endeavor to recorer both the man- shipped from this group was hand-sorted from ganese and the gold-silrer from the 0re.l' This the lorrer grade rein material broken durinw the ore was mined in one of the main stopes above mining operations. The nork here had Been the tunnel lerel in the Resolution vein. Tihen terminated shortly before the area was visited analyzed, the 10-ton sample was found to con- in February 1955 aqd the equipment moved to tain 3.5 percent maneanese, 0.25 ounce of gold, the Hill To claims. and 8.0 ounces of silver per ton. The results The Bom !3 ay deposit, about half a mile south obtained by the metallur$cal test work indi- of the Barbie vein, occurs in a shear zone trend- cated that orer 90 percent of the manganese ing northwest and dipping very steeply notth- could be recorered by the dithionate process of east. The mineralized portion of the zone is sulfur dioxide leaching, and an escellent ex- esposed for about 100 feet along the strike and traction of the gold nas obtained by cpanida- ranges from 4 to 8 feet in width. The ore tion either before or after removal of the occurs in parallel stringers and reinlets, ranging manganese. However, only about 43 percent from an inch to 6 inches in width, separated by of the silver was recorered by cyanidation sheared lava. At the time of the visit ore rras after virtually all the manganese had been being haud-sorted from the material broken in leached out. an opencut about 80 feet lonz.-. 6 feet wide:and up to 10 feet deep. Hovatter Claims The Hill Top de~osit.as the name sunnests. The Hovatter property comprises 3 contigu- is on the top of a Gromkent ridze aboutymil; ous oups, linom as the Barbie, Bombav, northeast of tbe Barbie vein. The ore occurs and gill Top, some 30 individual claims in 811. in orerlapping lenses alone a zone of sheared The property is in the central part of un- laca. The zone strikes ?J.=iO0 TT. and appears sumeyed T. 1 S., R. 15 T., and may be reached to dip slightly northeast. It n-as ex osed in from the Sheep Tanks mine bp traveling south shallow o encuts for some 200 feet aP ong the on the Horn-Palomas road for 4 miles and then strike ana ranged from 4 to S feet in wldth. northmest about 3 miles on a branch road. . The manganiferous lenses in the zone ranged The claims were located in 1953 by the from a few inches to 2 feet in width. Some present owner, D. R. Horatter, of Salome, driz. s peared to be persistent for 10 feet or more Ore was roduced late in 1953 and continued to &ng the strike. be minei until April 1955. During this time The chief manganese minerals in all the es- 230 long tons of sorted ore areraging 18 percent posures on the property are ppolusite and manganese was shipped from the property to psilomelane. The eangue is composed of abundant calcite and fragments of unreplaced n Rom4o. T. M.. md Rarlrr. S. P.. Amom Mm~m&Urar Om: B- 01 MLnu RLDL01 Uv~flptLonlUIW. 1S47.13 pp. country rock.