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Montana Mine

Past Producer in Santa Cruz county in Arizona, United States with commodities Lead, Gold, Silver, Zinc, Copper, Antimony, Arsenic, Cadmium
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Alteration
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Ownership information
  18. Production statistics
  19. Reserves and resources
  20. Workings at the site
  21. Links to other databases
  22. Bibliographic references
  23. General comments
  24. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10039546
MRDS ID M050255
Record type Site
Current site name Montana Mine
Alternate or previous names Rough and Ready
Related records 10207565

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -111.23569, 31.45791 (WGS84)
Elevation 1295
Relative position SOUTHEAST EDGE OF TOWN OF RUBY.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Santa Cruz(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Ruby(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Atascosa Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nogales(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rio De La Concepcion(hydrologic unit)

Rio De La Concepcion(hydrologic accounting unit)

Sonora(hydrologic subregion)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Coronado National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Arizona Santa Cruz

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Gila and Salt River 023S 011E 05 CENTER OF NE Arizona

Comments on the location information

  • INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1979) OR 41

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Lead Primary
Gold Primary
Silver Primary
Zinc Critical Secondary
Copper Secondary
Antimony Critical Tertiary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary
Cadmium Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Pyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Tetrahedrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Iron And Manganese Stains.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Rock unit name Ruby Diorite;Sidewinder Quartz Monzonite
    Rock description Ruby Diorite;Sidewinder Quartz Monzonite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Rock unit name Oro Blanco Formation;Ruby Diorite
    Rock description Oro Blanco Formation;Ruby Diorite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -111.23569, 31.45791
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Block Faulting.

Ore body information

  • General form LINEAR, TABULAR
    Strike EAST - WEST
    Dip 40-90N
    Plunge 45 DEG
    Plunge direction WEST
    Thickness 220.98M
    Length 304.8M
    Width 15.24M
    Depth to top 7.62M
    Depth to bottom 228.6M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • West - Northwest Fault.

Comments on the geologic information

  • GEOL.DESC: FRACTURES SEEM TO BE ABUNDANT AND WELL MINERALIZED ONLY IN CONGLOMERATE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1872
Year of first production 1875
Year of last production 1958
Production years 1928-1940

Mining district

District name Oro Blanco District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner K And K Co.
    First year 1986
  • Type Owner
    Owner Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc.
    First year 1940

Production statistics

  • Year 1940
    Period 1928-1940
    Material ORE
    Accuracy Accurate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^.06 Oz. Per Ton Au, 5.4 Oz. Per Ton Ag, 3.9 % Zn, 4 % Pb.
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Minor Ore Zinc Zinc 4wt-pct
    Major Ore Silver Silver 153g/mt
    Major Ore Gold Gold 2g/mt
    Minor Ore Lead Lead 4wt-pct
  • Year 1958
    Period 1870-1958
    Material ORE
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^Averaged 3.5 % Pb, 3.5 % Zn, 5 Oz. Ag Per Ton, 0.5 Oz. Au Per Ton, And 0.3 % Cu.
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Minor Ore Copper Copper 0wt-pct
    Major Ore Gold Gold 14g/mt
    Major Ore Silver Silver 141g/mt
    Minor Ore Zinc Zinc 4wt-pct
    Minor Ore Lead Lead 4wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • MINED BY EAGLE - PICHER LEAD CO.; LARGEST PRODUCER OF LEAD AND ZINC IN ARIZONA - 1935 TO 1939, THIRD LARGEST IN SILVER IN 1938.

Reserves and resources

  • Type Tailings
    Estimate year 1986
    Total resources 317000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 28.239 g/mt Gold Major 1986
  • Type Tailings
    Estimate year 1988
    Total resources 294000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 0.31 g/mt Gold Major 1988
    Silver Ag 34.447 g/mt Silver Major 1988

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Length 3048M
    Overall depth 228.6M

Comments on the workings information

  • VERTICAL SHAFT & NINE LEVELS - STOPED FROM TUNNEL LEVEL TO 660 LEVEL ON MONTANA VEIN & 300 TO 400 (OR 600) - LEVEL ON ROUGH AND READY VEIN.

Comments on development

  • OPERATOR: HUGO MILLER (1940'S-1950'S). ; ECON.COM: THIS DEPOSIT IS BELIEVED TO BE MINED OUT, ALTHOUGH THE TAILINGS POND REPRESENTS A POSSIBLE RSOURCE FOR GOLD AND SILVER LEACHING. FROM 1935-1939, THIS MINE WAS THE LARGEST PB-ZN PRODUCER IN THE STATE. EARLY PRODUCTION WAS LARGELY AU AND AG FROM THE TOP OF THE DEPOSIT.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    KNIGHT, L.H. JR. 1970, STRUCTURE AND MINERALIZATION OF THE ORO BLANCO DISTRICT ...: UNIV. ARIZ. PH.D. THESIS.

  • Deposit

    FOWLER, G.M., 1938, 1951, MONTANA MINE: ARIZ. BUREAU OF MINES BULLS. 145 & 158.

  • Deposit

    WARREN, H.V., AND LOOF BOUROW, R.W., 1932,... MONTANA AND IDAHO MINES ...: ECON. GEOL., V. 27, NO. 6, P. 578-585

  • Deposit

    ABGMT-USBM FILE DATA

  • Deposit

    ABM BULL 191, P. 65.

  • Deposit

    ADMR FILE DATA, MONTANA MINE

  • Deposit

    NIEMUTH, N.J., 1987, ARIZONA MINERAL DEVELOPMENT 1984-1986: ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES DIRECTORY 29, 46 P.

  • Deposit

    SAWYER, M.B., GURMENDI, A.C., DALEY, M.R., AND HOWELL, S.B., 1992, PRINCIPAL DEPOSITS OF STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MINERALS IN ARIZONA: U.S. BUREAU OF MINES SPECIAL PUBLICATION, 334 P.

  • Deposit

    ANDRUS, D.E., 1931, MILLING METHODS AND COSTS AT THE MONTANA MINE CONCENTRATOR: U.S. BUREAU OF MINES INFORMATION CIRCULAR 6497.

  • Deposit

    1931 U.S. BUREAU OF MINES IC 6497

  • Deposit

    1938 GEOLMAP ARIZ. BUREAU OF MINES , BULL. 145

  • Other Database

    CIMRI

  • Production

    KNIGHT, 1970 - FROM PRIVATE REPORT.

  • Reserve-Resource

    NIEMUTH, 1987; SAWYER AND OTHERS, 1992.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit "VEIN" IS A REPLACEMENT BY QUARTZ AND SULFIDES OF NUMEROUS SHEARS ARRANGED EN ECHELON.
Deposit Discovery Year: EARLY 1870'S.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1972 Johnson, Maureen G. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAY-1982 Harner, Joy L. (Peterson, Jo) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-FEB-1993 Orris, Greta J. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 20-JUN-1994 Orris, Greta J. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

External references

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Arizona resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.