Cerro Colorado Mine

Past Producer in Pima county in Arizona, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Zinc
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. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Ownership information
  16. Production statistics
  17. Workings at the site
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10039562
MRDS ID M050286
Record type Site
Current site name Cerro Colorado Mine
Alternate or previous names Heintzelman, Silver Queen
Related records 10161603

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -111.27402, 31.66013 (WGS84)
Elevation 1173
Relative position 50 MILES BY PAVED ROAD SW OF TUCSON AND 8 MILES NE OF ARIVACA.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pima(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Cerro Colorado(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Sells(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nogales(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Santa Cruz(hydrologic unit)

Santa Cruz(hydrologic accounting unit)

Middle Gila(hydrologic subregion)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management AZ)

Bureau of Land Management AZ BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Arizona Pima

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Gila and Salt River 020S 010E 25 Arizona

Comments on the location information

  • CENTER SECTION 25. INFO FROM LAND.ST :01, 00

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Secondary
Copper Secondary
Lead Secondary
Mercury Tertiary
Zinc Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • THE RICHEST ORE ON RECORD RAN OVER 12,000 OZ AG PER TON, THE AVERAGE ORE MINES IN 1859 WAS 770 OZ/T, THE AVERAGE OF ALL ORE MINED SINCE THEN HAS BEEN ABOUT 225 OZ/T.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Anglesite Ore
Argentite Ore
Cerargyrite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Cinnabar Ore
Freibergite Ore
Galena Ore
Mercury Ore
Polybasite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Silver Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Stephanite Ore
Stromeyerite Ore
Tetrahedrite Ore
Barite Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Chlorite Gangue
Iron Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Sericite Gangue
Siderite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Hematite Stain & Drusy Quartz.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -111.27402, 31.66013

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form IRREGULAR, LENSING
    Width 0.51M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Along Rhyolite-Sedimentary Contacts And Rhyolite Andesite Contacts. Veins Are Cut Off By Contact Of Sediments With Basal Andesite

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1750
Discoverer Early Spanish Explorers.
Year of first production 1856
Year of last production 1937

Mining district

District name Cerro Colorado District

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Harry Lehman, U.S. Magne Pipe Corp.
    First year 1964
  • Type Owner
    Owner Albert Steinfeld And Co, Arizona Building Co

Production statistics

  • Year 1937
    Period 1770-1937
    Material ORE AG
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^100 0z Ag/Ton, 0.1 Oz Au/Ton, Minor Pb,Cu
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Gold Gold 3g/mt
    Ore Silver Silver 2824g/mt

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Overall depth 167.64M

Comments on the workings information

  • MAIN SHAFT FLOODED TO 50 FEET, OTHER SHAFTS IN VICINITY ARE FLOODED, CAVED, OR LAGGED AT SURFACE. SOME GROUND ON THE CERRO COLORADO CLAIM MIGHT BE UNSTABLE BECAUSE LARGE STOPES KNOWN TO EXIST NOT FAR BELOW THE SURFACE.

Comments on development

  • CLOSED 1884 TO 1901; MILL OPERATING IN 1964; 1 PATENTED CLAIM, 20 UNPATENTED CLAIMS

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    JONES, R.D., 1957, CERRO COLORADO DISTRICT: UNIV. ARIZ. M.S. THESIS.

  • Deposit

    KEITH, S.B., 1974, INDEX OF MINING PROPERTIES IN PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 189, P. 114.

  • Deposit

    HEYLMUN, E.B., 1987, CERRO COLORADO SILVER MINE, ARIZONA: CALIFORNIA MINING JOURNAL, V. 56, NO. 11, P. 75-78.

  • Other Database

    CIMRI

  • Production

    ( 1 ) KEITH, S. B., 1974 . ( 2 ) ELSING, 1936 , ABM BULL. 140 . HEYLMUN, 1987, P. 77.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit JONES WAS NOT ABLE TO EXAMINE MINE IN DETAIL, AND GOT SOME INFORMATION FROM AN OLD, PROBABLY UNRELIABLE REPORT. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT
Deposit NO SIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES OF ORE WERE FOUND BELOW 350 FT.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1972 Johnson, Maureen G. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAY-1990 Bolm, Karen S. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 22-MAY-1995 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

Authoritative Arizona resources

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