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Contention Mine

Producer in Pima county in Arizona, United States with commodities Zinc, Copper, Silver, Lead, Gold, Manganese
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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. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Ore body information
  11. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Production statistics
  15. Workings at the site
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10039590
MRDS ID M050382
Record type Site
Current site name Contention Mine
Alternate or previous names North Star
Related records 10283587

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -111.07625, 31.88984 (WGS84)
Elevation 1097
Relative position 1 1/4 MILES SW OF TWIN BUTTES

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pima(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Twin Buttes(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 018S 012E 01 Arizona

Comments on the location information

  • SW 1/4 SECTION 1 .

Commodities

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

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Specularite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Garnet Gangue
Magnetite Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Permian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone

Nearby scientific data

(1) -111.07625, 31.88984
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form LENTICULAR
    Strike N 40 W
    Dip 65 SW
    Thickness 15.24M
    Length 36.58M
    Width 4.57M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Garnet Zone Between Prec Granite And Limestone. Localized By Closely Spaced Ne Fissures.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Year of first production 1920
Year of last production 1947

Mining district

District name Pima District

Production statistics

  • Year 1947
    Period 1944 - 1947
    Material ORE
    Accuracy Accurate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^15 % Zn, 3 % Cu, 1.5 Oz Ag/Ton
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Ore Silver Silver 42g/mt
    Major Ore Copper Copper 3wt-pct
    Ore Zinc Zinc 15wt-pct
  • Year 1947
    Period 1919 - 1947
    Material ORE
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^11 % Zn, 2 % Cu, 1 % Pb, 2 Oz Ag/Ton
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Ore Silver Silver 56g/mt
    Ore Lead Lead 1wt-pct
    Major Ore Copper Copper 2wt-pct
    Ore Zinc Zinc 11wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • ( 9 ) PRODUCTION YEARS: 1944 , 1946 - 1947 .

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Length 121.92M
    Overall depth 64.01M

Comments on the workings information

  • SHAFT WORKINGS. CROSSCUTS AND DRIFTS AT 150 , 120 , AND 210 LEVELS.

Comments on development

  • OPERATORS INCLUDED RICH HILL, WM F. FOU

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    HOUSER, F. N., 1949 , THE GEOLOGY OF THE CONTENTION MINE AREA, TWIN BUTTES, ARIZONA: UNIV ARIZ. MS THESIS P. 49 .

  • Deposit

    KEITH, S. B., 1974 , INDEX OF MINING PROPERTIES IN PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 189 , P. 133 .

  • Deposit

    WHITCOMB, 1948 , GEOLOGY OF THE MORGAN MINE AREA, TWIN BUTTES, ARIZONA: UNIV. ARIZ. MS THESIS, P 78 - 9 .

  • Deposit

    WILSON, E. D., 1950 , ARIZONA ZINC AND LEAD DEPOSITS PART 1 : ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 156 , P. 50 - 1 .

  • Production

    ( 8 ) ABM BULLETIN 189 , P. 133 . ( 9 ) ABM BULLETIN 156 , P. 50 . ( 1 ) WHITCOMB, 1948 .

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-1972 Theodore, Ted G. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-NOV-1979 Johnson, Kris H. (Creasey, S.C.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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.