El Tiro

Past Producer in Sonora, Mexico with commodities Gold, Copper
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Host and associated rocks
  7. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Links to other databases
  11. Bibliographic references
  12. General comments
  13. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10048993
MRDS ID MX00197
Record type Site
Current site name El Tiro
Related records 10230011

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -111.74236, 30.29184 (WGS84)
Relative position 50 KM E OF CABORCA AND 40 KM W OF SANTA ANA, NEARBY MINES INCLUDE LA CIENEGA (AU), EL ALAMO (AU), LA CAROLINA (AU-CU), EL BOLUDO---EL PUERTO---LA SIERRITA (AU).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pima(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

Geographic areas

Country State
Mexico Sonora

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Primary

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss > Migmatite
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Amphibolite
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -111.74236, 30.29184

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • REGION CHARACTERIZED BY ELONGATE NW TRENDING RANGES AT 100-500 M ELEV. SEPARATED BY ALLUVIAL VALLEYS. ROCK TYPES INCLUDE PRECAMBRIAN GNEISSES, META-ANDESITES AND GRANITES OVERLAIN BY PROTEROZOIC (?) QUARTZITES AND LIMESTONES, MESOZOIC CLASTIC ROCKS AND TERTIARY RHYOLITES. BROAD AREAS ARE UNDERLAIN BY THE LARAMIDE COASTAL GRANITE BATHOLITH, AND PORPHYRY STOCKS OF THE SAME AGE. A RECENT BASALT FLOW COVERS N BORDER AREA. PRINCIPAL STRUCTURAL FEATURES ARE NW TRENDING VALLEY EDGE NORMAL FAULTS AND NUMEROUS FLAT SHEAR ZONES POSSIBLY RELATED TO DETACHMENT FAULTS OR THRUSTING. (GILES, ET. AL., 1986).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No

Mining district

District name Cananea

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    PEREZ SEGURA, EFREN, 1985, CARTA METALOGENETICA DE SONORA 1:250000 UNA INTERPRETACION DE LA METALOGENIA DE SONORA: UNIV. OF SONORA, DEPT. OF GEOL., HERMOSILLO, MEXICO, 66 P.

  • Deposit

    GILES, D.A., SILBERMAN, M.L., AND WENRICH, K.J., 1986, GNEISS HOSTED GOLD DEPOSITS IN NORTHERN SONORA, MEXICO: UNPUB. USGS FIELD REPORT.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THE ALTAR DESERT REGION OF NW SONORA IS ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL OLD GOLD DISTRICTS OF MEXICO, AND EXTENDS THROUGH THE TOWNS OF STA. ANA, CABORCA AND SONOYTA FOR 30,000 SQ KM. NUMEROUS SMALL MINES OPERATED AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, WITH SEV. THOUSAND GAMBUSINOS WORKING AT THE EL BOLUDO, LA CIENEGA, SAN PERFECTO AND VERACRUZ DRY PLACERS. PRESENTLY MINING IS INACTIVE; IN RECENT YEARS LEACH OPERATIONS HAVE WORKED DUMPS AT SIERRA PINTA, CERRO COLORADO AND EL TIRO MINES, AND AU-AG BEARING FLUX ORE SENT TO THE DOUGLAS SMELTER FROM THE SAN PEDRO, BASURA AND TAJITOS VEINS. (GILES, ET AL, 1986). ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB
Deposit MINERALIZATION OCCURS IN QUARTZ VEINS WITHIN AN AUGEN GNEISS. VEIN DEPOSIT IN PRECAMBRIAN METAMORPHIC ROCKS, THE MINERALIZATION IS BELIEVED TO BE PRECAMBRIAN ALSO.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1987 Staude, John-Mark G. (Page, Norman J.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-NOV-1987 Leonard, Kenneth R. (Page, Norman J.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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