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Copperstone

Past Producer in La Paz county in Arizona, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Barium-Barite
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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. Reserves and resources
  19. Workings at the site
  20. Links to other databases
  21. Bibliographic references
  22. General comments
  23. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10056413
MRDS ID TC00084
Record type Site
Current site name Copperstone
Related records 10259110

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -114.29079, 33.87366 (WGS84)
Elevation 268
Relative position 18 MILES S OF PARKER ON E SIDE OF COLORADO RIVER, 12 MILES N OF QUARTZSITE.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

La Paz(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Moon Mountain SE(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Blythe(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Salton Sea(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Tyson Wash(hydrologic unit)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic accounting unit)

Lower Colorado(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 La Paz

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Gila and Salt River 006N 020W 12 NE Arizona

Comments on the location information

  • SITE CONSISTS OF 290 UNPATENTED MINING CLAIMS LEASED BY CYPRUS, COVERING 5800 ACRES OF FEDERAL LAND. INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1992)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Tertiary
Barium-Barite Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • PRESENCE OF QUARTZ, HEMATITE, AND CHRYSOCOLLA IS A GOOD INDICATOR OF GOLD MINERALIZATION.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Amethyst Gangue
Barite Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Chrysocolla Gangue
Fluorite Gangue
Magnetite Gangue
Malachite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Sericitization, Some Chloritization

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Volcanic Breccia (Agglomerate)
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Quartz Latite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt

Nearby scientific data

(1) -114.29079, 33.87366
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Moon Mountains Detachment Fault
Type of structure Local
Structure description Probable Fault Separating Jurassic Metamorphosed Volcanic Rocks And Overlying Sedimentary Breccias Derived From Them.

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR
    Strike N30W
    Dip 32NE
    Thickness 304.8M
    Length 914.4M
    Depth to top 15.24M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Faults And Brecciation, Detachment Faulting

Comments on the geologic information

  • FRACTURE AND FAULT FILLING WITH HYDROTHERMAL BRECCIATION OF QUARTZ LATITES.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Medium
Significant No
Discovery year 1979
Year of first production 1987

Mining district

District name Moon Mountains District, La Paz District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Morrison-Knudsen
    First year 1989
  • Type Owner
    Owner Cyprus Minerals Corp. , Don Patch Retains Royalty Rights
    First year 1988

Comments on the production information

  • COPPERSTONE WILL BE THE LARGEST GOLD PRODUCER IN ARIZONA AND WILL MORE THAN DOUBLE THE STATE'S 1986 GOLD OUTPUT OF 42,556 OZ.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1988
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 5.082 g/mt Gold Major 1988
  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1986
    Total resources 1814000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 2.541 g/mt Gold Major 1986
  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1987
    Total resources 2721000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 2.4 g/mt Gold Major 1987

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface
    Overall length 883.92M
    Overall width 365.76M

Comments on the workings information

  • THE BENCH OPEN PIT WILL BE 360 FT DEEP.

Comments on development

  • LIFE OF PROJECT IS ESTIMATED AT 7-9 YEARS. NO PREVIOUS MINING OCCURRED AT THIS SITE. UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENT WAS STOPPED BY CYPRUS IN 1990 DUE TO LOWER GOLD PRICES AND BECAUSE OF CAVING GROUND CONDITIONS WHICH REQUIRED COSTLY SUPPORT METHODS. CYPRUS MAY CONSIDER REACHING THE FORMER UNDERGROUND MINING TARGETS FROM THE SURFACE. ; TOTAL$: 25 ; MILL$: 13.9 ; ECON.YEAR: 1987 ; ECON.COM: TOTAL WORK FORCE OF ABOUT 105, WITH 65 CONTRACT MINERS FOR M-K AND 40 CYPRUS EMPLOYEES; PRODUCTION COSTS ARE ABOUT $200 PER OZ ; MILL.CAP : 2500 T/D

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    WALENGA, KAREN, 1987, NEW OPERATION TO DOUBLE ARIZONA GOLD PRODUCTION: SOUTHWESTERN PAY DIRT, NO. 581, P. 4A-5A.

  • Deposit

    WALENGA, KAREN, 1988, CYPRUS STARTS WORK ON UNDERGROUND MINE AT COPPERSTONE: SOUTHWESTERN PAYDIRT, NO. 592, P. 5A.

  • Deposit

    SPENCER, J.E., DUNCAN, J.T., AND BURTON, W.D., 1988, THE COPPERSTONE MINE: ARIZONA'S NEW GOLD PRODUCER: ARIZONA BUREAU OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL TECHNOLOGY FIELDNOTES, V. 18, NO. 2, P. 1-3.

  • Deposit

    PETERSON, E.K., AND DUPREE, J.A., 1993, PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF BULK MINABLE GOLD DEPOSITS, COLORADO RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION, ARIZONA AND CALIFORNIA, IN MANYDEEDS, S.A., AND SMITH, B.D., EDS., MINERAL FRONTIERS ON INDIAN LANDS: BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS DIVISION OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES, P. 35-42.

  • 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: UNITED STATS BUREAU OF MINES SPECIAL PUBLICATION, 334 P.

  • Deposit

    MINERAL TODAY, 1/90, P. 26.

  • Other Database

    CIMRI

  • Production

    WALENGA, 1987, P. 4A; SAWYER AND OTHERS, 1992; MINERAL TODAY, 1990.

  • Reserve-Resource

    WALENGA, 1988, P. 5A; NIEMUTH, 1987.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit GOLD IN A BRECCIA UNIT ABOVE A LISTRIC FAULT, IN QUARTZ LATITE BELOW THE LISTRIC FAULT, AND IN BASALT PLUGS. THE BASALT PLUGS HAVE THE LEAST MINERALIZATION. THE LISTRIC FAULT IS IN THE UPPER PLATE OF A DETACHMENT FAULT. THE MINERALIZED CONTACT ZONE EXTENDS HORIZONTALLY FOR 3,000 FT AND AT LEAST 1,000 FT DOWN DIP AND IS GENERALLY SEVERAL TENS OF FT THICK.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-1989 Bolm, Karen S. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-SEP-1990 Berger, Mary A. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-NOV-1993 Orris, Greta J. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Current status (per MSHA)

StatusNonProducing since 12/21/2016
MSHA mine ID0203000
Mine name (MSHA)Copperstone Mine
Current operatorBonanza Explorations, Inc.
Current controller (parent)Minera Alamos Inc.
Mine typeUnderground (Metal / non-metal)

Inferred by coordinate + name similarity (599 m, 1.00 match). Confirm against MSHA if precision matters — non-USGS-curated cross-references may occasionally point at a neighbouring mine.

Open MSHA's Mine Data Retrieval System for inspections, accidents, and violations for this mine.

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.