Rio Vista Mine

Past Producer in La Paz county in Arizona, United States with commodities Copper, Gold, Silver
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. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Production statistics
  17. Workings at the site
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10102571
MRDS ID M004250
Record type Site
Current site name Rio Vista Mine
Alternate or previous names Northside, Quartz King
Related records 10235012

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -114.20051, 34.17754 (WGS84)
Elevation 168
Relative position 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF PARKER

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

La Paz(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Cross Roads(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Parker(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Needles(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Imperial Reservoir(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 010N 019W 26 Arizona

Comments on the location information

  • SW OF BILLY MACK MOUNTAIN

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chrysocolla Ore
Hematite Ore
Malachite Ore
Specularite Ore
Limonite Gangue

Analytical data

Result 100 OR MORE TONS OF ORE AVERAGING ABOUT 5% CU, 0.5 OZ AU/TON, AND 0.3 OZ AG/TON.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -114.20051, 34.17754

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Nw-Trending Basin And Range Faults.

Ore body information

  • General form IRREGULAR, LENTICULAR
    Strike NS
    Dip VERT

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Deposit Occurs In A Wide, Silicified Breccia Zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • MINERALIZATION ASSOCIATED WITH LOW-ANGLE NORMAL FAULTS; OREBODIES ARE FOUND WITHIN AND ABOVE THE FLINTY, CHLORITIC, MICROBRECCIATED, DETACHMENT SURFACE; SOME FLAKY GOLD PRESENT.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

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

Mining district

District name Cienega District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Production statistics

  • Year 1933
    Period 1918-1933
    Material ORE
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^5% Cu, 0.5 Oz Au/Ton, 0.3 Oz Ag/Ton
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Minor Ore Copper Copper 5wt-pct
    Major Ore Silver Silver 85g/mt
    Minor Ore Gold Gold 14g/mt

Comments on the production information

  • IN 1918-1919, THIS PROPERTY YIELDED THREE CARS OF SORTED, HIGH GRADE GOLD-COPPER ORE

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Length 83.82M
    Overall depth 68.28M

Comments on the workings information

  • PROPERTY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED BY AN INCLINE SHAFT AND TUNNEL

Comments on development

  • PAST OPERATORS ARE OSBORNE AND RANSFORD

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    ABM BULL 137, P. 127

  • Deposit

    USGS BULL 451, P. 73

  • Deposit

    ABGMT BULL 192, P. 142

  • Deposit

    WILKINS, J. AND HEIDRICK, T. L., 1982, BASE AND PRECIOUS METAL MINERALIZATION RELATED TO LOW-ANGLE TECTONIC FEATURES IN THE WHIPPLE MOUNTAINS, CALIFORNIA AND BUCKSKIN MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. IN: MESOZOIC-CENOZOIC TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE COLORADO RIVER REGION, CALIFORNIA, ARIZONA, AND NEVADA; CORDILLERAN PUBLISHER; P. 182.

  • Production

    A.B.M. BULLETIN 137, P. 127

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-APR-1972 Gere, W. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-OCT-1979 Hall, R. K. (Creasey, S. C.) 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.