Commonwealth Mine

Producer in Cochise county in Arizona, United States with commodities Gold, Lead, Molybdenum, 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. Nearby scientific data
  9. Ore body information
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Mineral rights holdings
  13. Land status
  14. Ownership information
  15. Production statistics
  16. Reserves and resources
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10232286
MRDS ID M030569
MAS/MILS ID 0040030120
Record type Site
Current site name Commonwealth Mine
Alternate or previous names Commonwealth Project, Commonwealth Extension, Silver Ware, Pearce
Related records 10103554

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Main Entrance
Geographic coordinates: -109.81625, 31.90073 (WGS84)
Elevation 1396
Location accuracy 100(meters)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Cochise(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Pearce(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Chiricahua Peak(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Douglas(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Willcox Playa(hydrologic unit)

San Pedro-Willcox(hydrologic accounting unit)

Middle Gila(hydrologic subregion)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Arizona Cochise

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Gila and Salt River 018 S 025 E 05 NE Arizona

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Lead Tertiary
Molybdenum Tertiary
Silver Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Argentite Unknown
Cerargyrite Unknown
Chalcocite Unknown
Chalcopyrite Unknown
Chrysocolla Unknown
Embolite Unknown
Galena Unknown
Gold Unknown
Iodyrite Unknown
Molybdenite Unknown
Proustite Unknown
Pyrite Unknown
Silver Unknown
Tetrahedrite Unknown
Wulfenite Unknown

Nearby scientific data

Main Entrance (1) -109.81625, 31.90073

Economic information

Ore body information

  • Thickness 18M
    Length 1220M
    Width 105M
    Depth to top 150M
    Field Value
    Type of Orebody #1 FISSURE VEIN
    Shape of Orebody #1 IRREGULAR
    Primary mode of Origin HYDROTHERMAL
    Primary Ore Control FAULTING
    Type of Wallrock Alter. #1 SILICIFICATION
    Date of Last Modification 910904

Comments on the geologic information

  • SILVER AND GOLD HALIDES AND MINOR SULFO-SALTS ARE ALSO PRESENT ALONG WITH SOME MANGANESE IN QUARTZ-CALCITE FISSURE VEINS IN SILICIFIED TERT. RHYOLITE AND ANDESITE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1895
Mining method Open Pit
Year of first production 1895
Milling method Heap Leach-Electrowin

Mining district

District name Pearce

Mineral rights holdings

Type of mineral rights Located Claim

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Western States Minerals Corp.
    Interest 100
    Home office Colorado
    Year 1996
  • Type Owner
    Owner C. O. R. Ford Corp.
    Year 1979
  • Type Operator
    Owner Gourmet Chief, Inc.
    Year 1975

Production statistics

  • Year 1942
    Period 1895-1942
    Description 1895-1942 - >1,000,000 Tr Oz Ag Produced
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Silver Silver 31103481g

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1996
    Total resources 7620352mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 1.44 g/mt Gold Major 1996

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • IT IS PROBABLE THAT A LARGER RESOURCE EXISTS AT GREATER DEPTH, BUT HAS NOT BEEN PROVEN. RANDOL MINING DIRECTORY 1996/97, P.133. CALCULATED GEOLOGIC RESOURCE 1991: 8.4 MILLION TONS @ 0.042 OZ AU/TON. CALCULATED METAL RESERVES: 353,000 OZ AU.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    KEITH S B 1973 ARIZ BUR MINES BULL 187 P 69

  • Deposit

    ATLAS CORPORATION NEWS RELEASE, 9-7-95.

  • Deposit

    RANDOL MINING DIRECTORY, 1996/97, P133.

  • Deposit

    AMERICAN MINING HANDBOOK, 1996, P242, 1997, P277.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit PROPERTY IS ALSO LISTED UNDER USGS MRDS ID NO. M241066

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 16-JUN-97 Buckingham, David A. U.S. Bureau of Mines

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.