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Pinos Altos Mine

Prospect in Grant county in New Mexico, United States with commodities Copper, Zinc, Silver, Gold, Bismuth, Arsenic
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  10. Host and associated rocks
  11. Nearby scientific data
  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. Production statistics
  19. Reserves and resources
  20. Links to other databases
  21. Bibliographic references
  22. General comments
  23. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10013472
MRDS ID D009781
Record type Site
Current site name Pinos Altos Mine
Alternate or previous names Cyprus Pinos Altos
Related records 10135665

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -108.2384, 32.88567 (WGS84)
Elevation 2103
Location accuracy 250(meters)
Relative position ABOUT 8 MILES N 12 E OF SILVER CITY.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Grant(county)

New Mexico(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Twin Sisters(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Silver City(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Silver City(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Gila-Mangas(hydrologic unit)

Upper Gila(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Gila(hydrologic subregion)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Gila National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States New Mexico Grant

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
New Mexico 016S 014W 25,36 S2 (25); N2 (36) New Mexico

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATED NORTH AND WEST OF THE NORTHERN END OF THE PINOS ALTOS STOCK ABOUT 1.5 MILES NORTHWEST OF THE TOWN OF PINOS ALTOS.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Zinc Critical Primary
Silver Primary
Gold Secondary
Bismuth Critical Secondary
Arsenic Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Argentite Ore
Bismuthinite Ore
Bornite Ore
Chalcocite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Copper Ore
Covellite Ore
Silver Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Tetrahedrite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Garnet Gangue
Goethite Gangue
Hematite Gangue
Kaolinite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Magnetite Gangue
Marcasite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Pyrrhotite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Rhodonite Gangue
Sericite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Outer 10 To 20 Ft Of Quartz Monzonite Pluton Is A Selvage Of Propylitic Or Argillic Alteration. Diorite Stocks On Margin Of Quartz Monzonite Pluton Are Pervasively Potassic-Altered. Lake Valley, Oswaldo And Syrena Limestones Metamorphosed To Marble. Clastics In Syrena Fm Metamorphosed To Wollastonite-Diopside-Tremolite Hornfels. Beartooth Sandstone Annealed To Quartzite.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 59
USGS model code 18b
Deposit model name Skarn Cu
Mark3 model number 8

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Rock unit name Pinos Altos Quartz Monzonite Stock;
    Rock description Pinos Altos Quartz Monzonite Stock;
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Lake Valley;Oswaldo;Syrena;Beartooth
    Rock description Lake Valley;Oswaldo;Syrena;Beartooth

Nearby scientific data

(1) -108.2384, 32.88567
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form LENSES
    Dip }
    Length 762M
    Width 304.8M
    Depth to top 121.92M
    Depth to bottom 457.2M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Mineralization Localized In Favorable Host Rocks Adjacent To Intrusive Rocks.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant No
Discovery year 1948
Discoverer U.S. Smelting, Refining And Mining Co.

Mining district

District name Pinos Altos District

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Boliden Minerals Corp., Silver City, N.M. ; Cyprus Minerals/St. Cloud Mining Co. Joint V
    First year 1982
    Last year 1987
  • Type Owner
    Owner Exxon Minerals Co.
    Home office Tucson, Az.
    First year 1972

Production statistics

  • Year 1990
    Period 1987-1990
    Description Cp_Grade: ^2.39% Cu, 3.61 Opt Ag, 0.010 Opt Au
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Minor Ore Gold Gold 0g/mt
    Major Ore Silver Silver 102g/mt
    Major Ore Copper Copper 2wt-pct
  • Year 1994
    Period 1987-1994
    Description Cp_Grade: ^4.31% Cu, 2.63% Zn, 2.73 Opt Ag, 0.028 Opt Au
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Minor Ore Gold Gold 1g/mt
    Major Ore Silver Silver 77g/mt
    Major Ore Zinc Zinc 3wt-pct
    Major Ore Copper Copper 4wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • (1) TOTAL PRODUCTION 10/1987 TO 6/1994 IN WET ST. MINE HAD ABOUT 5 MONTHS RESERVES IN 10/1994. (2) PRODUCTION OF CU SMELTER FLUX ORE.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1978
    Total resources 3338000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Copper Cu 2.17 wt-pct Copper Major 1978
    Zinc Zn 2.95 wt-pct Zinc Major 1978
  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1987
    Total resources 460000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Silver Ag 66.56 g/mt Silver Major 1987

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • (1) EXXON ESTIMATE AT A CUT OF GRADE OF 1.23% EQUIVALENT CU. (2) BOLIDEN ESTIMATE AT A 3.4% CUT OFF GRADE.

Comments on the workings information

  • RANDOM ROOM AND PILLAR MINING AT 450 TPD ORE AND 150 TPD WASTE FROM DEVELOPMENT WORK.

Comments on development

  • HOLE DRILLED 1948 BY U.S. SMELTING, REFINING AND MINING CO. CUT A ZN OREBODY. DISCOVERY NOT PURSUED DUE TO HIGH HOLDING COSTS. EARLY 1970'S PROPERTY ACQUIRED BY EXXON MINERALS CO., REDISCOVERED ORE 1973, EXXON DRILLED 213 DIAMOND DRILL HOLES TOTALING 331,375.5 CUMULATIVE FEET DRILLING. SOME 7 MILLION TONS ORE DELINEATED, ALL AS HIGH GRADE OREBODIES SEPARATED BY UNMINERALIZED ROCK. PROJECT SHELVED IN 1978. IN 1982 BOLIDEN MINERALS, INC. LEASED PROPERTY, DID 7,950 FT UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENT, CONDUCTED PILOT MILL TESTS ON ORE, AND DRILLED 135 DIAMOND DRILL HOLES WITH A CUMULATIVE FOOTAGE OF 77,311 FEET. RESERVES RECALCULATED AS ABOUT 1 MILLION TONS ORE. ABOUT $25 MILLION SPENT BY EXXON AND BOLIDEN. IN 1987 CYPRUS ASSUMED BOLIDEN LEASE IN A JOINT VENTURE AGREEMENT WITH ST. CLOUD MINING, A SUBSIDIARY OF GOLDFIELD. MINING BEGAN OCTOBER, 1987 WITH ST. CLOUD AS OPERATOR. IN LATE 1989 JOINT VENTURE WAS TERMINATED AND CYPURS TOOK OVER. IN 1992 CYPRUS CONVERTED FROM MINING ZN-CU ORE
  • TO MINING CU ORES. RESERVES DEPLETED EARLY 1995.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    FINNEL, T. L., 1976 USGS MISC. FIELD STUDIES MAP, MF-779

  • Deposit

    MCKNIGHT, J. F., AND FELLOWS, M. L., 1978 ARIZONA GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY DIGEST, VOL 11, P. 1-8

  • Deposit

    ENGINEERING AND MINING JOURNAL, JUNE 1979, VOL 180, NO 6, P. 35, 39

  • Deposit

    NMBMMR GENERAL FILE DATA

  • Deposit

    OSTERBERG, M.W., ET. AL., 1992, ORE CONTROLS AT THE CYPRUS PINOS ALTOS CU ZN AG SKARN DEPOSIT, NEW MEXICO: SME/AIME PREPRINT 92-13, 11 P.

  • Deposit

    OSTERBERG, M. AND MULLER, P., 1994, GEOLOGY OF THE CYPRUS PINOS ALTOS DEPOSIT: CYPRUS-AMAX UNPUBLISHED REPORT, 29 P.

  • Production

    OSTERBERG AND MULLER (1994), P. 3

  • Reserve-Resource

    (1,2) OSTERBERG AND MULLER (1994) P. 3-4.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit DEPOSIT CONSISTS OF TWO TYPES OF SKARN OCCURRING AS 25,000 TO 500,000 ST OREBODIES. EARLY (STAGE 1) SKARNS CONSIST OF RETROGRADE CALCITE-RHODONITE-PYRITE-SPHALERITE- MAGNETITE-HEMATITE MINERALIZATION OVERPRINTING PROGRADE GARNET SKARNS IN SYRENA FM. LIMESTONE ASSOCIATED WITH POTASSIC-ALTERED DIORITE INTRUSIVES. LATE (STAGE 2) SKARNS CONSIST OF CHLORITE-PYRITE-QUARTZ-CHALCOPYRITE-SPHALERITE-BARITE RETROGRADE MINERALIZATION OVERPRINTING PROGRADE GARNET SKARNS IN OSWALDO AND LAKE VALLEY FMS. LIMESTONE AND AS VEINS IN BEARTOOTH FM QUARTZITE ASSOCIATED WITH PROPYLITIC-ALTERED QUARTZ MONZONITE INTRUSIVES. STAGE 2 SKARN, RICH IN CU, BI, AND AS, OVERPRINTS EARLIER STAGE 1 ZN SKARN MINERALIZATION. WALL ROCK BETWEEN ORBODIES IS BARREN OF MINERALIZATION. EARLY ZN SKARNS ARE LOCATED AT TRANSITION FROM GARNET SKARN TO MARBLE IN THREE FAVORABLE BEDS IN THE SYRENA FM. LATE CU SKARN OVERPRINTS ON EARLY ZN SKARNS OCCUR ALONG NE-SW FRACTURE SETS. CU SKARNS ALSO OCCUR ALONG BASE OF OSWALDO
Deposit FM/TOP OF LAKE VALLEY FM. AND ALONG NE-SW/NW-SE TRENDING CONJUGATE FAULT SETS IN BEARTOOTH FM. BEARTOOTH QUARTZITE ORES ARE CU-SILICA FLUX ORES.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-OCT-1982 Menzie, David New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources
Updater 15-OCT-1994 Long, Keith R. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

External references

Maps centered on this site