Snowball Mine

Past Producer in Maricopa county in Arizona, United States with commodities Fluorine-Fluorite, Limestone, General, Copper, Barium-Barite
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. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10027659
MRDS ID M003724
Record type Site
Current site name Snowball Mine
Alternate or previous names Snowball-Monolith
Related records 10234861

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -113.31576, 33.65256 (WGS84)
Elevation 488
Relative position ABOUT 20 MILES E OF SALOME, ABOUT 12 MILES SW OF AGUILA.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Maricopa(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Weldon Hill(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Salome(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Phoenix(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Centennial Wash(hydrologic unit)

Lower Gila-Agua Fria(hydrologic accounting unit)

Lower Gila(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 Maricopa

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Gila and Salt River 005N 010W 29,28 SE (29) Arizona

Comments on the location information

  • USBM GIVES LOCATION AS 33-44-34N, 113-19-02W. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1964)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Fluorine-Fluorite Critical Primary
Limestone, General Primary
Copper Secondary
Barium-Barite Critical Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bornite Ore
Fluorite Ore
Limestone Ore
Siderite Ore
Barite Gangue
Feldspar Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Hematite Unknown

Alteration

  • (Local) Propylitization, Silicification

Analytical data

Result FLUORITE IS IN LEAN TO 90% PURE AREAS. FLUID INCLUSION STUDIES OF THE FLUORITE SHOW LARGE FLUID INCLUSIONS AVERAGING 40 MICRONS, VARYING FROM 20 TO 120 MICRONS. THEY ARE COMMONLY NECKED AND ARE VERY ABUNDANT. THEY HAVE AN AVERAGE OF 8% WATER VAPOR AND NEARLY ALL SHOW A SLIGHT SECOND ANNULUS OF A THIRD PHASE.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -113.31576, 33.65256

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Schistosity And Banding Strike Nw And Dip Steeply, Faulting

Ore body information

  • General form LENS, TABULAR
    Strike N60-75W
    Dip 38-78NE
    Thickness 15.24M
    Length 762M
    Width 2.74M
    Depth to top 0M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Faulting

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1943
Discoverer D B Powell
Year of first production 1957
Year of last production 1958

Mining district

District name Harquahala District

Land status

Ownership category Federal

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Southern Mines And Milling Co.
    First year 1975

Comments on the production information

  • NO PRODUCTION TO JUNE 1944. SMALL PRODUCTION OF FLUORITE. LATER PRODUCTION FOR CEMENT AND METALLURGICAL FLUX.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • 18,000 T. ORE ESTIMATED IN 1944?

Comments on the workings information

  • PROSPECTED AREA IS EXTENSIVE, CONSISTING OF MANY OPEN CUTS AND SCRAPED AREAS.

Comments on development

  • 5 CLAIMS; EVIDENCE OF RECENT EXPLORATION ACTIVITY. IN 1949 OWNED BY D.B. POWELL AND J.S. BOYER.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    U.S.B.M. CARD FILE.

  • Deposit

    DENTON, T.C., AND KUNKE, C.A., 1949, INVESTIGATION OF SNOWBALL FLUORITE DEPOSITS, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: USBM RI 4540, 15 P.

  • Deposit

    ALLEN, G.B., 1985, ECONOMIC GEOLOGY OF THE BIG HORN MOUNTAINS OF WEST-CENTRAL ARIZONA: ARIZONA BUREAU OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL TECHNOLOGY OPEN-FILE REPORT 85-17, 140 P.

  • Deposit

    PHILLIPS, K.A., 1987, ARIZONA INDUSTRIAL MINERALS: ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES MINERAL REPORT 4, 185 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: U.S. BUREAU OF MINES SPECIAL PUBLICATION, 334 P.

  • Other Database

    CIMRI

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THE VEIN IS COMPOSED OF ALTERED ANDESITE BRECCIA. FLUORITE IS IN ERRATICALLY INTERLACED STRINGERS OR VEINLETS CEMENTING BRECCIATED ALTERED COUNTRY ROCK. FLUORITE OCCURS IN MAJOR FAULT ZONE. MINERALIZATION IS IN N60 TO N75W 30 TO 78N FAULT.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-APR-1972 Gere, W. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-NOV-1990 Bolm, Karen S. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-DEC-1992 Orris, Greta J. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-FEB-1994 Orris, Greta J. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Authoritative Arizona resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.