Little Hill Mine

Past Producer in Pinal county in Arizona, United States with commodities Copper, Molybdenum, Silver, Lead
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. Workings at the site
  19. Links to other databases
  20. Bibliographic references
  21. General comments
  22. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10037120
MRDS ID M030486
Record type Site
Current site name Little Hill Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -110.83208, 32.58678 (WGS84)
Elevation 1268
Relative position 4 MI WSW OF ORACLE.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pinal(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Oracle(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Mammoth(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Tucson(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Santa Cruz(hydrologic unit)

Santa Cruz(hydrologic accounting unit)

Middle Gila(hydrologic subregion)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Arizona Pinal

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Gila and Salt River 010S 015E 05,08,10 Arizona

Comments on the location information

  • INFO FROM LAND.ST :1979

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Molybdenum Secondary
Silver Tertiary
Lead Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcocite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Chrysocolla Ore
Covellite Ore
Galena Ore
Hematite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Malachite Ore
Melaconite Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Quartz Gangue
Sericite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Propyllitic & Sericitic; Weak Coincides With Mineralization

Analytical data

Result ROCK CHIP GEOCHEM SHOWED A 250 PPM CU ANOMALY SURROUNDED BY U-SHAPED 6 PPM MO ANOMALY

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -110.83208, 32.58678

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Wnw Mogul Fault Dipping 40-60s With Left Lateral Displacement Of 1500 Ft Or Maybe More

Ore body information

  • Thickness 47.24M
    Length 60.96M
    Width 15.24M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Shearing Parallel And Subparallel To Mogul Fault Zone, Particularly Near Horsetails

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1885

Mining district

District name Little Hills District

Land status

Ownership category State Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Little Hill Mining Co.
    Home office Oracle, Az.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall depth 68.58M

Comments on the workings information

  • 1 1/2 COMPARTMENT SHAFT, 51 DEG INCLINE 225 FT DEEP (1964). SEVERAL SMALL PITS SINCE 1964

Comments on development

  • FIRST CLAIMS STAKED FOR GOLD & SILVER, IN 1962-1965, ADJOINING DEL ORO CLAIMS WERE OPERATED SEPARATELY BY MCFARLAND AND HULLINGER CO. NOW DEL ORO IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY LITTLE HILL MINES. CANYON PIT AND HILLTOP ARE BOTH ADJOINING WORKINGS (1965) OWNED BY LITTLE HILLS MINES.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    DURNING, 1972, MS THESIS, UNIV OF AZ.

  • Deposit

    DURNING & DAVIS, 1978, AZ GEOL SOC DIGEST, V. 11, P. 81-89.

  • Deposit

    JINKS, 1961, M.S. THESIS, UNIV OF AZ.

  • Other Database

    CIMRI

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THIS REPORT WAS TAKEN FROM RECORD M030486 OF JAN WILT IN MOLYBDENUM FILE, CONTACT PERSON T.G. THEODORE, USGS ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT
Deposit DIMENSIONS DESCRIBE OREBODY MINED IN 1964 WHICH AVERAGED 1.5% CU.
Deposit Discovery Year: 1880'S

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-APR-1983 Peterson, Jocelyn A. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAY-1995 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)

StatusAbandoned since 03/13/2024
MSHA mine ID0200350
Mine name (MSHA)Little Hill Mine
Current operatorDecorative Rock Sales LLC
Current controller (parent)Mary Jo Helmick; Daniel J Adragna
Mine typeSurface (Metal / non-metal)

Inferred by coordinate + name similarity (281 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.

Authoritative Arizona resources

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