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Bluebird Mine

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

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10039466
MRDS ID M050123
Record type Site
Current site name Bluebird Mine
Alternate or previous names Blue Bird Mine
Related records 10161997

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -110.47124, 32.76316 (WGS84)
Elevation 1387
Relative position 0.75 MILES N OF COPPER CREEK IN GALIURO MOUNTAINS. LOCATED IN SOUTH SLOPING GULCH TRIBUTARY TO COPPER CREEK.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pinal(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Oak Grove Canyon(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Mammoth(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Tucson(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower San Pedro(hydrologic unit)

San Pedro-Willcox(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 008S 018E 02 SE4 Arizona

Comments on the location information

  • INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1964)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Lead Primary
Copper Primary
Silver Secondary
Gold Secondary
Vanadium Critical Tertiary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Tungsten Critical Tertiary
Molybdenum Tertiary
Manganese Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • GALENA AND TETRAHEDRITE ARE MAJOR ORE MINERALS.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Anglesite Ore
Bornite Ore
Cerargyrite Ore
Chalcocite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Chrysocolla Ore
Covellite Ore
Descloizite Ore
Galena Ore
Malachite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Silver Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Stromeyerite Ore
Tennantite Ore
Tetrahedrite Ore
Wolframite Ore
Wulfenite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Chlorite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Psilomelane Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Tourmaline Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Sericitization. Slight Oxidation Of Cu And Fe Minerals. Wall Rock Partially Altered To Kaolin, Sericite, And Chlorite.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Rock unit name Copper Creek Granodiorite
    Rock description Copper Creek Granodiorite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -110.47124, 32.76316
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Block Faulting Trending Nnw. ; Reg.Trends: Minor Pre-Cretaceous E And Ne Trending Folds And Major Post-Cretaceous Faulting Trending Nnw.
Type of structure Local
Structure description N60e Trending Faults

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR, PINCH AND SWELL
    Strike N40 TO 60E
    Dip 80 TO 85SE
    Plunge 45
    Plunge direction NE
    Length 213.36M
    Width 1.52M
    Depth to bottom 163.07M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Sub-Parallel En Echelon Fissures.

Comments on the geologic information

  • LATERAL ZONING OF METALS EXISTS IN THE BLUE BIRD MINE AND REGION. SEE ARIZ. BUR. MINES, BULL. 158, P. 58, FIGURE 13, FOR GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE AREA. ; GEOL.DESC: FISSURES INTRUDED BY SMALL ANDESITE DIKES. TWO DISTINCT MINERALIZED BODIES OCCUR IN THE VEIN. MAIN ORE BODY CONTAINS SULFIDES OF PB, AG, CU, FE AND GOES FROM SURFACE TO 535 LEVEL. SECOND ORE BODY CONTAINING LOW GRADE WULFENITE APEXES NEAR 335 LEVEL.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1863
Production years 1914, 1918-1930, 1939-1940

Mining district

District name Bunker Hill District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCTION FIGURES ARE INCOMPLETE. EST. VALUE OF PRODUCTION 1863-1920 IS $150,000. EST. VALUE 1926-1939 IS $350,000. EST. VALUE 1948 IS $6000 SUM OF VALUES GIVEN EQUALS APPROX. TOTAL VALUE OF MINE PRODUCTION

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Length 1524M
    Overall depth 163.07M

Comments on the workings information

  • 1 VERTICAL SHAFT, SEVEN LEVELS, NOW MOSTLY INACCESSIBLE. 1 OPEN STOPE, SEE ARIZ. BUR. MINES, BULL. 158, P.64, FIGURE 15 FOR PLAN OF WORKINGS.

Comments on development

  • MINE WORKED INTERMITTANTLY DURING 1914, 1918-1930, 1939-1940, 1947-1948. FROM 1939-1940 MINE MILL CONCENTRATED CAPACITY OF 25 TONS PER DAY. IN 1947-1948, 50 TON CAPACITY CONCENTRATOR WAS IN OPERATION AND 598 TONS WAS TREATED.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    SIMONS, F.S., 1964, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROF. PAPER 461.

  • Deposit

    KUHN, T.H., 1951, ARIZ.BUR.MINES BULL 158, GEOL. SER. 19, P. 56-65.

  • Deposit

    GALBRAITH, F.W., AND BRENNAN, D.J., 1959, MINERALS OF ARIZONA, 3 ED. UNIV. ARIZONA PRESS.

  • Deposit

    GUTHRIE AND MOORE, 1978, AZ GEOL SOC DIGEST, V. 11, P. 25-31.

  • Deposit

    KUHN, 1941, ECON GEOLOGY, V. 36, NO. 5, P. 529.

  • Deposit

    KUHN, 1938, ABM BULL 145, P. 127-130.

  • Deposit

    1964 GEOLMAP SIMONS, F.S. PROF. PAPER 461

  • Other Database

    CIMRI

  • Production

    KUHN, 1951

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit BLUE BIRD VEIN, WITH NUMEROUS SUBPARALLEL FISSURES EN ECHELON. ORE PINCHES AND SWELLS, THERE ARE BARREN AREAS. CU CONTENT INCREASES WITH DEPTH. PSILOMELANE CEMENTS BRECCIATED BLOCKS OF GRANODIORITE.
Deposit THIS RECORD INCLUDES DATA FROM DUPLICATE RECORD M030468 OF J.A. PETERSON WHICH HAS BEEN DELETED FROM MAIN MRDS. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-AUG-1972 Bergquist, Joel R. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAR-1981 Harner, Joy L. (Peterson, Jo) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 13-JUN-1994 Orris, Greta J. 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

Authoritative Arizona resources

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