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St. Louis Mine

Producer in Pima county in Arizona, United States with commodities Lead, Silver, Gold, Zinc, Copper, Molybdenum, Iron
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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. Ownership information
  18. Production statistics
  19. Workings at the site
  20. Links to other databases
  21. Bibliographic references
  22. General comments
  23. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10039494
MRDS ID M050166
Record type Site
Current site name St. Louis Mine
Alternate or previous names Morningstar Mine
Related records 10258933

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -110.76429, 31.75902 (WGS84)
Elevation 1675
Relative position 37 MILES SE OF TUCSON.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pima(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Helvetia(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Fort Huachuca(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nogales(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rillito(hydrologic unit)

Santa Cruz(hydrologic accounting unit)

Middle Gila(hydrologic subregion)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Coronado 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 Arizona Pima

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Gila and Salt River 019S 015E 25 Arizona

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Lead Primary
Silver Primary
Gold Secondary
Zinc Critical Secondary
Copper Secondary
Molybdenum Tertiary
Iron Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • GOLD IS COMMON IN UPPER PART OF MINE, YET VERY ERRATICALLY.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bornite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Covellite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Malachite Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Silver Ore
Sphalerite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Host Rock Altered And Metamorphosed To Hornfels And Skarn. Pyrite And Sericite.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Quartz Latite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleocene
    Chronological age 56
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Argillite
    Rock unit name Apache Canyon Formation
    Rock description Apache Canyon Formation
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone

Nearby scientific data

(1) -110.76429, 31.75902
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Tilting And Broad Open Folds In S. And Extensive Faulting In N; Homoclinal
Type of structure Local
Structure description Attitude Of Veins Is Generally Conformable To Bedding N 50 - 60 E, 28 - 38 Se. Ne Trending Shear Zone

Ore body information

  • General form THIN, DISCONTINUOUS, SUBPARALLEL
    Strike N 55 E
    Dip 33 SE
    Thickness 0.61M
    Width 6.1M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Along Bedding Planes, Localized Along The Crest And Upper Flanks Of Sw Limb Of A Nw - Trending Anticline.

Comments on the geologic information

  • AGE OF MINERALIZATION BELIEVED TO BE THAT OF QUARTZ LATITE INTRUSIVE OF DREWES - 1971.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1874

Mining district

District name Greaterville District

Land status

Ownership category National Forest
Area name Coronado National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Anaconda Co.
    First year 1969
  • Type Owner
    Owner Mr. Austin Mitchell
    Home office Elgin, Il.
    First year 1969

Production statistics

  • Year 1966
    Period 1875 - 1966
    Material ORE
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^6 % Pb, 7 % Zn, 11 Oz Ag/Ton, 0.5 Oz Au/Ton, 1 % Cu
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Ore Copper Copper 1wt-pct
    Ore Silver Silver 311g/mt
    Ore Zinc Zinc 7wt-pct
    Major Ore Lead Lead 6wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • SPORADIC PRODUCTION FROM 1875 TO 1966.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Unknown
    Length 213.36M
    Overall depth 57.91M

Comments on the workings information

  • 241 FOOT INCLINED SHAFT, DRIFTS, RAISE, SMALL STOPES AND DRIFTS.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    STEWART, J.C., 1971, GEOLOGY OF THE MORNINGSTAR MINE AREA, GREATERVILLE MINING DISTRICT, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: UNIV. ARIZ., MS THESIS.

  • Deposit

    SCHRADER, F.C., 1915, MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE SANTA RITA AND PATAGONIA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA: USGS BULLETIN 582, P.

  • Deposit

    KEITH, S.B., 1974, INDEX OF MINING PROPERTIES IN PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN, 189, P. 121.

  • Deposit

    DREWES, H., 1971, USGS MAP I - 613 (SAHUARITA QUAD)

  • Deposit

    DREWES, H., 1970 , USGS BULLETIN 1312 - A.

  • Production

    STEWART, J. C., 1969, P. 39 ; ABM BULLETIN 189, P. 121.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit MINERALS OCCUR AS FINE TO COARSE DISSEMINATED GRAINS AND AS AGGREGATES OF MIXED MINERALS IN BANDS AND CLUMPS. LEAD IS PRIMARILY IN THE VEIN AND VALUES INCREASE WITH DEPTH UNTIL THE 140 - FOOT LEVEL, WHERE IT DROPS APPRECIABLY. ZINC VALUES CORRESPOND WITH LEAD. CU VALUES DECLINE WITH DEPTH AND AWAY FROM THE VEIN. HIGH AG VALUES CORRELATE WITH HIGH VALUES OF PB AND ZN, CONCENTRATED ABOUT 90 - FOOT LEVEL. MO IS EVENLY DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT VEIN AND WALLROCK. GOLD APPEARS TO HAVE HIGHER VALUES NEAR SMALL FLEXURES WITHIN VEINLETS. OXIDIZED DOWN TO 20 - FOOT LEVEL.
Deposit A GROUP OF APPROXIMATELY 10 CONTIGUOUS CLAIMS. ONLY OLD MINE IN THE DISTRICT TO BE ACTIVELY MAINTAINED AND HAS BEEN RECENTLY FURTHER DEVELOPED. JUDGED IN 1969 TO BE UNECONOMICAL TO MINE, DUE TO SMALL SIZE, TOO LOW GRADE, AND ERRATIC DISTRIBUTION OF ORE MINERALS. EXTENSIONS OF THE VEIN SYSTEM IN DEPTH AND LATERALLY, ARE NOT ENCOURAGING. POTENTIAL FOR A COPPER - MOLYBDENUM - BEARING PORPHYRY TYPE DEPOSIT, SHOULD NOT BE DISCOUNTED, THOUGH. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1979 Johnson, Kris H. (Creasey, S.C.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

  • Anaconda Co. — dissolved ~1977
    Acquired by Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) in 1977 and shut down most operations in the 1980s. Mineral assets were sold off piecemeal; some are now in Glencore via intermediate owners.

Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.

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.