El Cobre

Past Producer in Sonora, Mexico with commodities Tungsten, Copper, Molybdenum, Gold, Silver
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Ore body information
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Ownership information
  15. Workings at the site
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10049062
MRDS ID MX00277
Record type Site
Current site name El Cobre
Related records 10182273

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -110.03397, 28.7169 (WGS84)
Relative position 15 KM NW OF TECORIPA AND 120 KM E OF HERMOSILLO, MX.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pima(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

Geographic areas

Country State
Mexico Sonora

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Tungsten Critical Primary
Copper Primary
Molybdenum Primary
Gold Secondary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcocite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Powellite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Secondary Oxides Prominent In Upper 40 Ft Of The Veins.

Analytical data

Result TUNGSTEN ORE SHOOTS CONTAIN 2.0% WO3, 1.0% MOS2, AND AS MUCH AS 6.0% CU. IN THE REMAINDER OF THE VEINS, ASSAYS INDICATED 0.1 - 0.5% WO3, O.1 -1.0% MOS2, AND UP TO 12.0% CU.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -110.03397, 28.7169

Economic information

Ore body information

  • Strike N 40 E
    Dip 50 SE
    Length 230M
    Width 15M

Comments on the geologic information

  • COUNTRY ROCK OF THE ORE IS A F. GRAINED GRANITE, WITH LOCAL VARIATIONS IN COMPOSITION AND TEXTURE, WHICH INTRUDES QUARTZITE. NEAR THE CONTACT IS AN IRREGULAR BODY OF MED. GRAINED, GRAPHIC TEXTURED QUARTZ-ORTHOCLASE PEGMATITE CONTAINING BLACK BIOTITE AND ABUNDANT EPIDOTE, BUT NO SCHEELITE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Year of first production 1910

Mining district

District name Tecoripa

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Asarco (American Smelting And Refining Co.)
    First year 1943

Comments on the production information

  • TOTAL PRODUCTION HAS BEEN BETWEEN 600 AND 1,000 TONS OF ORE CONTAINING COPPER, GOLD, SILVER, AND MOLYBDENUM. SOME OF THIS ORE MUST HAVE ALSO CONTAINED TUNGSTEN, BUT SCHEELITE WAS NOT RECOGNIZED IN THE MINE UNTIL 1942.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • THE TWO KNOWN TUNGSTEN SHOOTS PROBABLY EXTEND FROM THE 21-METER LEVEL TO AT LEAST 10 M BELOW THE 45-METER LEVEL, AND MAY CONTAIN AS MUCH AS 4,000 TONS OF ORE. TUNGSTEN MINERALIZATION ON THE 43-METER LEVEL IS STRONG, AND MAY CONTINUE CONSIDERABLY DEEPER THAN NOW EXPOSED (IN 1945).

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Overall depth 43M

Comments on the workings information

  • TWO INCLINED SHAFTS 43 M DEEP AND 120 M APART, MORE THAN 200 M OF DRIFTS AND CROSSCUTS, AND SEVERAL SMALL STOPES ABOVE THE 21-METER LEVEL.

Comments on development

  • PROPERTY FIRST WORKED IN 1910 FOR GOLD, SILVER, AND COPPER. IN 1923 THE INTERNATIONAL MINERALS SYNDICATE DID EXPLORATORY WORK. ADDITIONAL EXPL. WORK BY PENOLES CO. IN 1937. SCHEELITE NOT RECOGNIZED UNTIL 1942. IN 1943, THE AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING CO. PURCHASED THE PROPERTY FROM W. C. TAYLOR, JR., AND WAS ENGAGED IN UNDERGROUND EXPLORATORY WORK.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    WIESE, JOHN H., AND CARDENAS, SALVADOR, 1945, TUNGSTEN DEPOSITS OF THE SOUTHERN PART OF SONORA, MEXICO: USGS BULL 946, P. 103-130.

  • Deposit

    RADELLI, L., 1985, SCHEELITE DEPOSITS OF CENTRAL SONORA, MEXICO: BOLETIN DEL DEPATAMENTO DE GEOLOGIA UNI-SON, SEGUNDA EPOCA, V. 2, NUM. 1-2, P. 65-73.

  • Production

    WIESE AND CARDENAS, 1945.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit GROUP OF SUBPARALLEL, LOCALLY BRANCHING VEINS FORM A ZONE 15 M WIDE AND 230 M LONG. INDIVIDUAL VEINS ARE FROM A FEW CM TO 2 M WIDE, AND AVE. ABOUT 1 M IN WIDTH. IN THE VEINS, GRANITE HAS BEEN REPLACED BY SCHEELITE, CHALCOPYRITE, PYRITE, AND MOLYBDENITE IN A GANGUE OF QUARTZ AND CALCITE. SOME PYRITE AND CHALCOPYRITE DISSEMINATED THROUGH GRANITE FOR SEVERAL M AWAY FROM THE VEINS. THIN STRINGERS AND DISSEMINATED CRYSTALS OF SCHEELITE SCATTERED THROUGH MOST OF THE VEINS, BUT ARE MOST PROMINENT IN TWO SHOOTS AT THE SW END OF THE ORE ZONE.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1987 Staude, John-Mark G. (Page, Norman J.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-OCT-1987 Leonard, Kenneth R. 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:

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.