Silver Bell District

Producer in Pima county in Arizona, United States with commodities Copper, Molybdenum, Lead, Gold, Silver, Zinc, Vanadium, Barium-Barite, Fluorine-Fluorite
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Alteration
  7. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Controls for ore emplacement
  11. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Ownership information
  14. Bibliographic references
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 60000298
MRDS ID D002948
Record type District
Current site name Silver Bell District
Alternate or previous names El Tiro and Oxide Open Pits, Silver Bell Copper, Silver Bell Mill, Imperial Mine, Union Mine
Related records 10259563

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -111.541, 32.42041 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 10000(meters)
Relative position INFO FROM LAND.ST :1964, A UNKNOWN PRECISION

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pima(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Silver Bell West(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Silver Bell Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Tucson(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower 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 Pima

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Molybdenum Secondary
Lead Secondary
Gold Secondary
Silver Secondary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Vanadium Critical Tertiary
Barium-Barite Critical Tertiary
Fluorine-Fluorite Critical Tertiary

Alteration

  • (Local) PROPYLITIC
  • (Local) POTASSIC
  • (Local) PHYLLITIC

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 58
USGS model code 18a
Deposit model name Porphyry Cu, skarn-related
Mark3 model number 9

Nearby scientific data

(1) -111.541, 32.42041

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description SILVER BELL FAULT ZONE TRENDING WNW, ENE FRACTURES AND DIKES

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Fault/fracture

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Discovery year 1700
Discoverer Spanish Explorers
Year of first production 1865

Mining district

District name SILVER BELL DISTRICT

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner IMPERIAL COPPER CO.
    First year 1903
    Last year 1911
  • Type Owner
    Owner AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING COMPANY (ASARCO)
    First year 1915
  • Type Operator
    Owner AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING COMPANY (ASARCO)
    First year 1915

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    RICHARD AND COURTRIGHT, 1966, IN TITLEY AND HICKS, UNIV OF AZ PRESS.

  • Deposit

    ANDERSON, 1968, AIME GRATON-SALES VOL II.

  • Deposit

    GALEY, 1979, SOC ECON GEOL, PORPHYRY CU FIELD CONF, 18 P.

  • Deposit

    HUTTL, J., 1954, SILVER BELL: ASARCO'S NEW ARIZONA: EENGINEERING AND MINING JOURNAL, V. 155.

  • Deposit

    MINING RECORD, 1957, ARIZONA PLANT IS GETTING MORE MOLYBDENUM WITH LATE PROCESSING.

  • Deposit

    ASARCO SILVER BELL MINE BOOKLET: ASARCO INCORPORATED, SILVER BELL UNIT, SILVER BELL, ARIZONA.

  • Deposit

    PHILLIPS, K.A., 1987, ARIZONA INDUSTRIAL MINERALS: ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES MINERAL REPORT 4, 185 P.

  • Deposit

    PEIRCE, H.W., 1990, ARIZONA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY INDUSTRIAL MINERALS CARD FILE.

  • Deposit

    NIEMUTH, N.J., 1987, ARIZONA MINERAL DEVELOPMENT 1984-1986: ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES DIRECTORY 29, 46 P.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAR-83 PETERSON, JOCELYN A. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAY-93 CARBONARO, MARGUERITE M. 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.

Authoritative Arizona resources

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