Location
South flank of the Mule Mountains. Tps. 23 and 24 S., R. 25 E.
Topographic Map
Bisbee 15-minute quadrangle.
Geologic Map
Hayes and Landis, 1964, Geologic map of the southern part of the Mule Mountains, scale 1:48,000.
Access
A light-duty road leads 2 miles east from Warren to Gold Gulch.
Extent
Minor gold placers are found in the sand and gravel of Gold Gulch, which drains south from the vicinity of Gold Hill in the Mule Mountains (west tier of sections in Tps. 23 and 24 S., R. 25 E.)
Production History
Gold placers were known to occur in Gold Gulch as early as 1902; they were worked sporadically until 1932, then steadily to 1941. In 1934, 27 placer mines recovered 246 ounces of gold, mostly from Gold Gulch.
Source
The small placer gold deposits in Gold Gulch, southeast of the mining towns of Bisbee and Warren, were derived from small gold-bearing silica veins that mineralized parts of the Glance Conglomerate (Cretaceous) during late Cretaceous or early Tertiary time. The mineralizing solutions deposited gold-bearing silica with minor galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite along fractures in the conglomerate. The silica veins are not economically important.
Literature
Ransome, 1904a: Notes presence of placer gold; source; economic importance.
1904c: Repeats description in 1904a.
Trischka, 1938: Explains origin of placer gold.
U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1935: Reports placer production from Gold Gulch.
Wilson, 1961: Virtually repeats Ransome (1904a); production.
