The Tillie Starbuck Prospect is a gold and silver mine located in Yavapai county, Arizona at an elevation of 7,001 feet.
About the MRDS Data:
All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.
Mine Info
Elevation: 7,001 Feet (2,134 Meters)
Commodity: Gold, Silver
Lat, Long: 34.40639, -112.44806
Map: View on Google Maps
Satelite View
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Mine Description
The Tillie Starbuck mine, held by H. L. Williams and associates, is near the head of Slate Creek Canyon, less than a mile east of the Davis-Dunkirk mill. This property was formerly owned by Major A. J. Pickrell who developed it with a few thousand feet of tunnels, winzes, and raises.
Lindgren (51) gives the following description: “The country rock is Yavapai schist intruded by dikes of light-colored rhyoliteporphyry. The foot-wall is said to be followed by a dike of rhyolite-porphyry 10 feet wide. The strike of the vein is N. 10° W., the dip 80° E., and the width 2 to 17 feet. The outcrop is persistent on the high ridge to the south, where the ore is largely oxidized. There are three ore shoots with backs of about 700 feet above the lowest tunnel level. This lowest tunnel is first a crosscut southeast to the vein for 640 feet and continues on the vein for 1,000 feet. It is claimed that 100,000 tons of $10 ore have been developed in the vein."
“The ore, which is mainly quartzose, contains from $10 to $17 to the ton, of which two-fifths is gold and three-fifths silver. (52) The ore carries free gold and pans colors. The quartz is rather fine grained, is milky with many small druses, and includes numerous sericitized rock fragments . . . The ore minerals are sparse pyrite and sphalerite in small grains and in places specks of pyrargyrite, which appears to be of hypogene origin.”
When visited in January, 1934, the present owners were extending an adit tunnel that had been driven for 1,400 feet by Major Pickrell and was designed to intersect the vein at a depth of 300 feet below the deepest winze.
(51) Work cited, pp. 119–20.
(52) Probably from 0.2 to 0.3 ounces of gold and 6 to 11 ounces of silver per ton.
Text from Arizona Lode Gold Mines and Gold Mining, Arizona Bureau of Mines. Original 1934, revised 1967
Tillie Starbuck Prospect MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Tillie Starbuck Prospect
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver
Tertiary: Lead
Location
State: Arizona
County: Yavapai
District: Mount Union District
Land Status
Land ownership: National Forest
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Type: Underground
Ownership
Owner Name: Lee Soloman
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: Vein
Operation Type: Unknown
Year Last Production: 1939
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S
Physiography
General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Basin And Range Province
Physiographic Section: Mexican Highland
Mineral Deposit Model
Not available
Orebody
Form: LENTICULAR
Structure
Type: R
Description: Foliation In Proterozoic Rocks Trends N20e To N30e
Type: L
Description: Veins Parallel Foliation In Proterozoic Rocks Or Diverge At Angles Less Than 20 Deg
Alterations
Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Minor
Rocks
Not available
Analytical Data
Analytical Data: GOLD TO SILVER RATIO 2:3
Materials
Ore: Sphalerite
Gangue: Quartz
Unknown: Pyrite
Comments
Comment (Location): ON SLATE CREEK, LOCATION MEASURED TO ADIT SYMBOL ON MAP, A SECOND TUNNEL, NW ABOUT 400 METERS IS PROBABLY ALSO PART OF THE MINE
Comment (Development): 12 CLAIMS; ASSESSMENT WORK BEING DONE BY "M" COMPANY (FRANK MONTONATI) FOR GRAHAM INTERNATIONAL (1980)
Comment (Workings): WORKINGS INCLUDE 4 TUNNELS INCLUDING THE ARTIC AND THE SLATE CREEK (OR NO. 2) WHICH IS THE MAJOR TUNNEL
Comment (Geology): DEPOSIT IS QUARTZ VIEN WHICH CUTS PROTEROZOIC METAMORPHIC ROCKS AND IS SPATIALLY ASSOCIATED WITH RHYOLITE DIKES OF PROBABLE PALEO-MIOCENE AGE
References
Reference (Deposit): LINDGREN, 1926, USGS BULL 782, P. 119
Reference (Deposit): WILSON, E.D., 1934 , ARIZONA LODE GOLD MINES AND GOLD MINING: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 137 , P. 45
Reference (Deposit): ARIZONA DEPT OF MINERAL RESOURCES FILE DATA
Reference (Deposit): ABGMT CLIPPINGS FILE DATA
Reference (Deposit): ABGMT-USBM FILE DATA
Arizona Gold
"Where to Find Gold in Arizona" looks at the density of modern placer mining claims along with historical gold mining locations and mining district descriptions to determine areas of high gold discovery potential in Arizona. Read more: Where to Find Gold in Arizona.
