The Crown King Mine is a gold mine located in Yavapai county, Arizona at an elevation of 6,401 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: 6,401 Feet (1,951 Meters)
Commodity: Gold
Lat, Long: 34.22444, -112.34278
Map: View on Google Maps
Satelite View
MRDS mine locations are often very general, and in some cases are incorrect. Some mine remains have been covered or removed by modern industrial activity or by development of things like housing. The satellite view offers a quick glimpse as to whether the MRDS location corresponds to visible mine remains.
Mine Description
The Crown King group of claims, southeast of Towers Mountain, includes the Crown King vein which has yielded the most of any deposit in the district.
History: (73) During the early days, this deposit yielded rich gold ore from near the surface. From 1890 to 1895, the property was operated by the Crown King Mining Company. Their 10-stamp mill caught $10 to $12 per ton on the plates and made a lead concentrate that contained $150 to $350 in gold and silver per ton, besides a middling that carried 15 per cent of zinc and $12 in gold per ton. The middlings were stock-piled, and the concentrates were packed to Prescott, some 40 miles distant, at a cost of about $21.50 per ton. In 1895, the property was bonded to H. B. Chamberlin and Company, of Denver. The mine was operated until 1901 when it was closed by court order. During the 1890-1901 period, the ore shoot was followed to a depth of 650 feet, with an estimated production of $1,500,000 of which $200,000 was paid in dividends.
Transportation costs were greatly reduced by the extension, in 1899, of the Prescott & Eastern Railway into Mayer and further by the completion, in 1904, of the Bradshaw Railway from Mayer to Crown King.
During 1906 and 1907, the Crown King Mines Company worked the middlings pile and shipped concentrates containing gold, silver, zinc, iron and copper.
In 1909, the property was sold at receiver's sale to the Yavapai Consolidated Gold-Silver-Copper Company controlled by the Murphy estate, for $75,000. In 1916, lessees organized the Bradshaw Reduction Company which installed flotation equipment and made a few tons of concentrates from old middlings. Some ore is reported to have been blocked out above the 480-foot level, but was not mined.
In 1923, the mine was taken over by the Crown King Consolidated Mines, Inc. During the winter of 1926-1927, a flood wrecked the mill. The railway tracks from Middleton to Crown King were torn up during 1926 and 1927, and the grade has been utilized for a road. In 1933-1934, a 300-ton flotation-concentration mill was built.
The production of the mine since 1890 is estimated at $1,840,000.
Vein and workings: (74) The Crown King vein strikes northnortheast and dips 70° W. It cuts across the contact between granodiorite and sedimentary Yavapai schist which has been intruded by a dike of rhyolite-porphyry. The vein averages 2 feet in width and, towards the north, splits. It contains two gently northward-pitching ore shoots. The ore consists of quartz with abundant sphalerite and pyrite and some chalcopyrite and native gold. It is said to average 0.5 ounces of gold and 4 ounces of silver per ton.
The mine workings include a 480-foot shaft, a 913-foot tunnel 150 feet below the collar, and a 500-foot winze with five levels that each extend about 1,200 feet north and from 200 to 500 feet south. Water stands 250 feet below the tunnel level. According to local reports, all of the ore down to the third level has been extracted, but some ore remains between the third and fifth.
(73) Abstracted from unpublished notes of J. B. Tenney.
(74) Abstracted from Lindgren, W., work cited, pp. 168-69.
Text from Arizona Lode Gold Mines and Gold Mining, Arizona Bureau of Mines. Original 1934, revised 1967
Crown King Mine MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Crown King Mine
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Lead
Tertiary: Iron
Location
State: Arizona
County: Yavapai
District: Tiger 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: Dennis Marketic
Home Office: Peoria, Az.
Years: 1986 -
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: Vein
Operation Type: Unknown
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: TABULAR
Structure
Type: R
Description: Foliation Trends N25e, Vein Trends Parallel To Foliation
Type: L
Description: Veins Parallel Regional Foliation N20-25e
Alterations
Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: None
Rocks
Name: Quartzite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age in Years: 1720.000000+-
Dating Method: U-Pb (zircon)
Material Analyzed: Zircon
Age Young: Proterozoic
Name: Schist
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age in Years: 1720.000000+-
Dating Method: U-Pb (zircon)
Material Analyzed: Zircon
Age Young: Proterozoic
Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Neoproterozoic
Analytical Data
Analytical Data: ORE AVERAGED 0.5 OZ. AU/TON, 4 OZ. AG/TON. TAILING FROM OLD MILL CONTAINED 0.3 OZ. AU/TON, 4.5 OZ. AG/TON, 11 % ZN, 0.8 % CU, 10 % FE. ZINC PRODUCT CARRIED 43 % ZN, 10 % FE, 4.5 % CU, 15 OZ. AG/TON, 0.6 OZ. AU/TON. IRON PRODUCT CARRIED 1.5 OZ. AU/TON, 10 OZ. AG/TON, 2.5 % CU, 12 % ZN, 30 % FE.
Materials
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Gold
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Quartz
Unknown: Pyrite
Comments
Comment (Development): UNDERGROUND WORKINGS WERE BEING REHABILITATED AND EXTENDED DURING 1984-1986.
Comment (Geology): DEPOSIT IS VEIN WHICH CUTS PRECAMBRIAN QUARTZITE AND SCHIST. IGNEOUS ROCKS OF CRET-PALEO AGE ARE CLOSE TO DEPOSIT AND OCCUR TO SOUTH AT CROWN KING, ARIZONA
Comment (Deposit): LARGEST PRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT
Comment (Production): ITEM ( 8 ) IS ESTIMATED FROM $ 1,100,000 PRODUCTION AT $ 20.67 PER OUNCE AU.
References
Reference (Production): A.B.M. BULLETIN 140 , P. 101 .
Reference (Deposit): NIEMUTH, N.J., 1987, ARIZONA MINERAL DEVELOPMENT 1984-1986: ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES DIRECTORY 29, 46 P.
Reference (Other Database): CIMRI
Reference (Deposit): WILSON, E.D., 1934, ARIZONA LODE GOLD MINES AND GOLD MINING: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 137, P. 56.
Reference (Deposit): ELSING, M.J. AND HEINEMAN, R.E., 1936, ARIZONA METAL PRODUCTION: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 140, P. 101.
Reference (Deposit): USGS BULL 782, P. 168.
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.
