Ortiz Open Pit Mine

Site Name

Primary: Ortiz Open Pit Mine
Secondary: Ortiz Mine
Secondary: Old Placers

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver
Tertiary: Tungsten
Tertiary: Copper
Tertiary: Iridium
Tertiary: Arsenic
Tertiary: Lead
Tertiary: Molybdenum

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Location

State: New Mexico
County: Santa Fe
District: Old Placers District

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Land Status

Land ownership: Private
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.

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Type: Surface/Underground

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Ownership

Owner Name: Gold Fields Mining Co.
Home Office: Cerrillos, Nm.
Years: 1984 -

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1832
Year Last Production: 1937
Discovery Year: 1832
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

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Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Basin And Range Province
Physiographic Section: Mexican Highland

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Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

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Orebody

Form: IRREGULAR VEIN, DISSEMINATED

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Ortiz Basin Stock; Tijeras Fault System

Type: L
Description: Ortiz Basin Stock; Tijeras Fault System

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Name: Trachyte
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Cretaceous

Name: Trachyte
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Late Cretaceous

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Analytical Data

Analytical Data: REPORTEDLY 0.048 OZ/TON IR IN GOLD-QUARTZ SAMPLE

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Materials

Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Silver
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Magnetite
Ore: Specularite
Gangue: Epidote
Gangue: Sericite

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Comments

Comment (Commodity): SCHEELITE HAS BEEN OBSERVED IN MINES LESS THAN 0.5 MI AWAY.

Comment (Production): THERE ARE NO PRODUCTION FIGURES AVAILABLE, BUT ELSTON ESTIMATED $200,000 FOR THE ORTIZ MINE.

Comment (Development): MOST OF THE MINING TOOK PLACE BETWEEN 1832 AND 1870. MODERN DEVELOPMENT COSTS ESTIMATED AT $12-13 MILLION. EXPECTED CAPACITY OF ABOUT 3,000 TONS/DAY

Comment (Location): LOCATION IS ACCURATE FOR THE SHAFT OF OLD ORTIZ MINE LABELED ON TOPO MAP. UNSURVEYED; THE CADASTRAL GRID IS PROJECTED IN THIS AREA. DISTRICT IS ALSO CALLED DOLORES DISTRICT, PROBABLY BECAUSE MINE IS 0.5 MI ABOVE DOLORES AND 1.25 MI WEST OF DOLORES RNACH INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1979)

Comment (Deposit): THE ORE OCCURS IN QUARTZ FISSURE VEINS AND STRINGERS IN THE BRECCIATED MARGIN OF THE ORTIZ BASIN STOCK. THE VEIN PINCHES AND SWELLS IRREGULARLY. ORE ABOVE THE 200-FT LEVEL IS OXIDIZED AND FREE MILLING; BELOW 200 FT, PYRITE AND CHALCOPYRITE APPEAR. SPECULARITE AND MAGNETITE ARE FOUND ON THE DUMP MATERIAL. SOME ARSENOPYRITE AND GALENA ARE ALSO REPORTED.; UNPUBLISHED MODEL NAME: SYENITE-HOSTED CU-AU-PGE?.

Comment (Workings): LINDGREN (1910, P. 169) REPORTED THE MAIN SHAFT TO BE 400 FT DEEP WITH WATER STANDING AT THE 150-FT LEVEL. ELSTON (1967, P. 46) REPORTED THE MAIN SHAFT AS 250 FT DEEP. JONES, (1904, P. 23) SHOWED A SKETCH OF THE STOPES EXTRACTED PRIOR TO 1850. MODERN OPEN PIT PLANNED TO BE ABOUT 1300 X 1000 X 200 FT.

Comment (Geology): IGNEOUS ROCKS IN THE ORTIZ MOUNTAINS CONSIST OF AN EARLIER CALC-ALKALINE GROUP AND A LATER ALKALINE GROUP. MOST GOLD MINERALIZATION IS SPATIALLY AND TEMPORALLY RELATED TO THE ALKALINE ROCKS. K-AR AGES OF THE ALKALINE ROCKS RANGE FROM 30 TO 26 MA

Comment (Deposit): RECORD D007829 HAS BEEN MERGED AND DELETED.

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References

Reference (Deposit): MCQUISTON, F.W., JR., AND SHOEMAKER, R.S., 1981, GOLD AND SILVER CYANIDATION PLANT PRACTICE, V. 2, SOCIETY OF MINING ENGINEERS, P. 47-50.

Reference (Deposit): DALE, V.B., AND MCKINNEY, W.A., 1959, TUNGSTEN DEPOSITS OF NEW MEXICO: U.S. BUREAU OF MINES REPORT OF INVESTIGATIONS 5517, P. 38-46.

Reference (Deposit): BACHMAN, G.O., 1975, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE MADRID QUADRANGLE, SANTA FE AND SANDOVAL COUNTIES, NEW MEXICO: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OPEN-FILE REPORT 74-175, SCALE 1:48,000.

Reference (Deposit): U.S. BUREAU OF MINES INSPECTION, 1980, SIXTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT, P. 57.

Reference (Deposit): OWEN, R.E., AND COX, E.T., 1865, REPORT ON THE MINES OF NEW MEXICO: WASH., D.C., PUB. BY JUDGE JOHN S. WATTS, GIDEON AND PEARSON, PRINTERS, P. 15, 49.

Reference (Deposit): LINDGREN, WALDEMAR, GRATON, L.C., AND GORDON, C.H., 1910, THE ORE DEPOSITS OF NEW MEXICO: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 68, P. 169.

Reference (Deposit): JONES, F.A., 1904, NEW MEXICO MINES AND MINERALS (WORLD'S FAIR ED.): SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO PRINTING CO., P. 23.

Reference (Deposit): NORTHRUP, S.A., 1959, MINERALS OF NEW MEXICO, REVISED EDITION: ALBUQUERQUE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS, P. 262-263.

Reference (Deposit): ELSTON, W.E., 1967, SUMMARY OF THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF BERNALILLO, SANDOVAL, AND SANTA FE COUNTIES, NEW MEXICO: NEW MEXICO BUREAU OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES BULLETIN 81, P. 46.

Reference (Deposit): NEW MEXICO BUREAU OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES, GENERAL FILE DATA

Reference (Deposit): MAYNARD, S.R., 1991, GEOLOGY AND GOLD MINERALIZATION OF THE ORTIZ MOUNTAINS, IN JULINA, BETSY, AND ZIDEK, JIRI, EDS., FIELD GUIDE TO GEOLOGIC EXCURSIONS IN NEW MEXICO AND ADJACENT AREAS OF TEXAS AND COLORADO: NEW MEXICO BUREAU OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES BULLETIN 137, P. 65-69.

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