Copper Queen Mine

The Copper Queen Mine is a gemstone, semiprecious gemstone, and copper mine located in Cochise county, Arizona at an elevation of 5,420 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

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.

Site Name

Primary: Copper Queen Mine
Secondary: Halero
Secondary: Bisbee

Commodity

Primary: Gemstone
Primary: Semiprecious Gemstone
Primary: Copper
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Gold
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Arizona
County: Cochise
District: Warren District

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.

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Owner Name: Phelps Dodge Corp.
Home Office: Phoenix, Ariz
Years: 1988 -

Owner Name: Phelps Dodge Corp.

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Deposit
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Polymetallic replacement
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1881
Discovery Year: 1877
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: L

Physiography

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

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Polymetallic replacement
Model Name: Porphyry Cu
Model Name: Porphyry Cu, skarn-related

Orebody

Form: IRREGULAR

Structure

Type: R
Description: Pre-Mineralization Faulting And Tilting

Type: L
Description: Main Fault Directions, N10w To N40e, S30w To N50w, Pre-Mineralization

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Gossan With Mn And Fe Oxides Induced By Hydrothermal Metamorphism

Rocks

Role: Associated
Description: The quartz porphyry of the Sacramento Stock has been thoroughly altered, silicified and pyritised destroying the original composition and texture. It is now composed of anhedral grains of quartz, intergranular pyrophyllite and phenocrysts of quartz
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 170.000000+-7.000000
Age Young: Middle Jurassic

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Middle Mississippian
Age Old: Middle Cambrian

Name: Granite
Role: Associated
Description: granitic texture composed of quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase and biotite
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 170.500000+-7.500000
Age Young: Jurassic

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Anglesite
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Delafossite
Ore: Copper
Ore: Gold
Ore: Selenite
Ore: Calcite
Ore: Bornite
Ore: Cuprite
Ore: Chalcocite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Pyrite

Comments

Comment (Deposit): ORE MAINLY IN LIMESTONE ALONG A STRUCTURAL TROUGH. HIGH-GRADE COPPER CARBONATES WITH MINOR LEAD AND ZINC CARBONATES OCCUR IN IRREGULAR REPLACEMENT ORE BODIES, MAINLY IN LIMESTONE ALONG A STRUCTURAL TROUGH.

Comment (Location): ALL MAJOR SHAFTS FOUND IN THE SW SECTION OF THE SW SECTION OF SECTION 9. USBM GIVES LOCATION AS 31-21-02N, 109-54-15W. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1992)

Comment (Commodity): MALACHITE FROM THIS SITE IS SUITABLE FOR CUTTING AND POLISHING INTO GEM MATERIAL.

Comment (Production): ALL OF PHELPS DODGE PRODUCTION IS INCLUDED UNDER COPPER QUEEN IN ABGMT-USBM FILE. THIS INCLUDES NUMEROUS SHAFTS SEPARATE FROM SHAFTS NEAR THE COPPER QUEEN, AND PIT PRODUCTION IN THE SACRAMENTO HILL AREA. AVERAGE PRODUCTION OF 3,000,000 LB COPPER PER YEAR.

Comment (Development): IN 1989, MINE DUMP LEACHING. IN 1991, A SMALL LEACH PRODUCER OF PRECIPITATED CU.

Comment (Workings): A MAZE OF WORKINGS CONNECTING WITH THE SURFACE THROUGH FOUR WORKING SHAFTS AND SEVERAL OTHER LESS-USED OPENINGS. THE AREA THOROUGHLY INTERSECTED BY DRIFTS AND CROSSCUTS COVERS NEARLY HALF A SQUARE MILE, WHILE THE EXTREME VERTICAL RANGE IS ABOUT 950 FT; SHAFT NAMES ARE CZAR, QUEEN INCLINED, HOLBROOK, SPRAY, GARDNER, HAYES.

Comment (Deposit): ORIGINAL COPPER MINE OF THE DISTRICT. THIS RECORD CONTAINS DATA FROM DUPLICATE RECORD D002955 OF J. WILLIAM HASLER WHICH HAS BEEN DELETED FROM MRDS. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT

Comment (Identification): *****SEE Related Deposits-Laverder Pit- Deposit ID 10046238 Sacramento Mine- Deposit ID 10046235 Cochise- Deposit ID 10282707

Comment (General): The original claim to the mine was staked in 1877 by a prospector named George Warren, attracted by outcrops with the lead mineral cerussite, which often carried silver. An option on the mine was acquired in 1880 by entrepreneur Ed Reilly who raised $80,000 capital from Dewitt Bisbee to begin production. The surface pockets of cerussite were soon exhausted, but the owners found that the orebody ran 23% copper, with silver and gold as byproducts. Most mines of that era could profitably mine ore containing 3% or 4% copper, so the Copper Queen orebody was considered extraordinarily high grade. The surface oxide ore was exhausted after three or four years, but miners explored deeper and eventually found even larger orebodies. In 1884-5 the mine was offered for sale to London investors for #350,000, but the offer was not taken up, and the mine was acquired by Phelps Dodge, which introduced a policy of racial segregation at the mine, with workers of Mexican origin not allowed to perform skilled jobs. In the early 20th century deposits of gold and silver were also discovered in the mine. In 1917 the mine was involved in the Industrial Workers of the World miners' strike which led to over 1000 miners being arrested and deported. By the middle 1960s, the grade of ore from the Copper Queen had declined to 4%. The mine ceased production in 1975, but tours are conducted for visitors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Queen_Mine

References

Reference (Deposit): RANSOME, USGS PP 21, P. 110, 13-15.

Reference (Deposit): ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 140.

Reference (Other Database): CIMRI

Reference (Deposit): KEITH, S.B., 1973, ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 187, P. 86.

Reference (Deposit): PEIRCE, H.W., 1969, GEM MATERIALS, IN USGS, ABM, AND USBR, MINERAL AND WATER RESOURCES OF ARIZONA: ABM BULLETIN 180, USGS BULLETIN 871, P. 359.

Reference (Deposit): SAWYER, M.B., GURMENDI, A.C., DALEY, M.R., AND HOWELL, S.B., 1992, PRINCIPAL DEPOSITS OF STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MINERALS IN ARIZONA: UNITED STATS BUREAU OF MINES SPECIAL PUBLICATION, 334 P.

Reference (Deposit): PHILLIPS, K.A., BEARD, R.R., NIEMUTH, N.J., AND BAIN, D.R., 1991, ACTIVE MINES IN ARIZONA--1992: ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES DIRECTORY 39, 20 P.

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

Reference (Deposit): USGS FOLIO 112, 1904.

Reference (Geology): Bryant, D.G., Metz, H.E., 1966, Geology and ore deposits of the Warren mining district: in Titley, S.R., Hicks, C.L., 1966, Geology of the Porphyry Copper Deposits, Southwestern North America University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp 189-203

Reference (Geology): Cook, S.S. and Porter, T.M., 2005, The Geologic History of Oxidation and Supergene Enrichment in the Porphyry Copper Deposits of Southwestern North America, in Porter, T.M., (Ed.), Super Porphyry Copper and Gold Deposits: A Global Perspective, v1 pp 207-242

Reference (Geology): GILMOUR, P., 1982, GRADES AND TONNAGES OF PORPHYRY COPPER DEPOSITS: IN - ADVANCES IN GEOLOGY OF THE PORPHYRY COPPER DEPOSITS, SOUTHWESTERN NORTH AMERICA, ED. BY, S.R. TITLEY UNIV. AIR. PRESS, TUCSON, AZ, 1982.
Pages: P14

Reference (Geology): Bryant, D.G. (1968), Intrusive breccias associated with ore, Warren (Bisbee) mining district, Arizona, Economic Geology: 61: 1-12.

Reference (Deposit): Metals Economics Group (MEG) entry for Cochise/Bisbee: http://services.metalseconomics.com/minesearch/Default.aspx#profile&projAid=89923
URL: http://www.metalseconomics.com/

Reference (Geology): Porter GeoConsultancy entry for Bisbee, Warren Mining District, Cochise, Arizona: http://www.portergeo.com.au/database/mineinfo.asp?mineid=mn742
URL: http://www.portergeo.com.au/database/mineinfo.asp?mineid=mn742

Reference (Geology): Einaudi, M.T., 1982, Description of skarns associated with porphyry copper plutons, in Titley, S.R., ed., Advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits, southwestern North America: Tucson, University of Arizona Press.
Pages: p. 139-183.

Reference (Deposit): MINES HANDBOOK, 1931.

Reference (Geology): Titley, S.R., 1993, Characteristics of porphyry copper occurrence in the American Southwest; in Kirkham, R.V., Sinclair, W.D., Thorpe, R.I. and Duke, J.M., Mineral Deposit Modeling, Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 40, p. 433-464.

Reference (Geology): Lowell, J.D. and Guilbert, J.M., 1970, Lateral and vertical alteration-mineralization zoning in porphyry ore deposits; Economic Geology, v. 65, p. 373-408.

Reference (Geology): Titley, S.R., 1992, Evidence for crustal controls of metallogeneis in epigenetic ores of the Southern Cordillera, United States and Mexico: Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration Annual Meeting Preprint 920-210, 11p.

Reference (Geology): Mineralogy discussion at: http://www.mindat.org/loc-3318.html
URL: http://www.mindat.org/loc-3318.html

Reference (Development): Mine history is available at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Queen_Mine
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Queen_Mine

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.