Groundhog Mine

Site Name

Primary: Groundhog Mine
Secondary: Includes: Lucky Bill, Denver, C.G. Bell,
Secondary: And San Jose: Groundhog Unit: Patented Claims
Secondary: Groundhog
Secondary: Lucky Bill
Secondary: San Jose
Secondary: Ivanhoe

---

Commodity

Primary: Copper
Primary: Zinc
Primary: Lead
Primary: Silver
Secondary: Gold
Tertiary: Vanadium
Tertiary: Molybdenum

---

Location

State: New Mexico
County: Grant
District: Central 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

Type: Underground

---

Ownership

Owner Name: Asarco (American Smelting And Refining Co.), Southwestern Mining Department
Home Office: P.O. Box 5747, Tucson, Arizona 85703
Years: 1982 -

Owner Name: Asarco (American Smelting And Refining Co.)
Years: 1980 -

---

Production

Year: 1975
Material type: ORE
Description: Ap_Grade: ^12. % Zn-Pb

---

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1869
Year Last Production: 1980
Discovery Year: 1869
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: M

---

Physiography

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

---

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Skarn Zn-Pb

---

Orebody

Form: IRREGULAR

---

Structure

Type: R
Description: Hanover Fierro Stock, Santa Rita Stock

Type: L
Description: The Groundhog Fault Strikes N 30 To 50 E.

---

Alterations

Not available

---

Rocks

Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age Young: Pliocene

Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Pliocene

---

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: EARLY ORE - 14% ZN, 10% PB, 5% CU, 340 PPM AG (FOR FIRST 35% OF ORE FROM THE MAIN SHOOT). FLUID INCLUSIONS (PRIMARY) HOMOGENIZE FROM 230 TO 415 DEGREES C. 8.5 TO 6.2 WT% NACL EQUIVALENT, LOCALLY UP TO 26% EQUIVALENT NACL.

---

Materials

Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Smithsonite
Ore: Cuprodescloizite
Ore: Vanadinite
Ore: Endlichite
Ore: Chrysocolla
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Cubanite
Ore: Wulfenite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Gangue: Epidote
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Clay
Gangue: Ilvaite
Gangue: Chlorite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Magnetite
Gangue: Actinolite

---

Comments

Comment (Production): PRODUCTION DURING 1906-1932 VALUED AT $6.8 MILLION. MINE REOPENED IN 1969. TOTAL MINE PRODUCTION FROM ALL ZONES.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): ORE(1)-(3) ARE PRODUCTION PLUS RESERVES; ORE(1) = SOUTHWEST ZONE, ORE(2) = CENTRAL ZONE, ORE(3) = NORTHEAST ZONE

Comment (Development): ECON.YEAR: 1975 ; ECON.COM: 540 MTPD MILL AT DEMING. ; MILL.CAP : 197 MET TONS

Comment (Deposit): SKARN ALONG NE-TRENDING GROUND HOG-IVANHOE FAULT AND DIKE SYSTEM WITH ORE LOCALIZED AT JUNCTIONS OF SUBSIDIARY FAULTS, ALONG REOPENED WALLS OF DIKES, AND IN INTENSELY FRACTURED ROCKS. BELOW 360 M. ORE OCCURS AS REPLACEMENT BODIES IN UPPER PALEOZOIC STRATA GENERALLY IN FAVORABLE LIMESTONE BEDS AT THE INTERSECTION OF FAULTS AND HORNBLENDE GRANODIORITE PORPHYRY DIKES. OXIDATION AND SUPERGENE ENRICHMENT TO DEPTHS OF 120 M. PROPERTY CONSISTS OF THREE PATENTED CLAIMS MINERAL SURVEY NUMBERS 159, 1221, AND 1222 COVERING 61.838 ACRES. SKARN IS ZONED IN METAL RATION, TEMPERATURE OXIDES, SILICATES, AND SULFIDES FROM DISTAL TO PROXIMAL.

Comment (Location): ACCURATE LOCATION IS FOR THE GROUNDHOG NORTH SHAFT AS SHOWN ON THE SANTA RITA TOPOGRAPHIC QUADRANGLE.

Comment (Workings): WORKINGS REPORTED IN 1935 CONSISTED OF MORE THAN 26000 FT. OF DRIFTS AND CROSSCUTS, AND MORE THAN 10000 FT. OF SHAFTS, RAISES AND WINZES.

Comment (Geology): HOST ROCKS FOR VEIN DEPOSITS NEAR THE SURFACE ARE CRETACEOUS SANDSTONES AND HOST ROCKS FOR DEEPER VEIN AND REPLACEMENT DEPOSITS ARE PALEOZOIC LIMESTONES.

Comment (Deposit): LUCKY BILL = SOUTHWEST ZONE, GROUNDHOG-SAN JOSE = CENTRAL ZONE, IVANHOE = NORTHEAST ZONE

---

References

Reference (Production): WORLD MINING 6-25-76 P. 194; MEINERT (1987)

Reference (Deposit): LINDGREN, W., GRATON, L.C., AND GORDON, C.H., 1910 USGS PP 68, P. 317-318

Reference (Deposit): LASKY, S.G., 1930 NMBMMR CIRC 2, 14 PAGES

Reference (Deposit): RICHARD, F.W., 1930 USBM IC-6377, 13 PAGES

Reference (Reserve-Resource): MEINERT (1987)

Reference (Deposit): SPENCER, A.C., AND PAIGE, S., 1935 USGS BULL 859, P. 72-74

Reference (Deposit): LASKY, S.G., 1936 USGS BULL 870, P. 106-117

Reference (Deposit): ANDERSON, E.C., 1957 NMBMMR BULL 39, P. 60-61

Reference (Deposit): HERNON, R.M., JONES, W.R., AND MOORE, S.L., 1964 USGS GEOLOGIC MAP, GQ-306

Reference (Deposit): THOMPSON, A.J., AND JONES, W.R., 1965 NMBMMR BULL 87, P. 148-171

Reference (Deposit): JONES, W.R., HERNON, R.M., AND MOORE, S.L., 1967 USGS PP 555, 139 PAGES

Reference (Deposit): NMBMMR GENERAL FILE DATA

Reference (Deposit): MEINERT, L.D., 1987, SKARN ZONATION AND FLUID EVOLUTION IN THE GROUNDHOG MINE, CENTRAL MINING DISTRICT, NEW MEXICO: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, V. 82, NO. 3, P. 523-545.

---

The Top Ten Gold Producing States

These ten states contributed the most to the gold production that built the West from 1848 through the 1930s. The Top Ten Gold Producing States.