The Senator Mine is a gold mine located in Yavapai county, Arizona at an elevation of 6,749 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: 6,749 Feet (2,057 Meters)
Commodity: Gold
Lat, Long: 34.41444, -112.43444
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Mine Description
The Senator mine, near the head of Hassayampa Creek, is accessible from Prescott by the Senator Highway. This deposit was opened by a short tunnel prior to 1871 (53) and was worked mainly from 1883 to 1899. It has been held by the Phelps Dodge Corporation since 1889. Intermittent operations by lessees have yielded several cars of low-grade ore containing copper, gold, and silver.
Lindgren (54) has described the deposit as follows: “It is principally a gold property consisting of several parallel veins striking north-northeast. Among them are the Senator vein, carrying leadzinc ores only and containing mostly gold with some silver; the Ten Spot vein, which carries mainly pyrite; the Tredwell vein, carrying heavy pyrite with specularite and gold; and the Snoozer vein, carrying copper ores with specularite. The shipping ore yielded $30 in gold and silver to the ton. There is a small mill on the property in which the ore from the Senator shoot was worked. The total production is said to be about $530,000 net, almost all of which came from the Senator ore shoot. Of this about $330,000 was extracted since 1890."
“Most of the veins crop out near the loop in the wagon road, which here ascends the Mount Union pass, at an altitude of about 7,000 feet. The Senator veins cut across the road a short distance below the Mount Union pass (altitude 7,188 feet) and also crop out on the ridge a short distance to the west. Here the main shaft was sunk 635 feet deep to the tunnel level (altitude about 6,500 feet). Below this tunnel, which extends eastward to the Cash mine, the shaft is continued for 200 feet, giving a total depth of 835 feet."
“The geology is complicated. There are lenses of diorite, amphibolite, and Yavapai conglomeratic schist, all traversed by dikes of rhyolite-porphyry. One dike of this kind, about 40 feet wide, cuts the Yavapai schist along the road a short distance below the Mount Union pass. A vein striking N. 40° E. from which a shipment was recently made crosses near the same place. It is probably the Ten Spot vein. The ore here, as exposed in a tunnel of quartzose ore, carries pyrite, chalcopyrite, and specularite."
“According to information kindly given by J. S. Douglas, who operated the mine between 1891 and 1893 and from 1896 to 1899, there was only one profitable ore shoot in the Senator properties, that of the Senator vein. This shoot starts just to the west of the old Senator shaft on top of the hill and pitches southward until on the tunnel level, 600 feet below the collar of the shaft, the center of the shoot is 450 feet south of the shaft. The shoot had a stope length of 250 feet and averaged 18 inches in width. The Senator shoot carried milling ore with free gold associated with quartz, pyrite, galena, and zinc blende. Magnetite occurred in the vein only north of the shoot, where it crosses Maple Gulch.
“The Ten Spot, Snoozer, and Tredwell veins contained lowgrade shipping ore with magnetite, specularite, chalcopyrite, and gold, but in the Senator property, none of this material was extracted at a profit.”
(53) Raymond, R. W., work cited.
(54) Work cited, pp. 120–21.
Text from Arizona Lode Gold Mines and Gold Mining, Arizona Bureau of Mines. Original 1934, revised 1967
Senator Mine MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Senator Mine
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: Zinc
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
Not available
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
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 In Precambrian Rocks Trends N35e To N50e
Type: L
Description: Dikes And Veins Parallel Foliation
Alterations
Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: None
Rocks
Name: Amphibolite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age in Years: 1720.000000+-
Dating Method: U-Pb (zircon)
Material Analyzed: Zircon
Age Young: Proterozoic
Name: Slate
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age in Years: 1760.000000+-
Dating Method: U-Pb (zircon)
Material Analyzed: Zircon
Age Young: Proterozoic
Name: Meta-Basalt
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age in Years: 1720.000000+-
Dating Method: U-Pb (zircon)
Material Analyzed: Zircon
Age Young: Proterozoic
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Ore: Specularite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Sphalerite
Gangue: Quartz
Unknown: Pyrite
Comments
Comment (Production): ITEM ( 8 ) IS ESTIMATED FROM $ 500,000 PRODUCTION AT $ 20.67 PER OUNCE.
Comment (Geology): DEPOSIT IS VEIN WHICH CUTS PRECAMBRIAN METAVOLCANIC AND METASEDIMENTARY ROCKS. RHYOLITE PORPHYRY DIKES OF PROBABLELCRET-TERT AGE ASSOCIATED WITH VEINS
Comment (Location): UTM IS FOR MAIN SHAFT; MAIN SHAFT IS T12N, R02W, SEC 02; TUNNEL RUNS NE TO CASH MINE THEN NW TO SENATOR ADIT AT T12.5N, R02W, SEC 35
References
Reference (Deposit): USGS BULL 782, P. 120
Reference (Deposit): ELSING, M.J. AND HEINEMAN, R.E., 1936 , ARIZONA METAL PRODUCTION: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 140 , P. 101
Reference (Deposit): ABGMT AND ADMR FILE DATA
Reference (Deposit): ABM BULL 137, P. 46
Reference (Production): ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 140 , P. 101.
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.
