Claims were originally located in 1925. The Cantu group, restaked in 1949 and 1966, probably covered an area somewhat different from the original Cantu claims (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1979).
Location: The Cantu mine is in Section 11 on the east flank of Cantu Mountain about 0.1 mile from the Canadian border. The mine is at an elevation of about 1500 feet and the deposits crop out between elevations of about 1200 and 2180 feet (Buddington, 1929, p. 91-92; Elliott and Koch, 1981, p. 15, loc. 57). The location is accurate within about a tenth of a mile. Also see Additional Comments field, below.
Geology: The country rocks in the general area of the Cantu mine include the Triassic Texas Creek Granodiorite, which underlies and locally intrudes pelitic metasedimentary and subordinate andesitic metavolcanic strata of the Jurassic or older Mesozoic Hazelton Group; the Eocene Boundary Granodiorite (Smith, 1977), which intrudes the Hazelton and Texas Creek rocks; and still-younger Tertiary lamprophyre dikes (Smith, 1973), which cut all of the other rocks. The deposit (Buddington, 1929, p. 43, 91-92) consists of sulfide-bearing quartz-barite-calcite(?) fissure veins in Texas Creek Granodiorite, which is cut by quartz porphyry and lamprophyre dikes. The veins, ranging from a few inches to three feet thick, as well as smaller veinlets, carry galena, sphalerite, and tetrahedrite, generally sparse pyrite and chalcopyrite, and, in places, barite equal in amount to the quartz. Maas and others' (1995, p. 258) description of the Cantu deposit differs from Buddington's in that they interpret the hostrock as Hazelton greenstone, not Texas Creek Granodiorite. Assays of a carefully selected 20-ton shipment sent to a smelter in 1925 showed 0.175-0.30 oz Au and 13.80-31.05 oz Ag per ton, 37.20-44.1% Pb, and 5.6-12.2% Zn. Assays of grab samples of sorted ore were generally comparable in metal content, except for one sample rich in tetrahedrite that contained 61.2 oz Ag per ton. A grab sample from another vein 30-35 feet thick that contained streaks and disseminations of pyrite gave an assay of 0.8 oz Au and 1.202 oz Ag per ton. Lead-isotope studies of galena from the Cantu deposit (Maas and others, 1995, p. 254) indicate that the deposit is Jurassic in age, contemporaneous, at least in part, with island-arc volcanism in Hazelton time (Alldrick, 1993).
Workings: Presumably fairly extensive surface and underground workings. Maas and others (1995, p. 258) report four adits ranging from 10-40 feet long. Assays of a carefully selected 20-ton shipment sent to a smelter in 1925 showed 0.175-0.30 oz Au and 13.80-31.05 oz Ag per ton, 37.20-44.1% Pb, and 5.6-12.2% Zn. Assays of grab samples of sorted ore were generally comparable in metal content, except for one sample rich in tetrahedrite that contained 61.2 oz Ag per ton. A grab sample from another vein 30-35 feet thick that contained streaks and disseminations of pyrite gave an assay of 0.8 oz Au and 1.202 oz Ag per ton.
Age: Lead-isotope studies of galena from the Cantu deposit (Maas and others, 1995, p. 254) indicate that the deposit is Jurassic in age, contemporaneous, at least in part, with island-arc volcanism in Hazelton time (Alldrick, 1993).
Production: A 20-ton test shipment was sent to a smelter in 1925

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, Zn; (Minor) - Barite
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Polymetallic veins

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Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

ⓘ 'Tetrahedrite Subgroup'

7 valid minerals.