Mineral Park Mine, Ithaca Peak, Mineral Park Mining District, Wallapai Mining District, Cerbat Mountains, Mohave County, Arizona, USAi

Regional Level Types
Mineral Park Mine	Mine
Ithaca Peak	Peak
Mineral Park Mining District	Mining District
Wallapai Mining District	Mining District
Cerbat Mountains	Mountain Range
Mohave County	County
Arizona	State
USA	Country

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A surface Cu-Mo-Au-Pb-Zn-Ag-gemstone (turquoise) occurrence/mine located in the W½ sec. 19, T23N, R17W, G&SRM, on private (patented) land. Workings include surface openings comprised of an open cast mine covering 900 HA.

Current mining operations are primarily dump leaching activities, with recovery of copper from leach solutions using conventional solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) technology.

Mineral Park itself was a mining town, now a ghost town in the Mineral Park valley of the Cerbat Mountains. Its ruins and cemetery are now located within the property of the mine. Mining in the area began in 1871 and a camp was established soon after. The mines produced primarily silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc. When it lost the county seat to the railroad town of Kingman of in an 1887 election some of the population moved and mining began to slacken with the price of silver. Although mining was revived in the area in the 1960s, the town never did. As of 2015, a cemetery, a few ruins and foundations remain within the property of the new mine.

Large scale copper mining began in the old Mineral Park district in 1963 when Duval Corporation started an open pit operation. It was owned and operated by Duval Corp-Pennzoil United Incorporated, Arizona (1979-1986); by Cyprus Minerals, Arizona (1986-1993); by Cyprus Amax Minerals Company, Colorado (1993-1994); later, when Cyprus Amax Minerals acquired Duval's copper mines in 1986, they sold Mineral Park in 1997; by Equatorial Mining Ltd. (1997-2003); by Mercator Minerals Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (2003-2014) - this company filed for bankruptcy; by Origin Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Waterton Global Resources who also own Elko Mining Group and Carlin Resources LLC in Nevada (2015-). The USGS MRDS database stated accuracy for this locality is 1,000 meters. Turquoise is mined under lease from the pit.

The area was worked for turquoise by Native Americans before European contact. Turquoise was mined commercially at the location from the late 1880s to the early 1900s by Aztec Turquoise Co.; then by Los Angeles Gem Co.; after that by Arizona Turquoise Co.; following this by Southwest Turquoise Co. and Mineral Park Turquoise Co.; and since the 1970s by Colbaugh Processing Inc. (known as Kingman Turquoise Mine). The turquoise mined at the location is called ‘Kingman Turquoise’ and is well regarded for its beautiful sky blue colour. The mine also yields many variations of blue turquoise and additionally it produces green turquoise from the Turquoise Mountain side of the mine.

Mineralisation is a porphyry copper deposit (Mineral occurrence model information: Model code: 79; USGS model code: 21a; Deposit model name: Porphyry Cu-Mo; Mark3 model number: 2; Model code: 85; USGS model code: 22c; Deposit model name: Polymetallic veins; Mark3 model number: 46), hosted in amphibolite schist and gneissic granite of the Cerbat complex; the Diana Granite; Hornblende meta-diorite; Late Cretaceous quartz monzonite of the Itaca Peak Stock; and Late Cretaceous diorite of the Gross Peak Stock. The ore body is 660 meters wide, 1,020 meters long with a depth-to-top of 60 meters and covering an area of 1,270 HA. Orebody No. 1 is stockwork and lenticular. Ore body No. 2 is disseminated. The primary mode of origin was hydrothermal activity and the secondary mode was oxidation. Primary ore control was faulting and the secondary was fracturing. Wallrock alteration is intense (potassic). The ore bodies are crenulate, tabular, and crescent-shaped. Ore control was thoroughly fractured rock. Sulphide mineralization conforms to the topography of the Ithaca Peak. Ore concentration was enrichment controlled by Pre-oligocene to Plio-Pleistocene topography. Meteoric fluids were leached below the water table. Alteration includes silicification and sericitization in core, argillization, propylitization. The average depth of oxidation is 20 feet. Associated rocks include Late Cretaceous rhyolite dikes. Local rocks include Early Tertiary to Late Cretaceous granitic rocks.

Regional geologic features include Precambrian scistosity strikes N30ºE. Veins and dikes strike NW to NNW. Local features include shattering after intrusion of rhyolite dikes, NW- & NE-trending fractures.

Reserve-resources data: Year: 2010: demonstrated reserves: 432,054,000 metric tons of ore @ 0.137 weight percent Cu; average of 0.043 weight percent Mo; and average of 2.64 grams Ag/metric ton. Inferred reserves: 198,251,617 metric tons of ore @ 0.099 weight percent Cu; average of 0.053 weight percent Mo; and average of 2.33 grams Ag/ metric ton.

Commodity List

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

Mineral List

31 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded