Tres Amigos Mine (White Gold #3 Mine), Oro Blanco area mines (Oro Blanco Mine group), Oro Blanco Mining District (Ruby Mining District), Oro Blanco Mountains, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, USAi
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
31° 25' 1'' North , 111° 15' 0'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Arivaca | 695 (2011) | 19.2km |
| Tumacacori-Carmen | 393 (2015) | 26.4km |
| Rio Rico | 18,962 (2011) | 26.6km |
| Aduana del Sásabe | 1,295 (2018) | 28.7km |
| Tubac | 1,191 (2011) | 29.1km |
‡Ref.: Keyes, Charles (1923) Tres Amigos gold veins of Arizona: Pan-American Geologist: 39(2): 159-160.
Wilson, E.D., Cunningham, J.B., and Butler, G.M. (1934), Arizona Lode Gold Mines and Gold Mining (revised 1967), Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 137: 190-191.
Knight, L.H., Jr. (1970) Structure and mineralization of the Oro Blanco mining district, Santa Cruz County, Arizona: Tucson, University of Arizona, Ph.D. dissertation, 172 p., 7 sheets, scales 1:1,200, 1:6,000, 1:16,000, 1:24,000, 1:60,000, 1:62,500, and 1:358,000.
Yeend, Warren (1973).
Keith, Stanton B. (1975), Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 191, Index of Mining Properties in Santa Cruz County Arizona: 68 (Table 4).
Newsmine - Oro Blanco Resources Corp. press release 2/21/1997.
Santa Cruz County Recorder's office records.
Arizona Bureau of Mines card file Santa Cruz County.
MRDS database Dep. ID file #10039542, MRDS ID #M050249; and, Dep. ID #10210611, MAS ID #0040230084.
A former small underground Au-Ag-Pb-Cu mine (1:10) located in the NE ¼ sec. 19, T.23S., R.11E., about 4 miles SW of Ruby. Produced 1894-1904, 1932-1942 & closed 1960. Owned at times, or in part, by the Oro Blanco Mining Co.; Fernald; Daniels; Artesia Investment Co.; and the Oro Blanco Mines Co. Operated by Mr. Noon (1960). Owned by the Legend Mines Group (early 1933- ). Operators included Don Dale (1938-1941), Beck (1937), L.E. Moore (1935), E. Smith (1933), the Oro Blanco Mining Co., and the Artesia Investment Co.
Mineralization is irregular, lensing, nearly vertical fissure zone of brecciated and pulverized Jurassic volcanic tuff cemented by finely crystalline quartz containing fine grained gold and silver. The fault zone strikes N.30ºW. For 475 feet the adit is in andesite that, northward, gives way to decomposed, sericitized diorite. Stopes are in lenticular bodies of brecciated to pulverized country rock. This material is considerably sericitized and locally contains abundant iron and manganese oxides. Gold seems more abundant in concentrations of the iron and manganese oxides. Oxidation was supergene enrichment.
The host rock unit is the Cobre Ridge Tuff (welded tuff). Associated rock units include the Sidewinder Quartz Monzonite. The breccia zone represents fluidized country rock fragments intruded into pre-existing features. Breccia zones cut quartz sulfide veins and are the youngest mineralization in the district - may be equivalent in age to NW-trending faults.
Workings include a adit reported to be 2,000 feet long, 4 winzes, two of which are about 100 feet deep, plus 3 stopes - 60 feet high - 35 feet long - maximum size - all within 50 feet of the surface. Sulfides were not found because development has not penetrated beyond the oxidized zone. Real production unknown.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsDetailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Muscovite Formula: KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 References: |
| ⓘ Muscovite var. Sericite Formula: KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 References: |
| ⓘ Native Gold Formula: Au Description: As fine-grained lode gold with alloyed silver. |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Native Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
| Group 9 - Silicates | |||
| ⓘ | Muscovite | 9.EC.15 | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| ⓘ | var. Sericite | 9.EC.15 | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| H | Hydrogen | |
|---|---|---|
| H | ⓘ Muscovite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| H | ⓘ Muscovite var. Sericite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| O | Oxygen | |
| O | ⓘ Muscovite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| O | ⓘ Muscovite var. Sericite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| Al | Aluminium | |
| Al | ⓘ Muscovite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| Al | ⓘ Muscovite var. Sericite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| Si | Silicon | |
| Si | ⓘ Muscovite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| Si | ⓘ Muscovite var. Sericite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| K | Potassium | |
| K | ⓘ Muscovite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| K | ⓘ Muscovite var. Sericite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 |
| Au | Gold | |
| Au | ⓘ Native Gold | Au |
Other Databases
| Link to USGS MRDS: | 10039542 |
|---|
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
Mexico
- Sierra Madre OccidentalMountain Range
North AmericaContinent
- Sonoran DesertDesert
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Basin and Range BasinsBasin
- Southern Basin and RangeWide Rift
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