Cross Hill Quarry (Pantano Clay deposit; Mineral Lease No. 23880C), Pantano Wash, Rincon Valley, Pima County, Arizona, USAi

Regional Level Types
Cross Hill Quarry (Pantano Clay deposit; Mineral Lease No. 23880C)	Quarry
Pantano Wash	Wash
Rincon Valley	Census-designated Place
Pima County	County
Arizona	State
USA	Country

Ref.: Funnell, J.E. & Wolfe, E.J. (1964), Compendium on nonmetallic minerals of Arizona. Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio: 98.

Patterson, S.H. (1969) Clay, in: USGS & Arizona Bureau of Mines, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (1969), Mineral and Water Resources of Arizona, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 180 (USGS Bull.871): 332.

Keith, Stanton B. (1974), Arizona Bureau of Geology & Mineral Technology, Geological Survey Branch Bull. 189, Index of Mining Properties in Pima County, Arizona: 141 (Table 4).

U.S. Department of Mine Safety and Health Administration (1978) Metal-Nonmetal Mine file reference.

U.S. Department of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) (1978) Metal-Nonmetal Mine Information Supplement, revised by MILS 11-79.

Arizona Department of Mines & Mineral Resources (1989), Directory of Active Mines in Arizona, incorporating sand and gravel operations 1989-1990, Arizona Department of Mines & Mineral Resources Directory 36, 14 pp.

Peirce, H. Wesley (1990), Arizona Geological Survey Industrial Minerals card file.

Phillips, K.A., Beard, R.R., Niemuth, N.J., and Bain, D.R. (1991) Active Mines in Arizona – 1992: Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources Directory 39, 20 pp.

Arizona Bureau of Mines file data.

MRDS database Dep. ID file #10060262, MRDS ID #TC10261; and, Dep. ID #10186406, MAS ID #0040190534.

A former surface clay mining area located in the W½ sec. 26, South-central T.16S., R.17E., near Pantano Wash in eastern Pima County, about 25 miles SE of Tucson, N of interstate 10 and 2 miles NW of the Pantano interchange, on land of unknown status. Owned and operated by the Clinton Campbell Contracting, Inc. (1991). Previously operated by the Stewart Block and Brick Co.; Arizona Portland Cement Co. (1978); and, the California Portland Cement.

Mineralization is clay from Tertiary lake beds. The deposit is 4,500 meetrs long and 70 meters thick. It is possessed of good plasticity, good colours, good strength, and fires within 100 degrees C range, has a short and abrupt vitrification range, and low calcium carbonate content. This clay is a high-alumina fire clay composed of mixed kaolinite-illite clay minerals. For most uses, it is used in its natural colours - largely light to dark reddish browns.

The material is slightly indurated dark gray to brown shale. The shale occurs in a basin about 3 miles long and 1 mile wide. The deposit is about 35 meters thick at Cross Hill, but could be as thick as 70 meters about 2.5 km to the north. The deposit crops out over an area of more than 6 square km.

Worings include three pits. This deposit supplied almost half of all the clay mined in Arizona in 1992.

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Link to USGS MRDS:	10186406

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