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Mine Descriptions

Hughes Mine

Mining District and Mines

Greaterville Area

The Hughes Mine is in the crest of the Santa Rita range 1½ miles south of Melendreth Pass on a 6 foot quartz vein in the granite. It is opened mainly by a 45 foot shaft which shows lean sulphides beginning within 5 to 6 feet of the surface. it was worked in the middle 80s [1880s], three arrastres being employed to grind out the surface ore, which, it is said, averaged about $100 to the ton in silver and gold.2

Historical: shaft, 45 feet deep (3)1

Location

31.6020N , -110.8309W3

31.60183N, -110.82958W4

SE¼, sec. 17
T. 21 S., R. 15 E.1

Mineral Products

USBM: Ag, 0.2 - 130 ppm; Au, <5 - 1,220 ppb; Cu, 14- 4,327 ppm; Pb, 220->10,000 ppm; Zn, 22- 30,000 ppm.1

Geology

Quartz view, 6 feet thick, cutting granite; loan sulphides, Ag- and Au-bearing.1

Type of Operation and Production

Worked in mid-1880s, averaged about $100 / t Ag and Au.(3)1

References

  1. Mineral Appraisal of Coronado National Forest, Part 12, Santa Rita Mountains Unit, MLA11-94 (1994). SR 591-609
    http://repository.azgs.az.gov/sites/default/files/dlio/files/nid1813/usbm_mla_011-94.pdf
  2. Mining in the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains of Arizona, U.S. Department of Interior, 1915. Republished 2014 by Kerby Jackson.
  3. Mike Bertram, 2/27/22
  4. USGS Mineral Resources Data System - possibly using NAD72 (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/map-commodity.html#home)