Mowry Mine

Company

Patagonia, Enterprise; Mowry, Fish & Silverberg, Steinfeld &Swain, Mowry Mines Co., Santa Cruz Mg. & Smltg. Co., Mitchell, Stone, Logan, Peterson, Grant & Woodruff, Metler

Location

?

Mineral Products

Pb, Ag, Zn-, Cu-, Au-, Mn, (Be, Mo, V, Sb)

Type of Operations

Shaft operations. Probably worked by Jesuits and Mexicans prior to 1850 and later mined up through 1952. Total estimated and reported production of Pb-Ag ore would be some 200,000 tonsof ore averaging about 4% Pb, 3 oz. Ag/T, and minor Cu, Zn, and Au. During WWI and WWII, some 7,500 long tons of about 25% Mn shipped.⁵

Geology

Argentiferrous galena, cerussite, anglesite, minor copper minerals, bindhemite, wulfenite, and vanadinite in tabular replacement orebodies, with ferruginous and manganiferous gangue, along a strong fault zone and associated fissures in Paleozoic limestone. Deep oxidation and supergene enrichment produced high grade lead-silver ore in upper section. Pods and pockets of psilomelane and pyrolusite in fracture zones in limestone.⁵

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,
4. USGS Mineral Resources Data System - using WGS84 (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/map-commodity.html#home)
5. Index of Mining Properties in Santa Cruz County by Staton B. Keith, bulletin 1991, Arizona Geological Survey, 1975