Patagonia Mining District

The Patagonia district is on the Sonoran border in Santa Cruz county. It covers the southernmost part of the United States portion of the Patagonia Mountains and lies south of the Harshaw and Palmetto districts. It is about 12 miles broad from east to west and 8 miles from north to south. On the west the boundary of the district for 4 miles north of the Mexican line follows the Santa Cruz river. .

The topography is rough².

Click on a blue mine name to navigate to the mine report

Mining District and Mines

Patagonia District

Location

West side Patagonia Mountains

22-23S 15E⁵

Mineral Products

Au, Pb, Ag, Cu, W (Mo)⁵

Geology

1. Irregular, tabular.

2. Narrow, lensing.

3. Disseminated

4. Minor gold placers⁵.

Type of Operations and Production

Numerous, but mostly small and shallow operations, prospected and mined since the mid-1800's. Total estiamted and recored production would be some 132 thousand tons of ore contains about 5.5 thousand tons of copper, 225 tons of lead, 75 thousand ounces of silver, 240 ounces of gold, and one ton of zinc. Only a few ounces of gold came from placer operations⁵.

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