the John Clark silver mine

[lilorphanannie]

[FONT=&quot]The John Clark Silver mine, in the Cerro Colorado mining district in Pima County,Arizona. It is said that Mr. Clark left 40 tons of 2000 opt, silver ore in the mine. This was @ 1850. The shaft is about 125 feet deep. Information is that it was at some distance from the Heintzelman mine. Lat. 31.7000 Long. 111.2667 elevation 1177 meters. The mine is located on one of the great fault fissures in old andesite. It is reported that after a storm along these fault fissures one can find float assaying up to 6000 opt Ag. and 25% Cu. in the area are the Black Princess,Cerro Colorado, New Colorado, Liberty, Silver Shield,Mary G ,the Charles,the Silver Hill and the Colorado Clark (?) mine 31.6511 ,111.2847 mines. At worse case ,a potentially interesting place to metal detect. Washes are the Cerro Colorado,Papalote,Canez,Pesqueria and Calera. O ne can also obtain geological maps from the USGS to aid in identifying fault zones.[/FONT]

 

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[KANACKI]

Hola Amigo

I can identify some of those mines. The silver shield below.



And this is the Colorado Clark mine.? Possibly the Clark mine.



It might be possible that the the Clark mine merged with the Colorado mine. You can see a single shaft away from the grouping. the shaft is about 600 feet away from the grouping.



The El Toro and California mines are below.



Kanacki

 

[lilorphanannie]

Good work Sr. Kanacki, there were two reasons for this post,and you have already proven the first one, that is ,how closely we can locate some of these targets with map searches before we actually visit the site, and two, my personal success although modest, has been with ores, and even ingots ,here in Mexico where I live. Especially with silver ,due to its price volatility ,there are mines here that shut down from one day to the next and everyone walked away. We have seen similar mines with copper and antimony bars. Point being, by visiting some of these mining sites, if you have the patience ,you almost always can come home with something to cover gas money .of course one will need to check claiming status and get permission.

 

[Crow]

Gidday Lilorphanannie

Once again thanks for the very interesting story.

From what I can determine many of earlier mines was incorporated into one mining complex so many of earlier mines go absorbed into one mining operation.

A former small underground Ag-Au-Pb-Zn-Cu-Hg mine located in the center of sec. 25, T.20S., R.10E. on 1 patented claim and 20 unpatented claims, about 10 miles North of Arivaca. Discovered by early Spanish explorers about 1750. Produced 1856-1937. Closed 1884 to 1901. Mill operating in 1964. You can see the mill below.

Owned at times, or in part, by the Sonora Exploration & Mining Co.; Consolidated Arizona Mine & Milling Co.; Cerro Colorado Mining & Milling Co.; Udall; the Cerro Cristo Mines Co.; Arivaca Milling & Mining Co., Steinfeld; Baker; and, Snyder. You can see the mill tailings waste site below.

Mineralization is irregular, lensing, drusy, quartz-fissure vein with spotty sulfides and secondary minerals with minor barite, calcite and much iron oxide. The wall rock is an andesite porphyry complex. Ruby silver occurred in the oxidized zone. The veins are cut off by contact of sediments with basal andesite.

Workings include shaft workings. Operated from the 1770's to about 1937, producing some 3,000 tons of ore averaging about 100 oz. Ag/T, 0.1 oz. Au/T and minor amounts of Pb & Cu.

The richest ore on record ran over 12,000 oz. Ag per ton, the average ore mined in 1859 was 770 oz/t, the average of all ore mined since then has been about 225 oz/t. No significant quantities of ore were found below 350 feet.

The main shaft is flooded to 50 feet, other shafts in the vicinity are flooded, caved, or lagged at surface. Some ground on the Cerro Colorado claim might be unstable because large stopes are known to exist not far below the surface.

The problem with all shafts in the area is ground water has flooded the shafts. Dewatering of shafts and tailing dam would be needed. If water with in the mine may have to go through water treatment. As this alleged Mr. Clark left 40 tons of 2000 opt, silver ore in the mine.

With 2000 ounces per ton essay at about 25 dollars per ounce x2000 = 50000 dollars x 40 about 2 million dollars. The cost of dewatering may exceed the expected return. Plus many other costs.

As the site was very rich silver deposit but rather shallow Perhaps further exploration by test drilling program to determine the size of the deposit.

Current status of mining lease is not in operation. Most of the shafts are uncapped and full of water. The property appeared to be gated and locked.. However status of the site is unclear? Any renewed mining on the site leaves you open for cost of environment rehabilitation in which modern mines are now subject to. Even tho in 1964 the then mine closed up shop and walked away to day its no so easy. Once taking over the lease you take over the liability of the site.

So you would be looking to lower the water by at least 95 ft if water levels with in shafts averaging 50 ft from surface. Not an easy solution for some one operating on low proifit margins banking on a stable silver price.

Crow

 

[lilorphanannie]

Again,Sr. Crow, you have dissected another treasure lead and made it real. You remind me of Don Juan,in the books written by Carlos Castaneda,as he professed that he could see things through the eyes of a passing crow. Great work and resulting information.

 

[KANACKI]

Hola amigos

Here is a little more history of the site.

Known for its high-grade surface silver it was worked by Charles D. Poston and Herman Ehrenberg from San Francisco, the former acquired $100,000 in cash to invest in 80 mining claims near the old Tumacacori Mission and the Santa Rita Mountains to the east. Here is a picture of Poston below.




The nearby town of Cerro Colorado consisted of adobe buildings and storehouses. The mine entrance, or adit, was protected by a walled fortification that included a lookout tower used to protect the workings. This rendition of the site in the early 1860's




Poston, managing agent for the Sonora Exploring and Mining Co., and Frederick Brunkow, geologist, mineralogist and mining engineer, used Tubac as their headquarters and actively sought new mining claims.

Poston operated a quasi-government circulating his own paper currency, “boletos,” consisting of animal depictions on cardboard that was redeemable in silver bars. He referred to his operation as a “community in a perfect state of nature.”

The Cerro Colorado Mine was also known as the Heintzelman Mine, named after Samuel P. Heintzelman, first president of the Sonora Exploring and Mining Co.

Located in the foothills of the Cerro Colorado Mountains, the mine early on produced $5,000 to $8,000 of silver per ton.

Ore was transported by wagon to Guaymas, Sonora, and later shipped by schooner to San Francisco paying over 50 percent dividends. Some ore was also shipped by wagon over the Santa Fe Trail to Kansas City as a sample to eastern investors of the potential mineral wealth found in Arizona.

Mineralogist and topographical engineer, Ehrenberg described the Heintzelman vein as one of the richest yet discovered in the world. Brunkow assayed ores from the 60-foot level and determined they contained 1,000 to 4,000 ounces of silver to the ton. here is Herman Ehrenberg below.



About 120 Mexican miners were employed at the Heintzelman Mine earning 50 cents to a $1 a day. A small adobe furnace was built at the site in 1858 at a cost of $250. Roughly 22,800 pounds of ore subsequently smelted produced 2,287 ounces of silver and 300 pounds of copper.

Remnants of arrastras and whims, the devices similar to a windlass used to haul ore to the surface, lay scattered about the mine when John Ross Browne visited the site in 1863. The main shaft was sunk down 140 feet though part of it was submerged by water.

Samuel Colt assumed presidency of the Cerro Colorado Mine in 1859. Production at the Heintzelman Mine was recorded as $100,000 that year.

However, this did not include the stolen ore shipped to Mexico, which some estimate at $900,000.
Known later for his Hartford arms manufacturer of the Colt revolver, he claimed “the mine was but a hole to bury money in.” Here is a picture of Samuel Colt below.




This was after the high-grade surface ore had been removed and the technological conundrums of processing the lower-grade ore below became evident having to rely on the barrel amalgamation process.
Incessant theft and desertion forced John Poston, brother of Charles, to execute the guilty parties beginning with a Mexican foreman, Juanito, caught transporting silver bullion to Mexico from the mine illegally. Rumor continues to this day that Juanito had buried $70,000 of the stolen silver bullion near the mine.

John Poston, along with two German miners, was murdered at the mine by Mexican outlaws.
The buildings and equipments around the mine were destroyed by Apaches after the U.S. military abandoned the area during the Civil War.

During the 1960s, surrounding claims, including the Silver Shield Mine and Silver Queen, later went through a succession of ownership, including Tucson merchant and Pioneer Hotel owner Harold Steinfeld and Walter Bopp.Here is a picture of steinfeld below.



The mill, composed of six flotation cells, did accept ore trucked in from the Arizona Mine near Ruby for processing. Although, dewatered, structurally retimbered and worked by drifting, the ore was too low grade to mine at a profit.
Perlite was also discovered in the Cerro Colorado Mountains and described as “dark gray to pinkish-gray stringers of perlitic glass” in rhyolite.

So amigos while the line might be viable option there still might be a hidden cache of silver somewhere near the site?

Kanacki

 

[lilorphanannie]

at any rate , you should be able to scrounge up enough scrap ore to pay for your time.

 

[KANACKI]

at any rate , you should be able to scrounge up enough scrap ore to pay for your time.

Hola Amigo certainly worth having scratch around these sites.

Kanacki

 

[Crow]

Gidday Amigos

You never know where buried silver might turn up?

Crow