Arizona republican., 1911-02-18

Last Report of Producers
Association Is Not En-
tirely Satisfactory Sum-
NIT Mine Is Now Ship
ping Ore to Ell Paso.

"A report that will be of interest tc
many i'm this district appears in the
iast number OF the Mining World OF
Chlcago. The report is contributed by
Dr. Walter Harvey Weed, who, in
conjunction with Frank Probert. re-
Gently exported the Ray Central prop
| erty
Under the caption, The Ray Cop
per Mining District, Arizona" DR.
weed says: The Ray or Mineral
creek district is an inter mountain
basin enclosed by peaks 1000 to 5000
feet high. The elevation of Ray is
2,O35 feet. The mountains to the
west consist of unaltered gray schist
and of white granite, which, toward
the northwest, are capped by flat beds
of dactic tuff, crowned by thick
masses of columnar dactic lavas. East
OF the Mineral Creek basin a long
mountain crest shows inclined beds of
limestone lying cOnformably upon
heavy bedded quartzite A very strong.
well defined fault runs down Mineral
Creek from the north end of the bas-
in. through the town of Ray, until
lost beneath the ella conglomerate.
This great fault and its parallel SYM
pathetic fractures has thrown down
the country east of the creek, SO that
the dactic tuff beds once continuous
across the valley to Teapot noun
tains, are at the creek level on the
east side of the fault, forming great
tilted blocks. between the creek and
the mountains: while west of the
fault the tufts and quartzite that once
overlaid the schist are entirely re-
moved. The schists are the Oldest
rocks, probably pre- Cambrian. The
quantities. and limestones are Cam
brian TO carbonifeFous. Diabase of
Mesozoic age breaks through these
sedimentaries. This rock has altered
the others but slightly. ii at all. The
granite is the youngest intrusive rock,
breaking across the diabase. 1t is be-
licved to be the direct source of the
primary naturalization found in all
the other rocks. Dacite, the youngest
igneous rock, is of volcanic, not deep
seated igneous origin. 1t contains
only oxidized ores. which. so far as
known. are connected with masses of
mineralized diabase and granite.
The district contains two distinct,
sharply defined mineralized divisions.
separated by the gorge of Mineral
Creek. The western area is the Ray
copper belt or zone. in which the
great deposits of disseminated copper
ore occur.
The disseminated belt consists of
an irregular group of rough-surfaced.
red stained hills, running from Ray
mountain to the New Years group.
The area is limited at the south by
fault zone, or line of distributed dis
placement so that there is an abrupt
change from nearly fresh gray schist
and light colored granite to the red,
highly altered silicified schist north
of the fault. This line runs up
Amanda gulch, crosses to Copper can
yon, and follows up Copper canyon
for a mile or so. On the west the
mineralized area stops abruptly near
the New Years claim. though tongues
of altered rock extend into the schist
and granite for some distance farth-
err The belt is SO well defined on the
north by the Sharkey canyon though
its boundary is hidden by wash from
the mountains.
In general the belt consists of thor
oughly altered schist, composed es-
sentially of quartz and serlcite, but
occasionally showing darker colored
nueleal remnants of the original schist
The relative age of the rock is
shown by the granite which borders,
and probably underlies the entire
belt. and is only exposed above and
in the Ray mine. and over part of the
Isabella claim. The Ray diabase dixie
cuts through the schist. but is itself
cut off by the granite -porphyry. An
other diabase dixie running n. "a f.
crosses the hills. one quarter of a
mile north of the Globe group of the
Raw central Co. running along a dis
placement at nearly right angles TO
the Mineral Creek fault
The schist as a rule retains Its
foliation lines, but is cut into rhombs
by a net work of tiny quartz films and
and by joints stained by
films of iron and copper silicate. AS
a rule the rock breaks into angular
fragments which do not correspond to
the foliation.
In the rough. clinky outcrops,
forming the knobs west of the Ray
Central holdings, the rock is crushed
and the faults bordered by bleached
sohist netted by hematite veinlets.
to conditions seen at
Miami To the west. however. near
the Sharkey mine. the rocks are soft
er and rotted to a more or less clayey
red. to creamy white material.
The Ray ore deposit consists of
highly altered, Redeemed. silicified
schist. sheared and locally crushed
and mineralized with copper glance
and pyrite along joint planes, minute
quartz seams and network of tiny
fractures. with impregnation of the
rock alongside of the fracture by
specks of metallic sulphides. The sur
face cover has been thoroughly oxidi-
zed to a depth of 40 to $50 feet. and
this part is generally barren and leach
ed near the surface, although it con-