Arizona republican., 1918-02-03
THEMlNES SOFARIZONA
SOME MANGANESE

SOME MANGANESE Studay of the manganese resources of the Western United States by the United States Geological survey. de- partment of the interior, has yielded | | information concerning many deposits | of manganese ore in Arizona about | which little has hitherto been known, | and has shown that large deposits | occur under widely different geo. logic conditions, in both igneous and | sedimentary rocks.
 Developed Deposits
 In the summer of 1917 F. l.. Jones, | Ui., a geologist of the Geological sur vey examined most of the deposits in | Arizona, except those in the Bisbee | and Tombstone districts. He visited several deposits in the Big Horn mountains and in the northern part of Maricopa county, and one deposit Tn favapai county, in an outlying spur of the Harcuvar mountains, a few miles north of the Maricopa county line. Early in 1917 manganese ores from all these deposits were shipped from Aguila, on the Parker branch of the Atchison, Topeka and
 Santa Fe railway. The ores from
 the Big Horn mountains are hauled
 b miles and those from the Harcuvar
 deposit miles to the railroad. To
 September l. 1917, approximately 800
 tons of 40 per cent manganese ore had been shipped from all these de- posits to the Noble Electric Steel
 company, Heroult, Cal, the Berkshire
 Iron Works, Sheridan, Pa, and the
 F. H. Balbee Co, of Chicago. These
 deposits have been worked only
 short time and the workings are lim- ited to their known productive parts 1, The deepest shaft has been sunk : only 70 feet, for most of the work
 consists of open cuts. The meager
 work done indicates a reserve of 2,000 to 5000 tons of ore containing about 35 per cent of manganese and 10 . per cent of silica, but the results : of more extensive work may justi-
 fy a larger estimate.
 The deposits in the Big Horn moun- : tains are at the north end of the a range and extend from east to west ' in a zone about miles long. The claims that have shipped ore comprise those of the Manganese Development company, those under lease and bond to the Noble Electric Steel con- pany, the Wheeler claims, and the
 Giblin claims. The ore is enclosed in a red andesite containing flakes . of biotite. This andesite is part of
 series of lava flows. of probable
 Tertiary age, that is found in many
 of the ranges of thouthwest and central Arizona. The ore occurs in !. small veins and as the cementing
 substance in andesitic breccia. The
 veins and brecciated zones vary in , course from north nearly to cast, , and are from 1 foot to 15 feet wide. ; In the deposits worked by the Noble ], Electric Steel company, the andesite = fragments of the breccia are from
 one-fourth to 1 foot or more in
 diameter, and the manganese oxide filling is generally less than ? c inches thick. In places, however, }. veins of fairly pure manganese oxides = attain a width of 8 foot. but in order ! ! to obtain a shipping product, con = taining 40 per cent of manganese from
 most of these deposits, hand sorting / and screening of the vein materially
 are necessary. Most of the ore is z soft and consists of small needle e like crystals of manganite, but some f of it consists of hard crusts of psilo- = melane. The manganese oxides were
 probably derived from manganiferous :. calcite as veinlets of secondary cal
 cite are common.
 The deposit north of Aguila is }, owned by William Hatton and is n under lease to Woods, Huddart, and T T Gum of San Francisco. The prop t erty is being actively exploited and several carloads of ore have been ' shipped. Unlike the deposits in the = Big Horn mountains. the ore occurs
 in a well defined Assure vein which v cuts deep of a coarse grained red l. sandstone At several places along s the vein, for q distance of 400 feet shoots of ore have been uncovered n the largest of which is 50 feet long = and feet wide. The vein matter
 is A mixture of manganese oxides ,- principally manganite, calcite, and ', barite. Manganiferous calcite, which was noted from the bottom of 4O- f foot shaft on the vein. may have been the source of the manganese minerals The ore is sorted and
 screenel in order 10 obtain product of 40 per cent manganese
 The opening of these manganese de- D. posits may lead to the opening ol l- others in the more remote parts oi n Arizona. several of which are known 1 and undoubtedly others will be founc in places where the geologic con-
 ditions are similar to those here de' n scribed. The present high prlce o if manganese ore permits the profltapit It working or cOrlphTdtlNely SAioAA e'NN If remote deposits.
 = UndeveIoped Deposits
 In the course of his field worf :. Mir. Jones examined certain unde -, veloped deposits in Mohave count .ii that are unusual and that give prom s+ ise of becoming large producers n These deposits are about mile' 7 northwest of the Tappan ranch, ol ' Williams River. in the mesa tna tf Hanks the Artillery mountains. Tn principaI difficulty to be overcom
 in the exploitation of these deposits
 is that of transportation. Congress - Junction. on the Atchison' Topek CT and Santa Fe railway, the most ac ed cessible railroad station. is 49 mic If east of the Tappan ranch. Betweei Id this station and the ranch there l n. a good road over gently sloplni T mesa. but between the ranch ant -- the deposits 8 road must be mad
 and a bridge built over the brod'
 sand-filled channel of Williams river |. The deposits were located in lsl r, bv Graham. Carr. Rider and Bender
 wald, but up to September. 1917, Wer - entirely undeveloped. The propert
 is under the mana cement Of w. J
 Graham of Phoenix, Ariz- At th ~ time the deposits were visited
 minimum estimate of 50,0Oo tons o
 manganese ore was made from sur face exposures. assays of which indl
 cate from 31 to 45 per cent oI man