Bisbee daily review., 1919-01-12
BIC BUG COPPER
 HAS GOOD FUTURE.

Following is a partial report on the property of the Big Bug Mining com pany by c. F. Ferguson, M. F., who ! is thoroughly familiar with conditions pertaining to mining in the Yayapai i schist belt Local stockholders may be interested in knowing that condt-
 tions at the mine are encouraging as
 depth is being attained, and those at the mine are looking forward to the reaching of commercial ore bodies Tn the near future. The appearance of considerable oxide and sulphide at
 the present depth of about 70 feet,
 running well in copper values, with some gold and silver values strength
 en the supposition that the Big Bug Copper company will enter the pro ducing class.
 Summary of report by C. E. Fergu-
 son. consulting engineer. follows:
 The report has for it's basis an ex-
 animation of the holdings of the Big
 Bug company by the author in com
 pany with Dan Lewis and A. E. Rice.
 The holdings of the Big Bug Copper
 company are on the east side of Cop
 per mountains in the Agua Fria min
 ing district. about 20 miles south of
 Jerome and about five miles east of
 the town of Mayer.
 Among the proven properties in the
 same schist belt may be mentioned
 the Jerome mines. the Arizona Bing-
 hampton, the Blue Bell and De Sota
 of the Arizona Consolidated. the Hen
 rietta and Butternut of the Callahan
 interests, the Kay Copper and nu-
 merCus others in different stages of
 development. The immediate sec
 tions embraced by Copper Mountain and South Copper Mountain comprise
 one Of the oldest mining localities in
 Arizona, and has been worked in a desultory manner for over 35 years.
 What is said to be the oldest shelter in the state is located on the Agua Fria river short distance from the holdings of the Big Bug. This crude plant was erected to treat the rich surface ores exposed on Copper noun tain. A location notice on South Cop per mountain, which is perfectly negible at present, is dated January I3, 1883, and asserts that Jacob Null fer, Sam FOram and Chris Anderson
 located this property at that carly date. This location embraced a DOT ton of Che Big Bug Copper company holdings and proved that this ground was deemed worthy of location by the old-time prospectOrs, who were obliged to cCnfine their attention to high grade deposits. With the advance of the times and the introduction of modern metallurgical methods many deposits then considered worthy are now being worked at a profit. The holdings of the Big Bug Copper con- pany consist of 19 claims. The pres ent directorate is Frank Thornton, Carl Raab, vice-pTesident; A. F. Rice, secretary and treasurer; Uri Embody and M NJ. Stoddard, geologists.
 The holdings eof the Big Bug Cop per company are located very nearly in the geographic center of a wide belt of mineraliZed schist extending from Jerome on the north to the Bradshaw mountains on the south. This schist
 NAANn 10 AAAC DdoGA lONh Ol AiE hAo- trict, is, according to Rickard, geologi- cal agent, quoting this authority further. It is composed of volcanic tuffs and flows (metamOrphosed to- gether with elastic sediments. which in this district are both argellaceous (clayey) and silicious. Into these consolidated oceanic sediments a batholith are masse of intrusive igne- Ous rock was pushed. The batholith was granite. From it tongues and dikes penetrated the sediments which by metamOrphised became schist The marginal phase of the granite was diorite. This was intruded into the schist so freely as to constitute a large portion of its bulk. Into this rock there penetrated copper bearing solutions forming lines of bodies of copper ores at the contact of the schist and diOrite
 The evidences of a wide spread of naturalization are abundant on the surface of the Big Bug Copper con- pany property and manifest them selves in iron and copper stained cop per, and a pitted or .honeycombed structure due to the oxidation and teaching sulphide minerals. At al of places there are attractive showings of carbOnated ore on the surface. In general, as far as an eX- perience1 miner can observe on the surface indications. the conditions for ore deposition on the Big Bug prop erty are entirely similar as on other producing properties in the schist belt. In the 50-foot shaft where sink ing is now being done the showing is good, considering the shal- low depth. Stringers of high grade oxides and carbonites have been picked up and continue to come in showing increased strength at depth Although the zone is as yet one of strong oxidation and teaching some primary sulphides have already been encountered which would encourage the expectation of finding sulphide ores at very reasonable depth. Pos sibly either the first 200 or 300 feet A quantity Of scrub timber on the property furnishes fuel for camp pur- poses The mower line Inf fhp Arizoua