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Christmas

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Porphyry copper deposit in Arizona, United States

Names and other identifiers

GMRAP ID 72
Tract name Western Sierra Madre Occidental and Laramide Central (003pCu3007x)
Site status deposit

Geographic location

Country United States
State or province Arizona
Geographic location -110.745277778, 33.06
Geologic map unit -110.745277778, 33.06
Nearby data
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Geologic information

Deposit type Porphyry copper
Age (Ma) 64Ma
Age determination method unknown
Age range 64–63 Ma
Age reference Singer and others (2008)
Minerals actinolite, anhydrite/gypsum, apatite, biotite, bornite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, chlorite, chrysocolla, covellite, cubanite, diopside, epidote, galena, garnet, goethite/limonite, hematite, jarosite, kaolinite, magnetite, molybdenite, montmorillonite/smectite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, rutile, sericite, sphalerite, zeolite
Associated rocks aplite, breccia, dacite porphyry, granodiorite, granodiorite porphyry, quartz diorite, quartz diorite porphyry, quartz latite porphyry, skarn, conglomerate, granite, schist, andesite, andesite porphyry, basalt, basalt breccia, basalt porphyry, basalt tuff, diabase, dolomite, limestone, marble, quartzite, rhyodacite porphyry
Tectonic setting continental margin
Stratigraphic age Paleocene

Commodity and development information

Development status Occurrence
Major commodities Cu
Tonnage (Mt) 48Mt
Cu grade (%) 1.1%
Au grade (g/t) 0.01g/t
Ag grade (g/t) 1g/t
Contained copper 530,000t
Gold-Moly ratio -9999

Reference information

Comments Exposed.
Study area name United States
References Eastlick (1968); Koski and Cook (1982); Long (1995); McKee and Koski (1981); Singer and others (2008)
Site reference U.S. Geological Survey National Mineral Resource Assessment Team (2002)
Eastlick, J.T., 1968, Geology of the Christmas mine and vicinity, Banner mining district, Arizona, in Ridge, J.D., ed., Ore deposits of the United States, 1933–1967: New York, American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc., p. 1191–1210.
Koski,R.A., and Cook, D.S., 1982, Geology of the Christmas porphyry copper deposit, in Titley,S.R., ed., Advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits, southwesternNorth America: Tucson, University of Arizona Press, p. 353–374.
Long, K.R., 1995, Production and reserves of Cordilleran (Alaska to Chile) porphyry copper deposits, in Pierce, F.W., and Bolm, J.G., eds., Porphyry copper deposits of the American Cordillera: Tucson, Arizona Geological Society Digest 20, p. 35–68.
McKee, E.H., and Koski, R.A., 1981, K–Ar ages for igneous rocks and vein minerals from the Christmas mine area, Arizona: Isochron/West, no. 32, December, p. 7–11.
Singer, D.A., Berger, V.I., and Moring, B.C., 2008, Porphyry copper deposits of the world—Database and grade and tonnage models, 2008: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1155, [45] p. and digital data, accessed December 31, 2013, at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1155/.