Bisbee

Porphyry copper deposit in Arizona, United States

Names and other identifiers

GMRAP ID 98
Alternate names Cochise-Lavender
Tract name Western U.S. and Sonoran Desert Jurassic Arc (003pCu9006x)
Site status deposit

Geographic location

Country United States
State or province Arizona
Geographic location -109.901388889, 31.431944444
Geologic map unit -109.901388889, 31.431944444
Nearby data

Geologic information

Deposit type Porphyry copper
Age (Ma) 180Ma
Age determination method unknown
Age range 180 Ma
Age reference Singer and others (2008)
Minerals alunite, azurite/malachite, barite, biotite, bornite, brochantite, chalcanthite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, chlorite, chrysocolla, copper, cuprite, diaspore, dickite, enargite, epidote, galena, hematite/specularite, kaolinite/dickite, magnetite, pyrite, pyrophyllite, sericite, sphalerite, stromeyerite, tetrahedrite, turquoise
Associated rocks breccia, quartz feldspar porphyry, quartz porphyry, granite, rhyolite porphyry, sandstone, shale, conglomerate, dolomite, limestone, quartzite, schist
Tectonic setting mixed
Stratigraphic age Early Jurassic

Commodity and development information

Development status Past Producer
Major commodities Cu
Tonnage (Mt) 347Mt
Cu grade (%) 0.656%
Au grade (g/t) 0.016g/t
Ag grade (g/t) 0.45g/t
Contained copper 2,270,000t
Gold-Moly ratio -9999

Reference information

Comments 1956–1975 open pit and underground production 96.3 Mt at 1.14% Cu, 0.057 g/t Au, and 1.63 g/t Ag; heap leach resource of 250.3 Mt at 0.47% Cu in 2004.
Study area name United States
References Bryant and Metz (1966); Einaudi (1982); Graeme (1981); Long (1995); Niemuth (1994); Singer and others (2008)
Site reference U.S. Geological Survey National Mineral Resource Assessment Team (2002)
Bryant, D.G., and Metz, H.E., 1966, Geology and ore deposits of the Warren mining district, in Titley, S.R., and Hicks, C.L., eds., Geology of the porphyry copper deposits, southwestern North America: Tucson, University of Arizona Press, p. 189–203.
Einaudi, M.T., 1982, Description of skarns associated with porphyry copper plutons, southwestern North America, in Titley, S.R., ed., Advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits, southwestern North America: Tucson, University of Arizona Press, p. 139–183.
Graeme, R.W., 1981, Famous mineral localities—Bisbee, Arizona: Mineralogical Record, v.12, no. 5, p. 258–319.
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.
Niemuth, N.J., 1994, The primary copper industry of Arizona, 1992: Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources Special Report 20, 58 p. (Also available at http://mines.az.gov/DigitalLibrary/ADMMR_Reprints/CopperReports/cu1992SR20.pdf.)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/.