Azurite on Galena (CAR-0043)

specimen number:
9273214

location:
Pinto Valley Mine, Gila Co., Arizona, USA

description:

Nice locality example, sparkling micro crystals of azurite throughout this matrix with galena.

The Pinto Valley mine, located in the Globe-Miami district of Gila County, Arizona, is a major open-pit copper operation known for producing porphyry copper and molybdenum ore along with occasional chalcopyrite and chrysocolla specimens. Geologically, the deposit is a classic Laramide porphyry system where copper and molybdenum mineralization is associated with the intrusion of the Paleocene-aged Schultze Granite into older Precambrian rocks and Paleozoic sedimentary strata. Hydrothermal fluids related to the magmatic intrusion altered the host rocks and deposited economic concentrations of sulfide minerals within extensive stockwork quartz veinlets and fractures, creating a large, low-grade ore body with a well-developed supergene enrichment zone. Industrial-scale open-pit mining operations began at the site in 1974 under Cities Service Company, following years of exploration and development of the nearby Castle Dome ore body. The mine changed ownership several times over the decades, being operated by BHP Copper and later acquired by Capstone Mining Corporation in 2013, with continuous large-scale milling and heap-leaching extraction extending through the early twenty-first century and projected to run into the 2030s.

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