Mineral Appraisal of the Coronado National Forest Part 2, Chiricahua-Pedregosa Mountains Unit, Cochise County, Arizona MLA 12-93 (1993)

Mineral Appraisal of Coronado National Forest, Part 14, Industrial Minerals MLA 10-94 (1994). The U.S. Bureau of Mines conducted mineral appraisals of the 13 management units in the Coronado National Forest, which comprises approximately 1.85 million acres in five counties of southeastern Arizona and one county in southwestern New Mexico. Most industrial minerals found in the Forest are commodities of low unit value. Their development is highly dependent on accessibility and location relative to potential markets. Current production is limited to one marble/limesone quarry and a few sand and gravel quarries; production there is expected to continue. Subeconomic resources of silica flux contain appreciable byproduct metals, and may become economic if further investigation establishes higher tonnage and/or grade, or if the price of gold and/or silver increases. Two areas are possible targets for development of high-brightness marble products. Development of 137,000 st indicated resource of low-grade gypsum is unlikely under reasonably foreseeable economic conditions. Gypsum deposits outside the Forest are more likely targets for development. There is little likelihood for development of f!uorspar occurrences in the Forest, due to their low volume and quality, and to decreased demand for fluorspar from the steel industry. Occurrences of common rock, and sand and gravel could be utilized as needed.