Page 160 - The Geology and Ore Deposits of Sierra County, New Mexico - Bulletin 10

158 GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF SIERRA CO., N. M.
that workings on the north side of Black Peak are located on the same dike and fracture zone.
The Wicks vein is developed by a shaft 300 feet deep, and by several tunnels and pits. The size of the dump at the main shaft indicates that several hundred feet of underground devel- opment work has been done and that considerable ore has been mined. Forty feet east of the main Wicks vein is a parallel vein, on which a shaft 200 feet deep has been sunk. The Wicks vein is said to consist of ,a 3- to 6-inch pay streak containing quartz, pyrite, bornite, chalcopyrite and free gold in a fracture zone averaging 7 feet in width. The pay streak is said to have pro- duced hand-sorted shipping ore .ranging between $50 and $200 per ton in value. The total production is reported to have been around $150,000, and there is estimated to be $25,000 worth of ore of shipping grade blocked out. Only a moderate amount of repair and cleanup work would be required prior to mining this ore. The surface plant has been completely dismantled.
Higher up in the Canyon and on the same dike as the Wicks vein or on a parallel dike, the Morning Glory prospect was oper- ating in 1931-1933 on a small quartz-filled fissure from which a hand-sorted product was being shipped in sacks to the smelter. Other old workings on this vein system include the Black Peak mine, opened by tunnels and shafts on the south slope of Black Peak and on the east side of the long ridge which separates Wicks Gulch and Ready Pay Gulch on the west. Some ore was taken from these workings in years past, but except for sporadic reopening similar to that of the Morning Glory operations, these mines have been idle and are largely caved. On the ridge east of Wicks Gulch some recent work along a well-defined dike uncov- ered a vein from which small shipments of commercial ore were made.
Some placer mining is conducted in Wicks Gulch from time to time, but most of the placer gold seems to have been recovered from what was at best a very small area of concentration.
CHANCE MINE
The Chance mine, or Cina Mahoney group, is located on the
south side of Grayback Gulch along the eastern edge of the ande- site area, where it is in contact with the alluvial material, and within a few hundred feet of the extensive placer diggings of Slapjack Hill. The property consists of four claims in the NW.1/4, Sec. 36. The vein occurs in andesite along the wall of a fine- grained latite dike, which strikes N. 55° W. and is approximately vertical. The ore was free milling to a depth of 100 feet below the surface. At this level, the minerals as seen in specimens taken from the dump are predominantly quartz and pyrite, with minor amounts of chalcopyrite and bornite, partly coated with limonite and copper sulfate and in part with thin films of chalcocite. The vein is said to be 3 to 5 feet wide, with a continuous ore seam of