Mineral resource potential map of the Mazatzal Wilderness and Contiguous Roadless Area, Gila, Maricopa, and Yavapai Counties, Arizona

Under the provisions of the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577, September 3, 1964) and the Joint Conference Report on Senate Bill 4, 88th Congress, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines have been conducting mineral surveys of wilderness and primitive areas.Areas officially designated as "wilderness," "wild," or "canoe" when the act was passed were incorporated into the National Wilderness Preservation System, and some of them are presently being studied.The act provided that areas under consideration for wilderness designation should be studied for suitability for incorporation into the Wilderness System.The mineral surveys constitute one aspect of the suitability studies.The act directs that the results of such surveys are to be made available to the public and be submitted to the President and the Congress.This report discusses the results of a mineral survey of the Mazatzal Wilderness (NF3048) and Mazatzal Wilderness Contiguous Roadless Area (3-016) in the Tonto and Coconino National Forests, Gila, Maricopa, and Yavapai Counties, Arizona.Mazatzal Wilderness was established by Public Law 88-577, September 3, 1964.The contiguous roadless area was classified as a further planning area during the Second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) by the U.S. Forest Service, January 1979. SUMMARYSmall quantities of gold, silver, and copper have been produced from the Mazatzal Wilderness.The wilderness has a high potential for gold, silver, and lead resources in veins in the vicinity of the Story mine, a high potential for silver and copper resources in vein deposits near Copper Mountain, a moderate potential for silver, gold, and copper in vein deposits in one area along the eastern border, and a high potential for copper in vein deposits at Mineral Creek.The Copper Mountain area, the area of silver, gold, and copper vein deposits along the eastern border, and the Mineral Creek area also have a low potential for copper in massive sulfide deposits.Two additional areas in the eastern and northern parts of the wilderness have a low potential for copper in vein and massive sulfide deposits.The wilderness has a high potential for copper in massive sulfide deposits and a moderate potential for copper in carbonate veins at Copper Camp Creek.An area east of the Mazatzal Wilderness has a high potential for gold resources in rocks that also occur in the wilderness, though no gold was found in these rocks in the wilderness.Three areas in the southern part of the wilderness have high, moderate, and low potential for mercury resources.A low potential for molybdenum exists west of the wilderness in three areas, two of which extend into the roadless area and the wilderness.The central part of the wilderness has occurrences of tin, but little evidence of a resource potential for tin.Two areas southwest of the wilderness have low and moderate potential for uranium, and one of these areas extends into the roadless area and the wilderness.No evidence of a potential for fossil fuels was identified in this study.