Arizona Mineral Resource No. 45 August, 2007
A R I Z O N A No. 45 August, 2007
Active Mines Due for Release
The Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Re-sources
will release the long-awaited Directory of Active
Mines in Arizona – 2007 in September. This year’s direc-tory
lists 273 companies, operating 387 mines! There are
221 sand and gravel pits, 53 dimension stone quarries, 41
crushed stone pits, 16 copper mines, 12 cinders pits, 9
clay pits, 8 gypsum mines, 5 marble quarries, 5 industrial
sand pits, 3 cement plants, 3 uranium mines, 3 gemstone
producers, 3 zeolite mines, 2 silica flux mines, and 1 each
of gold, coal, mica, perlite, and salt.
The directory is compiled from direct contacts with
industry. For the purpose of the directory an active mine is
defined as a mine in continuous operation, either in pro-duction
or under full-time development for production.
The directory provides company name, corporate ad-dresses
and phones, websites, key personnel, number of
employees, mine name and location, and a description of
the operation. The included 24” X 36” color map will lo-cate
all mines including aggregate producers. The map
will also indicate commodity. In addition, a Google Earth
KML file will be available on our website. The directory
will be available from the Department of Mines and Min-erals
Resources’ office, 1502 West Washington, Phoenix,
Arizona 85007 for $20.00 plus postage.
Peabody Energy Honored
In the weeks after the tragic cave-in at the Crandall
Canyon coal mine in Utah, the Department received doz-ens
of calls from reporters wanting to learn about Ari-zona’s
coal mines. Was there the potential for a similar
problem in Arizona? How many underground mines are
there in Arizona? How many underground coal mines?
Our answers may have disappointed them in a way – no
active underground mines, no underground coal mines -
hence, they felt there was no story. However, there is a
dramatic story to be told about Arizona’s coal mines, but
one that has not made the headlines.
Peabody Energy, the operator of the only coal mine in
Arizona, was honored this spring for developing a model
for community and environmental stewardship that is
among the best in the world. The prestigious Energy
Globe Awards, a worldwide competition that show cases
sustainable practices, honored Peabody at the Parliament
of the European Union in Belgium for their activities on
Black Mesa in Navajo County. Of the 730 entries from 96
countries, Peabody was second in its category and was the
only mining company honored.
“Peabody Energy has taken the effort, personal risk
and the commitment, even in times when sustainability
was widely seen as an academic topic.” This quote is from
the judges at Energy Globe speaking about Peabody’s
work on Black Mesa.
The Department played a role in the Global Energy
awards story – Director, Dr. Madan Singh, encouraged
Peabody Energy to enter the competition and sponsored
their application. “Dr. Singh’s support is especially mean-ingful
because the Mines and Minerals Department does
not have regulatory oversight on Indian lands,” says Wal-ter
Begay Jr., Peabody’s Tribal Affairs Manager in Ari-zona.
“He understands the cultural value of what we do.”
Peabody has operated in Arizona for nearly 40 years
in collaboration with the Navajo Nation and the Hopi
Tribe. The partnership creates hundreds of local jobs and
ten of millions of dollars in annual tribal revenue. Addi-tionally,
the work they have done in reclaiming mined
lands to productive range, implementing grazing manage-ments
programs, and developing a first-of-its-kind pro-gram
to restore plants and herbs for ceremonial and me-dicinal
use has won seven major national and international
environmental and ecological awards since 1996. Mined
land on Black Mesa is 20 times more productive than be-fore
it was mined.
continued on page 2
Mineral Resource
Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources, 1502 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007
602-771-1600 Toll free in Arizona 1-800-446-4259 www.mines.az.gov
Members of the Navajo Nation survey grazing land re-claimed
after mining on Black Mesa.
Arizona Mineral Resource No. 45 August, 2007
New Curator Named
The Department of Mines and Mineral Resources has
named Dr. Jan C. Rasmussen as Curator of the Arizona
Mining and Mineral Museum. She joined the Museum on
August 13.
Jan has a Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of
Arizona, with a major in Economic Geology and a minor
in Geological Engineering. She comes to the Museum
from SRK Consulting in Tucson where she was a Senior
Geologist. Prior to working at SRK she had more than 25
years experience as a consulting geologist. Earlier in her
career she was Associate Curator of the University of Ari-zona
Mineral Museum for five years. During this time she
curated the collection, planned and managed exhibits,
managed volunteers, and provided educational opportuni-ties
for school children.
An Arizona regis-tered
geologist,
Jan has also
worked as an en-vironmental
ge-ologist,
explora-tion
geologist,
and geochemist.
She taught high
school physical
science early in
her career and has
taught physical,
historical, and
environmental
geology at the
college level in
recent years.
She has written
12 books and
open-file reports
about geology as well as numerous journal articles. Many
of the books she has written and co-authored have focused
on the geology of Arizona. Some examples are Coal, Oil
and Gas in Arizona, Molybdenum in Arizona, Tertiary
Uranium in Arizona, Fossils of Arizona, Bibliography of
Arizona Geology, and articles on Laramide and Tertiary
rocks and ore, porphyry copper deposits, and many others.
Of her plans for the Museum Jan says, "My vision for
the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum is of a place of
wonder, inspiration, information, and exploration. I envi-sion
a magical place for children and adults to learn about
the awesome variety of beautiful minerals, how they are
formed, how we find and mine them, and how important
they are in our daily lives. With better lighting and focus
on the minerals displayed, interactive exhibits, short com-puter/
video clips on modern mining, fun activities such as
gold panning, and an outstanding gift shop, the Museum
will become even more popular, exceeding its current cli-entele
of 40,000 children and adults each year. Everyone
who visits will say, 'It's a wonderful place!'"
Dr. Madan M. Singh, Director of the Department of
Mines and Mineral Resources says, “We are delighted to
have Jan join the Museum as Curator. She has excellent
credentials in Arizona geology, experience in diverse as-pects
of minerals and mining, and enormous enthusiasm
for the Museum.”
Peabody Energy continued
Peabody Energy accomplished all this while produc-ing
approximately 12 million tons of high-quality, low-sulfur
coal per year. The coal is sub-bituminous with an
average quality of 11,000 BTU, 0.5 percent sulfur, and 10
percent ash. Mining and reclamation has proceeded at the
same rate, an average of 500 acres annually.
Dr. Singh says, “Peabody has done remarkable recla-mation
and sustainable development in Arizona. They
have helped the Native American community a great deal
with the land they reclaimed. They are replanting with cul-turally
acceptable plants and have developed methods to
grow the plants. And, they are doing all of this while min-ing
activities are ongoing. This is a real success story I
thought the world should know about.”
Dr. Jan C. Rasmussen
NOTICE
Change of Phone Numbers
Effective immediately the phone and fax numbers for
the Department of Mines and Mineral Resources
have changed. Our new numbers are as follows:
General Number: 602-771-1600
Mining Information Center: 602-771-1601
Mineral Museum: 602-771-1611
Dr. Madan M. Singh: 602-771-1603
Nyal J. Niemuth: 602-771-1604
Diane R. Bain: 602-771-1605
Frank S. Kimbler: 602-771-1606
Jacqueline Hall: 602-771-1602
Dr. Jan C. Rasmussen: 602-771-1612
Tour Guides: 602-771-1613
Lapidary Shop: 602-771-1614
Fax: 602-771-1616
A reminder that our website also changed within the
past year: www.mines.az.gov
Do you need this information in
an alternative format? Please call
the Department at 602-771-1600.
Arizona Mineral Resource No. 45 August, 2007
by Dr. Madan M. Singh
Suspicious Mining Activities
Recent news articles on suspicious mining activity
serve to remind investors that they still need to be vigilant
about precious metals investments. One such article was
by Mr. Jeff Hatch-Miller, a member of the Arizona Corpo-ration
Commission (ACC) in The Arizona Republic on
August 21, 2007, entitled “Mining scams aren’t a thing of
the past,” In the August 13, 2007 issue of Northern Miner
Mr. James Whyte writes of the recently concluded trial of
Mr. John Felderhof relating to the notorious Bre-X Miner-als
scandal.
The Department of Mines and Mineral Resources is
charged in its statute to “conduct studies of the properties
and claims of companies and individuals,” and to
“cooperate with the corporation commission in its investi-gations.”
These goals are accomplished through educa-tion,
publication, and dissemination of materials that
would aid potential investors in arriving at informed deci-sions.
Recent cases of mine claims that have represented
“ore deposits” and “proprietary processes” in Arizona
have included companies that profess to extract platinum
group metals (PGMs) from cinders and/or have large gold
deposits that can be exploited at great profit. Some of
these claims have been proven to be fraudulent and have
been prosecuted in other jurisdictions, resulting in cease-and-
desist orders, fines, and even prison terms. Securities,
“ore purchase agreements”, and/or hedge fund contribu-tions
have been promoted on the basis of these claims.
Investors in mine claims should follow the adage caveat
emptor. Activities of this nature reflect poorly on the im-age
of the mining industry.
DMMR has assisted with the early identification of
several such activities, and its staff has often been called
upon to help in the technical review of these cases. The
Department follows this type of activity closely and the
public is encouraged to make inquiries on any proposed
mining ventures.
Gemstone Donation
The Museum has added a new gemstone display that
includes faceted stones from the David and Stephanie
Walker Collection. The Walkers, of Kalispell, Montana,
recently donated 63 faceted gems to the Museum. This is
the Walkers’ fourth donation of gemstones in the last three
years.
One of the remarkable things about the donations is
the unusual material used;
lovely faceted gemstones
from minerals we ordinarily
do not see faceted. For in-stance
there are two gor-geous
cerussites from
Tsumeb, Namibia on display.
Cerussite is an ore of lead,
but these stones bear no re-semblance
to galena. One is
a large (14.74 carat) color-less
stone in a square cut. The other is a 15.39-carat round
cut in golden brown. John Sinkansus, in his book, Gem-stones
of North America, writes that cerussite, “can be fac-eted,
with difficulty, into strik-ing
highly dispersive gems of
considerable beauty.” These
Walker Donation gems demon-strate
that ‘considerable
beauty’ quite well.
Another rare gem in the collec-tion
is one of scheelite, an ore
of tungsten. Tungsten is the
metal used for the filament in light bulbs. This gorgeous
stone is a golden scheelite from Mexico; 7.79 carat in an
oval cut.
The more traditional gems in the Walker collection
are also distinctive. Along with a red spinel from Myan-mar
– red being spinel’s most common color - there is a
sapphire-blue spinel from Ceylon, and a smoke-colored
one with brilliant highlights from Myanmar. Red spinel
looks very much like ruby, as well as being chemically
similar. In fact, many of the great rubies of history, when
tested, are turning out to
be spinels.
Compare the peridot
from China, Pakistan,
Myanmar, and Burma,
with Arizona’s famous
peridot. The USGS esti-mates
that 80 to 95% of
the world's production of
peridot comes from Ari-zona’s
San Carlos Reser-vation.
Make certain, when enjoying the new donation, that
you see the Nigerian tourmaline. It is a huge 18.87-carat,
oval-cut in a remarkable tawny brown.
From the Director’s Desk
See you in Spokane!
Northwest Mining Association
Nyal Niemuth will be speaking at the Northwest
Mining Association Convention in Spokane on Dec. 3 in
the morning session.
See you in Toronto!
PDAC - 2007
The Department will again be attending the Pros-pectors
and Developers Association of Canada Trade
Show from March 2 –5. If you are attending the show
please stop by to see us at Booth 426.
Arizona Mineral Resource No. 45 August, 2007
Arizona Department of Mines & Mineral Resources
1502 West Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Address Correction Requested
BOARD OF
GOVERNORS
Mr. P.K. ‘Rana’
Medhi -
Chair - Casa Grande
Dr. Raymond W.
Grant –Vice Chair -
Queen Creek
Dr. Patrick F. O’Hara
Secretary/Treasurer -
Prescott
Dr. Mary M. Poulton
Member - Tucson
Mr. Robert L. ‘Bob’
Holmes
Member - Phoenix
STAFF
Dr. Madan M. Singh -
Director
Nyal Niemuth - Chief
Mining Engineer
Frank Kimbler
Mining Engineer
Diane Bain - Public
Information Officer
Jacqueline Hall -
Administrative Assistant
Eileen O’Connell
Clerk/Typist
Dr. Jan C. Rasmussen-
Curator
TOUR GUIDES
Liz Anderson
Ann Baker
Roy Christopher
Shirley Coté
Doug Duffy
Joanne Hesterman
Laurette Kennnedy
Sandra McDonald
Alice Rosenfeld
Governor Janet Napolitano recognized Curator
Susan Celestian’s 12 years of service at the Arizona
Mining and Mineral Museum. Sue retired in May. She
will be missed!
