MSA MEETING PROGRAM & PLACE

Franciscan Renewal Center, (Piper Hall),

November 16, 2023 @ 7.30 pm Arizona time

"History and Minerals of the San Manuel Mine, Pinal Co., Arizona”
Presented by Mr. Mark Hay     

NOVEMBER Meeting is on 3rd Thursday. 

MEETING will be In-Person and Zoom.

MSA November 16, 2023 program will be presented by Mr. Mark Hay, "History and Minerals of the San Manuel Mine, Pinal Co., Arizona.” 

The San Manuel Mine got off to a late start compared to most large mines in Arizona. The first shaft wasn’t completed until 1953 and operations were terminated in 2002. Even with this relatively short life, it can boast a numerous and diverse array of historic and scientific attributes including:

• The largest underground mine in North America.
• The first Master Planned Community in Arizona.
• It inspired a new geologic model for porphyry copper deposits that still stands as the gold standard for porphyry copper exploration and research worldwide.

San Manuel also deserves respect from mineral collectors. Forty-nine mineral species are known to occur there and at least nineteen of them in collector quality specimens. These include wonderfully crystallized azurite, copper, dioptase and pyrite. In addition to these, this presentation will look at why it is such a little known locality. Not only to world-wide collectors but often to local collectors as well.

Mark Hay grew up in southwest Colorado where he developed a love of mountains, rocks and nature. His family moved to Scottsdale when he was in high school. After graduating from Arizona State University with a degree in geology, he worked at the Magma Mine in Superior, Arizona. Magma was an underground, hardrock copper mine known for its beautifully crystallized specimens of barite, calcite and pyrite. It was there that his interest in mineral collecting began. That was over 40 years ago. Today, he specializes in Arizona minerals but has an appreciation for minerals from anywhere. He and Dick Morris, his long-time partner, did extensive field collecting in Arizona starting in the mid-1980s. This led to Minerals of Arizona, a retail mineral business he shared with Dick. Additionally, Mark has authored or co-authored numerous articles for the Mineralogical Record.

Save the date on your calendars for debut of this very special program for Mineralogical Society of Arizona! 

Thank you, Mark for your many contributions to our hobby and support of Mineralogical Society of Arizona!

Meeting starts at 7.30PM Arizona time.  Members can arrive as early as 7:00 PM.