The Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources operated from 1940 to 2011 to promote the development of Arizona's mineral resources through technical and educational processes. This collection mainly consists of large maps that were flat or rolled upon arrival at ADMMR. Maps that were interfiled in reports remain with their respective collections.
Many of these maps were the original drawings from field investigations of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Reduced or slightly modified versions are often found reproduced in U.S. Bureau of Mines reports describing Arizona’s mineral resources organized by commodity or mineral district.
The maps reflect the changing nature of mining and exploration in Arizona during the Twentieth Century. Most maps from the early to mid century are of two common varieties. There are plan maps showing mining claims along with geology and surface features. A large number are longitudinal sections of mines underground workings often providing sample locations and associate widths and metallic grades. Later Twentieth century maps are commonly focused on surface exploration efforts covering large areas. They tend to be maps of land ownership, bedrock geology, alteration, geochemistry and geophysical investigations.
Maps are grouped by location, project or originator. At the time of the collection inventory, staff identified numerous duplicates. The total number of unique maps will therefore be fewer than shown below.
