Flor de Esperanza Mine, Areponapuchic (Areponapuchi; Areponamichic), Bocoyna Municipality, Chihuahua, Mexicoi

Regional Level Types
Flor de Esperanza Mine	Mine
Areponapuchic (Areponapuchi; Areponamichic)	- not defined -
Bocoyna Municipality	Municipality
Chihuahua	State
Mexico	Country

The La Flor de Esperanza deposit is about 300 meters below the rim of the Urique canyon and can be reached from Areponapuchic by foot in an hour and a quarter. The deposit was discovered by Jose Marchimiak, who lives on a small ranch on the upland above the deposit, and was operated by him and the Nesbitt group. Mining was begun in June 1944, and was discontinued the following September because of the low recovery of usable calcite. The veins crop out on a steep hillside, but because of their narrowness they are difficult to find and cannot be traced for more than about 50 meters. The deposit consists of two veins about 5 meters apart, striking northnorthwest and dipping 7.0° SW. Both veins occupy faults. Inasmuch as the rock in one wall of the east fault is light-brown breccia and that in the other is light-gray breccia, the displacement along this fault is presumed, on the basis of surface outcrops, to be more than 10 meters, but it may have been less along the west fault, where both walls are of brown breccia.

Mining was done principally in one adit along the west vein, from which a short crosscut was driven to the east vein, and inclined shafts were sunk on both veins. The vein in the west fault is half a meter wide and composed of calcite and breccia. Although narrow cavities are exposed, the crystals along their walls are too small for use. The east vein is somewhat wider and has cavities almost half a meter wide, some of which extend beyond the workings. Most of the crystals are arrowhead twins. Since these crystals have to be very large to be thick enough to yield usable calcite, the production was consequently small. Less than 40 pounds of usable suboptical calcite was recovered, and no high-grade optical material was found. The well-formed crystals might be mined profitably for disposal to mineral dealers and collectors.