The Chronicles Of Grant County
Azurite Court
Tyrone
Azurite found in Bisbee, Cochise County in Arizona. (The photograph was provided courtesy of the Pacific Museum of Earth of The University of British Columbia, October 14, 2019.)
Azurite Court in Tyrone is one of the roadways that reflects the mining heritage of Grant County.
This mineral is azure – blue – in color and is found with deposits of copper.
Azurite has been one of the minerals mined at Tyrone and other regional mines in New Mexico and Arizona, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Beyond the immediate area, reports indicate that azurite has also been mined in locales in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America.
The Brooklyn Evening Star noted in a news article dated April 22, 1848, that azurite was exhibited in the Natural History Department of the Brooklyn Institute on April 13, 1848. No indication was included on where that azurite had been mined.
In an edition dated September 6, 1851, of The Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser of New South Wales in Australia, the newspaper detailed that "…blue carbonate of copper (azurite)…" was occasionally being found as copper was being mined in that area of the then-British colony.
On October 13, 1881, the Las Vegas Daily Gazette detailed a display of the mineral wealth of New Mexico at an exposition in Albuquerque. The newspaper noted that "Best exhibit of ores from any States or Territories of the United States or Mexico" was awarded to a man from Silver City. Among the items displayed at the New Mexico Exposition was azurite from the Santa Rita mines.
On the same day, The Daily New Mexican of Santa Fe reported that "…a specimen of azurite (blue copper ore) containing crystals of beautiful blue copper carbonate seated in a cavity, the crystals of deep blue…" was included in a separate display at the territorial fair. This azurite was from the Hillsboro area in Doña Ana County.
In 1893, the Western Liberal of Lordsburg provided information about an exhibit in Arizona. On May 26 of that year, the newspaper reported that a display from The Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company included a "…trophy in the centre of the space is a huge square block of beautiful azurite from one of Arizona's mines…"
The Deming Graphic detailed a mine that was being developed about 12 miles southwest from Hachita. The news article, dated July 27, 1920, noted that a cross cut in the mine was "…highly mineralized, with azurite…" and other minerals.
The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, a research and service division of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, has extensive information on azurite.
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