History
- Prior to 1900: Kay Mine was discovered and mined on a small scale from the inclined No. 1 shaft, produced 635 tonnes
- 1918 to 1929: Kay Copper Company – deepened the No. 1 Shaft to 457 m (1,500 ft), sunk the No. 4 shaft to 366 m (1,200 ft), installed the No. 3 Shaft, and developed several thousand feet of underground workings on 11 levels, discovering the ore bodies above the 600 Level but produced no ore. The company drilled at least 89 underground drill holes. The Kay Copper Company failed in the late 1920s and the project was dormant until 1949, apparently from a combination of low metals prices and litigation
- 1949 to 1956: Various Mid-Century Operators – in 1949 Black Canyon Copper Corporation, opened the underground workings to the 500 Level and shipped about 907 tonnes (1,000 short tons) of ore. In 1949, Black Canyon Copper sub-leased the project to Shattuck-Denn Mining Company and New Jersey Zinc Company until 1952. These companies dewatered and rehabilitated the No. 4 Shaft at least to the 1000 Level, and performed surface and underground exploration, including resampling and underground diamond drilling of at least 14 holes. They shipped 1,425 tonnes of ore(1,571 short tons). In 1955-1956, the project was leased to Republic Metals Company, which shipped 414 tonnes (456 short tons) of ore from above the 350 Level. A cave-in destroyed pumping operations, and the mine was allowed to flood
- 1972 to 1974: Exxon Minerals – the project was acquired by Exxon Minerals Company in 1972, which completed geologic mapping; “mine mapping”; relogging drill core and cuttings; petrographic studies; assaying 610 m (2,000 ft) of unassayed drill core; stream sediment and soil geochemistry surveys; reviewing historical assay data and incorporating into mine maps and cross sections; and geophysical surveys. Exxon drilled 23 core/rotary exploration holes totaling 8,094 m (26,554 ft), 14 of which were in the immediate vicinity of the Kay Mine and which total 6,807 m (22,333 ft)
- 1990 to 2015: Post-Exxon Multiple Owners – the five patented claims changed hands a number of times between 1990 and 2015, without exploration work. In 1990 Exxon sold the five patented claims to Rayrock Mines, which in turn sold them to American Copper and Nickel Company in 1995. Ownership changed a number of times until 2015, but no exploration work completed
- 2017 to 2018: Silver Spruce Resources – in March, 2017, Silver Spruce Resources Inc. acquired five patented mining claims and then staked 14 unpatented Kay Mine mining claims in April, 2017. Silver Spruce took 39 samples on the project but did no other exploration work
- 2018 to present: Arizona Metals Corp – on September 26, 2018, Arizona Metals Corp signed a letter of intent to acquire the five patented and 14 unpatented Kay Mine claims from Silver Spruce Resources. To date, Croesus has performed initial geologic and geophysical exploration on the project and staked 50 additional unpatented mining claims