The Arizona Geological Survey is conducting something akin to a going-out-of-business sale.
The survey’s new digs at the University of Arizona are one-fourth the size of its current offices in the old wing of the state office building on Congress Street, where it also operates a store that sells its publications, maps and Arizona-themed gift items.
So — everything must go. The “Arizona Experience” store, 416 W. Congress St., offered 30 percent off on items in the last week and additional discounts are planned weekly.
The survey is also scrambling to find a place to archive its historical records and mineral cores after losing its state budget support in a consolidation proposed by Gov. Doug Ducey and approved by the Legislature.
It will now become a center in the College of Science at the University of Arizona, which was not given an appropriation to fund it. It will have offices in the former Office of Arid Lands Studies at 1955 E. Sixth St.
Arizona Geologist Lee Allison said he and his staff are going through a process of “high-grading the stuff we have to have with us” — keeping only the necessary furniture and files.
It is offering some of its archives to the geological community. The Geological Society of America, for instance, recently accepted a set of bound volumes of its publications that date to 1890.
It paid for shipping, which is a big consideration for the Geological Survey, which was not given any money for the move. Materials from its Phoenix office are being boxed by volunteers for moving into storage at the closed Mining and Mineral Museum near the state Capitol.
The mineral cores, which represent a record of geological exploration in Arizona, will also be stored there.
Allison said the cores, when subjected to modern analytical techniques, have led to discovery. Examination of cores from oil exploration in the Holbrook area aided the discovery of potash deposits which are now being mined, he said. Allison said the UA has arranged for an additional 90 days to move those cores. Everything else must be moved by the June 30 end of the fiscal year.
“We’re going to run out of time,” said Allison. “In two weeks, what’s left goes into the Dumpster.”
This week, volunteers will load up 800,000 pages of mining reports, 10,000 maps, and 7,500 photos at the Geological Survey’s Phoenix office, which is closing.
They are also headed to storage at the mining and mineral museum, which was returned to the Geological Survey by legislative action this year, along with a mandate to refurbish the building and reopen it within two years as the Arizona Mining, Mineral and Natural Resource Education Museum.
Allison said the fixtures from the closed store in Tucson will be moved there as well.
