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Madonna Mine

Past Producer in Chaffee county in Colorado, United States with commodities Lead, Zinc, Silver
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Ownership information
  13. Links to other databases
  14. Bibliographic references
  15. General comments
  16. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10009801
MRDS ID D003020
MAS/MILS ID 80150188
Record type Site
Current site name Madonna Mine

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Main Entrance
Geographic coordinates: -106.3117, 38.52917 (WGS84)
Elevation 3277
Location accuracy 500(meters)
Relative position At least 6 workings shown for Madonna Nos. 0-6 on Dings and Robinson, PP-289, pl. 1, #s 98-104. Coordinates are for close to the two shafts shown among the "Prospects" on topo about 388 m NNW of the Communications Tower on 11796' summit. Portal 0 is at 11,400 ft. Portal 1 is at 11, 285 ft., Portal 2 is at 11,140 ft. Portal 3 is at 11,000 ft. Portal 4 is at 10,800 ft. Main portal is at 10,250 ft. elevation.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Chaffee(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Garfield(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Gunnison(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Montrose(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Arkansas Headwaters(hydrologic unit)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic subregion)

Arkansas-White-Red(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Pike and San Isabel National Forests(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Chaffee

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
6th Principal 050N 006E 03,04,05 Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • Mostly in W2 of Sec. 4. See Dings and Robinson, pl. 1, #s 98-104.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Lead Primary
Zinc Critical Primary
Silver Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Before 1913 ores from Madonna were lead, silver, gold, and zinc, with some copper. (PP-289, p. 81)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Cerussite Ore
Gold Ore
Smithsonite Ore
Calamine Ore
Cerargyrite Ore
Argentite Ore
Malachite Ore
Limonite Gangue
Limestone Gangue
Dolomite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Devonian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Dolomite

Nearby scientific data

Main Entrance (1) -106.3117, 38.52917
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the ore body information

  • The principal ore minerals are cerussite, free gold, smithsonite, calamine, cerargyrite, argentite, residual grains of silver-bearing galena, and malachite.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Discovery year 1878
Discoverer Messrs. Smith and Gray
Production years before 1883 to about 1893, WWI, intermittent in WWII.

Mining district

District name Monarch

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Colorado Smelting Co. (organized by Anton Eilers)
    Year 1957
    First year 1883
  • Type Owner
    Owner Utze Lode Co (Harold R. Koster of Salida, CO, Treasurer & Mine Mgr, )
    Year 1957

Comments on the production information

  • 50% of district's production came from the Madonna Mine (PP-289, p. 44)
  • The total value of the Madonna ore has been about $6,000,000, of which lead accounts for about $3,575,000, silver $1,430,000, zinc $735,000, gold $225,000, and copper $35,000. These figures were obtained by adding the values obtained by Crawford (1913, p. 239) for the period 1883-1901 to the value of the production recorded by the Bureau of Mines for the period 1902-51. The production figures 22 for this latter period were kindly furnished by A. J. Martin, Statistics Branch, Economics Division, Denver, and the values calculated by the authors. Production was greatest during the period 1883-94, when two-thirds of the total was produced. Most of the rest was obtained during the period 1902-20. In the past 30 years, somewhat less than 2,500 tons of crude ore has been mined. (PP-289, p. 83-84).

Comments on the workings information

  • "The mine workings, as of 1950, consist of seven adit levels, numbered 0 to 6, eight intermediate or sublevels, many raises and winzes, and at least 12,000 feet of drifts and crosscuts. The vertical distance from the zero, or surface, level to the lowest workings, the 384-foot sublevel, is about 1,525 feet. The old mine workings from zero to the no. 5 level have been largely or entirely inaccessible for many years. Access to the mine and haulage of ore for the past 35 years have been chiefly through the no. 6 level, the portal of which is only a short distance above the valley floor and is easily reached. Plate 11 shows the outline of the main ore bodies and the mine workings, and the principal geologic features from the no. 6 level down to the 384-foot sublevel. To avoid confusion, most of the old workings above the no. 6 level are not shown on this map but they may be seen on plate XXI of the report by Crawford (1913)." [PP-289, p. 84]

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
General The Madonna mine was the principal reason for the establishment in 1883 of the Colorado Smelter at Pueblo, and for many years the Madonna mine supplied a large part of the ores treated there. (PP-289, p. 83)
Deposit Many deposit details (ore grade, geology, structure) can be found in PP-289, p. 83-85.
General The Madonna mine was worked continuously from 1883 to 1894, under the management of Eilers, by the Colorado Smelting Co., which included the former operators. After 1895 the mine was worked intermittently by various lessees until the Utze Lode Co. acquired the property in 1945 from the Eiler family. In 1908 the mine was leased to the Monarch-Madonna Mining Co., which started driving a lower tunnel, no. 6 level, which in 1953 was the principal means of access to the mine. From 1945 to 1953 the Utze Lode Co. did considerable exploratory work on and below the no. 6 level and produced some ore. (PP-289, p. 83).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 1978-01-01 Hasler, J. William U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 2011-11-14 Wilson, Anna B U.S. Geological Survey merged and deleted duplicate records.
Reporter 1973-03-01 Conservation Division Files 01-MAR-1973 U.S. Geological Survey DC02829 = 10017072
Updater 1992-08-01 Spanski, Gregory T. U.S. Geological Survey DC02829 = 10017072
Reporter 1983-11-17 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines MAS 0080150188 = 10263602

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

External references

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Colorado resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.