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Sunshine Lode Mine

Past Producer in Garfield county in Colorado, United States with commodities Zinc, Lead, Silver, Gold, Copper, Manganese
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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. Alteration
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Production statistics
  18. Workings at the site
  19. Links to other databases
  20. Bibliographic references
  21. General comments
  22. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10013570
MRDS ID D009936
Record type Site
Current site name Sunshine Lode Mine
Alternate or previous names Grandview Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -107.7126, 39.69637 (WGS84)
Elevation 2256
Location accuracy 500(meters)
Relative position 12 MILES N 18 E FROM RIFLE

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Garfield(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Rifle Falls(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Glenwood Springs(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Leadville(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Colorado Headwaters-Plateau(hydrologic unit)

Colorado Headwaters(hydrologic accounting unit)

Colorado Headwaters(hydrologic subregion)

Upper Colorado(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management CO)

Bureau of Land Management CO BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Garfield

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
6th Principal 004S 092W 15,16 SW OF SW OF SE OF SE Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • PROBABLY IN CANYON TRIBUTARY TO EAST RIFLE CREEK ABOVE RIFLE FALLS FISH HATCHERY. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1975)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Zinc Critical Primary
Lead Primary
Silver Primary
Gold Secondary
Copper Secondary
Manganese Critical Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Hydrozincite Ore
Plumbojarosite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Dolomite Gangue
Jarosite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Marcasite Gangue
Selenite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Fe And Mn Oxides; Significant Oxidation Of Sulfide Ores

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Leadville Limestone;Belden Formation
    Rock description Leadville Limestone;Belden Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mississippian

Nearby scientific data

(1) -107.7126, 39.69637
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description White River Uplift, Grand Hogback Monocline.

Ore body information

  • General form PINCH AND SWELL
    Thickness 1.07M
    Length 91.44M
  • General form PINCH AND SWELL

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Vuggy Limestone Breccia In Graben

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1925
Year of first production 1927
Year of last production 1951

Mining district

District name Rifle Creek District

Land status

Ownership category Federal

Production statistics

  • Year 1951
    Period 1927-1951
    Accuracy Accurate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^9.27% Zn, 2.75% Pb, 3.4 Oz/Ton Ag
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Ore Lead Lead 3wt-pct
    Major Ore Zinc Zinc 9wt-pct
    Major Ore Silver Silver 96g/mt

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCTION REPORTED AS RECOVERABLE METALS. INTERVENING YEARS MAY HAVE BEEN LISTED IN USBM AS SHIPMENTS TO SMELTERS, BUT THIS IS UNCONFIRMED. AN NOT REPORTED IN 1927; CU NOT REPORTED IN 1927 AND 1947; TRACE CU REPORTED IN 1951.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Area 0.202HA
    Length 219.46M
    Overall depth 60.96M
    Overall length 79.25M
    Overall width 27.43M

Comments on the workings information

  • MINE DEVELOPED BY 3 TUNNELS ON FOUR LEVELS ALL BEARING GENERALLY N 10 TO 15 W. UPPER LEVEL PORTAL ELEV. 7525 FT WITH 50-FT DRIFT AND 25-FT WINZE AT END; MAIN LEVEL PORTAL ELEV. 7400 FT WITH 240-FT TUNNEL AND 90-FT WINZE TO LOWER LEVELS AT 25 FT FROM PORTAL; FIRST LEVEL PORTAL ELEV. 7379 FT WITH 110-FT DRIFT; SECOND LEVEL ELEV. 7331 FT WITH 75-FT DRIFT. MAJOR STOPES (SOUTH, FISHER, AND NORTH) DEVELOPED ON MAIN LEVEL.

Comments on development

  • FIRST OPENED AS GRANDVIEW MINE IN 1925 AND OPERATED UNTIL 1932. REOPENED IN 1940 BY LALE HARMON AND PRODUCED PERIODICALLY UNTIL 1951. ONLY BASE METAL MINE THAT OPERATED IN DISTRICT.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    HEYL, A.V., 1964, OXIDIZED ZINC DEPOSITS OF THE UNITED STATES, PART 3--COLORADO: USGS BULL. 1135-C, P. 32-33, 53-54, PL. 5.

  • Deposit

    TWETO, OGDEN, AND OTHERS, 1978, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE LEADVILLE 1X2 QUADRANGLE, NORTHWESTERN COLORADO: USGS MAP I-999

  • Deposit

    MICROFILM MINERAL COMMODITY DOC. 3425-3426 (FROM ORIGINAL CRIB RECORD)

  • Production

    HEYL (1964) AS COMPILED FROM U.S. BUREAU OF MINES MINERAL YEARBOOKS

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit DEPOSIT LIES IN NARROW GRABEN TRENDING N 10 TO 15 W BOUNDED BY NEARLY PARALLEL STEEPLY NE-DIPPING FAULTS AND CONTAINING SHEARED LEADVILLE LIMESTONE BRECCIA UP TO 60 FT WIDE, SOME IN FAULT CONTACT WITH BELDEN FM SHALES. SULFIDES OCCUR AS DISSEMINATED CRYSTALS AND COLLOFORM CRUSTS CEMENT, REPLACE, AND PARTLY FILL VUGGY LIMESTONE BRECCIA. SULFIDES FAIRLY COMPLETELY OXIDIZED. SMITHSONITE BOXWORKS REPLACE CRUSTS AND DISSEMINATED SPHALERITE CRYSTALS. MUCH OF SMITHSONITE THAT REPLACES ADJACENT CALCITE HAS FURTHER ALTERED TO HYDROZINCITE. CERUSSITE LOCALLY REPLACES GALENA; LIMONITE STAINS AND PSEUDOMORPHS AFTER MARCASITE CAVITIES FROM REPLACE SPHALERITE COATED WITH MN OXIDES, POSSIBLE RESIDUE OF MANGANOAN SPHALERITE. SELENITE CRYSTALS IN VUGS SUGGEST SUPERGENE DEPOSITION BY SULFATE-RICH SOLUTIONS FROM OXIDIZING ORES. ABUNDANCE OF HYDROZINCITE AND LATERAL EXTENT OF SULFIDE OXIDATION SUGGEST DEPOSIT IS NEAR LATE PROGRESSIVE STAGE OF OXIDATION. SIMPLE MINERALOGY, LEANNESS OF AG, COLLOFORM
Deposit CRUSTS, OPEN VUGS, COARSE DISSEMINATED CRYSTALS, AND ABUNDANT CARBONATE GANGUE INDIGATE LOW-TEMPERATURE EPITHERMAL DEPOSITION SIMILAR TO MISSISSIPPI VALLEY-TYPE ZN DEPOSITS.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-1983 Schwochow, Stephen D. Colorado Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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.