Malachite Mine

Past Producer in Jefferson county in Colorado, United States with commodities Copper, Silver, Gold, Zinc, Lead, Nickel
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. Ownership information
  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 10013747
MRDS ID D010208
MAS/MILS ID 0080590119
Record type Site
Current site name Malachite Mine
Alternate or previous names Claims: Malachite, Morrison

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -105.26447, 39.67777 (WGS84)
Elevation 2231
Relative position 4.2 MILES N 45 E FROM EVERGREEN. Location not reliable or verified.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Jefferson(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Evergreen(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Denver West(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Denver(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper South Platte(hydrologic unit)

South Platte(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Platte(hydrologic subregion)

Missouri(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Jefferson

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
6th Principal 004S 070W 30 N2 Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • HIGH ON NORTH SIDE OF BEAR CREEK. ELEV AND LAT-LONG GIVEN ARE FOR PORTAL OF LOWER EAST TUNNEL. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1975)

Commodities

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

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Pyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Tenorite Ore
Apatite Gangue
Augite Gangue
Labradorite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Oxidation Of Cu Ore Mineral

Analytical data

Result AVERAGE SMELTER ASSAYS RAN 3.31% CU, 3.43% ZN, 0.90 OZ/TON AG, 0.06 OZ/TON AU. SIX SAMPLES FROM OUTCROP GOSSAN ASSAYED TRACE TO 0.04 OZ/TON AU AND 0.4 TO 0.8 OZ/TON AG (MOREHOUSE, 1950).

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Pegmatite
    Rock unit name Pegmatite;Silver Plume Quartz Monzonite
    Rock description Pegmatite;Silver Plume Quartz Monzonite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist > Amphibole Schist
    Rock unit name Idaho Springs Formation---Hornblende Gneiss And Amphibolite;Idaho Springs Formation---Feldspar-Rich Gneiss
    Rock description Idaho Springs Formation---Hornblende Gneiss And Amphibolite;Idaho Springs Formation---Feldspar-Rich Gneiss

Nearby scientific data

(1) -105.26447, 39.67777

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Front Range Uplift, Denver Basin
Type of structure Local
Structure description Bear Creek Shear Zone, Floyd Hill Fault Zone

Ore body information

  • General form LENTICULAR, TABULAR, PIPE, PINCH AND SWELL
    Thickness 12.19M
    Length 792.48M
    Depth to bottom 45.72M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Fault Or Ca-Rich Metamorphosed Gabbro Near Edge Of Pluton

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1866
Discoverer R.G. Morrison And J.L. Wilson (Claimants)
Year of first production 1888

Mining district

District name Malachite District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Frobex Ltd.
    Home office Toronto
    First year 1964
  • Type Owner
    Owner Colorado Kansas Syndicate
    Home office Idledale, Co.
    First year 1964

Comments on the ownership information

  • OWN/OP: KANSAS COLO.'MINING CO. [copied from deleted record 10142442].

Comments on the production information

  • PARTIAL PRODUCTION RECORD. ANNUAL FIGURES BEFORE 1940 NOT AVAILABLE.
  • PRODUCED IN 1940-41 PROD- 638R T ORE - 306000 16 CO 3100 O
    [copied from deleted record 10142442].

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Length 463.3M
    Overall depth 39.62M

Comments on the workings information

  • OLD SHAFT 130 FT DEEP. WEST TUNNEL DRIVEN GENERALLY NORTH APPROX 370 FT TO CONNECT WITH OLD SHAFT WORKINGS. UPPER EAST TUNNEL DRIVEN WNW APPROX 270 FT. LOWER EAST TUNNEL DRIVEN NW APPROX 80 FT; SEVERAL WINZES AND RAISES; NUMEROUS SURFACE PROSPECTS AND BULLDOZER CUTS; 2704 FT OF DIAMOND-DRILL HOLES.

Comments on development

  • FIRST CLAIMS FILED 1866. OXIDIZED ORE MINED 1888-1893 FROM SHAFT. THEN WEST AND UPPER EAST TUNNELS DRIVEN. LOWER EAST TUNNEL DRIVEN AFTER CSM GEOPHYSICS STUDENTS DISCOVERED PROMINENT MAGNETIC ANOMALY IN 1938. FOLLOWING PRODUCTION IN 1940-41 BY ASSOCIATED METALS, ASARCO ACQUIRED PROPERTY AND OUTLINED NEW ORE FROM 8 DIAMOND-DRILL HOLES. USGS DID GEOCHEMICAL PROSPECTING IN MID 1950S, FOLLOWED BY FURTHER SURFACE DEVELOPMENT. LAST REPORTED ACTIVITY WAS CORE DRILLING IN 1964.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    SHERIDAN, D.M., AND OTHERS, 1972, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE EVERGREEN QUADRANGLE, JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS MAP I-786-A.

  • Deposit

    HEILAND, C.A., AND OTHERS, 1945, GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS AT THE MALACHITE MINE, JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO: AIME TECH. PUB. 1947.

  • Deposit

    HUFF, L.C., 1963, COMPARISON OF GEOLOGICAL, GEOPHYSICAL, AND GEOCHEMICAL PROSPECTING METHODS AT THE MALACHITE MINE, JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS BULL. 1098-C.

  • Deposit

    LINDGREN, WALDEMAR, 1908, NOTES ON COPPER DEPOSITS IN CHAFFEE, FREMONT, AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, COLO.: USGS BULL. 340, P. 157-174.

  • Deposit

    MOREHOUSE, G.E., 1950, GEOLOGY OF THE MALACHITE MINE, JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO: COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES M.SC. THESIS T-675.

  • Deposit

    LOVERING, T.S., AND GODDARD, E.N., 1950, GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE FRONT RANGE, COLORADO: USGS PROF. PAPER 223, P. 64, 68.

  • Production

    MOREHOUSE (1950)

  • Deposit

    "MINERAL RESOURCES OF COLO." MINE MAP REPO # 403134 [copied from deleted record 10142442]

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit INTERLAYERED BIOTITE-AMPHIBOLITE SCHIST AND HORNBLENDE GNEISS TREND GENERALLY EAST-WEST WITH STEEP SW AND NE FOLIATION DIP. LAYERS ARE CUT BY SWARM OF GENERALLY N 30 TO 55 E TRENDING PEGMATITES. WEST ORE BODY IS AVERAGE 40-FT-DIAM PIPELIKE BODY PLUNGING STEEPLY NW. EAST ORE BODY IS 40-FT-WIDE TABULAR BODY WITH EAST-WEST STRIKE AND SOUTH DIP. ORE IS COARSE-GRAINED MASSES OF CHALCOPYRITE, SPHALERITE, AND PYRRHOTITE AND LIES IN LENTICULAR, TABULAR, AND PINCH-AND-SWELL SEGREGATIONS AND SOME REPLACEMENTS IN METAMORPHOSED GABBRO (AS INTERPRETED BY LOVERING AND GODDARD, 1950), ALTHOUGH SYNGENETIC MAGMATIC ORIGIN NOT CONCLUSIVELY ESTABLISHED. HUFF (1963) FOUND ORE TO FILL FRACTURES AND INTERSTICES OF ANGULAR COUNTRY ROCK FRAGMENTS AND, ON BASIS OF FAULT CONTROL AND RELATIVELY NARROW GEOCHEMICAL ANOMALY, BELIEVED DEPOSIT TO BE HYDROTHERMAL VEIN. LARAMIDE AGE COULD THEN BE INTERPRETED ON BASIS OF POSSIBLE RELATION OF FAULT TO NW-TRENDING BRECCIA REEF NEARBY.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-FEB-1983 Schwochow, Stephen D. Colorado Geological Survey
Reporter 17-NOV-1983 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines
Editor 03-AUG-2009 Wilson, Anna B. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Authoritative Colorado resources

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