Bird Creek Mine

Occurrence in Mineral county in Colorado, United States with commodities Silver, Lead, Zinc
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. Geologic structures
  11. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Ownership information
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10014048
MRDS ID D010664
Record type Site
Current site name Bird Creek Mine
Alternate or previous names Claims: Per Cent No. 12, MS 19538, Per Cent No. 15, MS 19538
Related records 10288483

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -106.94895, 37.69807 (WGS84)
Elevation 3115
Relative position 10.7 MILES S 6 W FROM CREEDE

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Mineral(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Spar City(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Del Norte(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Durango(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rio Grande Headwaters(hydrologic unit)

Rio Grande Headwaters(hydrologic accounting unit)

Rio Grande Headwaters(hydrologic subregion)

Rio Grande(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Rio Grande National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Mineral

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
New Mexico 040N 001W 23 SE OF SW Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • ALONG BIRD CREEK 1.3 MILES SE OF SPAR CITY AND 0.9 MILE NORTH OF EMMA MINE. S-T-R PROJECTED INTO UNSURVEYED AREA. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1976

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Lead Primary
Zinc Critical Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • ORE MINERALS BASED ON PROBABLE SIMILARITY WITH CREEDE DISTRICT

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Sphalerite Ore
Barite Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Quartz Latite
    Rock unit name Snowshoe Mountain Tuff;Fisher Quartz Latite
    Rock description Snowshoe Mountain Tuff;Fisher Quartz Latite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Quartz Latite
    Rock unit name Snowshoe Mountain Tuff;Fisher Quartz Latite
    Rock description Snowshoe Mountain Tuff;Fisher Quartz Latite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -106.94895, 37.69807

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description San Juan Volcanic Field, Creede Caldera
Type of structure Local
Structure description Deep Creek Graben

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Post-Resurgent Ring Faulting And Tensional Graben Faulting

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No

Mining district

District name Royal Arch (Spar City) District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Bird Creek Mining Co.
    Home office Creede
    First year 1920

Comments on the workings information

  • ONE TUNNEL OF UNKNOWN EXTENT DRIVEN GENERALLY SE WITH 222-FT RAISE

Comments on development

  • AREA PROSPECTED SPORADICALLY SINCE EARLY 1900S. ALTHOUGH AG AND PB FOUND, SYSTEMATIC EXPLORATION DISCOURAGED BY THICK SOIL AND FOREST COVER, LANDSLIDES, AND GLACIAL DRIFT. AMOUNT OF PRODUCTION, IF ANY, UNKNOWN BUT CERTAINLY SMALL.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    STEVEN, T.A., AND LIPMAN, P.W., 1973, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE SPAR CITY QUADRANGLE, MINERAL COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS MAP GQ-1052

  • Deposit

    STEVEN, T.A., 1964, GEOLOGIC SETTING OF THE SPAR CITY DISTRICT, SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, COLORADO: USGS PROF. PAPER 475-D, P. D123-D127.

  • Deposit

    COLORADO DIV. MINES INF. REPT.

  • Deposit

    BLM MINERAL SURVEY MS 19538

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit MINERALIZATION LOCALIZED IN MINOR FAULTS NEAR INTERSECTION OF INFERRED SOUTHWARD EXTENSION OF NORTH-SOUTH-TRENDING DEEP CREEK GRABEN (TENSIONAL FEATURE FORMED DURING RESURGENT DOMING IN CREEDE CALDERA) AND INFERRED EAST-WEST TREND OF REACTIVATED CALDERA MARGIN FAULT PROBABLY ACTIVE DURING EARLIER CALDERA FORMATION BUT LATER BURIED BY VISCOUS FISHER QUARTZ LATITE FLOWS DEPOSITED DURING POST-DOMING MARGINAL VOLCANIC ACTIVITY. MINE IS SITUATED ALONG SOUTHWARD EXTENSIONAL FAULT OF DEEP CREEK GRABEN PROBABLY IN SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN RHYOLITE TUFF THAT FILLED SUBSIDED CALDERA.

Reporter information

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

Beyond USGS

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

External references

Authoritative Colorado resources

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