Earl Mine

Past Producer in Tazewell county in Virginia, United States with commodity Barium-Barite
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Host and associated rocks
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Ore body information
  11. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Workings at the site
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10025733
MRDS ID K001666
Record type Site
Current site name Earl Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -81.65816, 37.10146 (WGS84)
Relative position 0.4 KM (0.25 MI) NORTH OF CLIFFIELD. MINE IS WITHIN 100 M OF THE UTM COORDINATES GIVEN, BASED ON THE LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Tazewell(county)

Virginia(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Pounding Mill(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Bluefield(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Bluefield(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Clinch, Tennessee, Virginia(hydrologic unit)

Upper Tennessee(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Tennessee(hydrologic subregion)

Tennessee(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Virginia Tazewell

Comments on the location information

  • MINE IS EAST OF COUNTY ROAD 639 AND WEST AND SOUTH OF THE CLINCH RIVER. EXACT LOCATION UNCERTAIN, NOT FIELD CHECKED.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Barium-Barite Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Barite Ore

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Beekmantown Formation
    Rock description Beekmantown Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Ordovician
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Ordovician
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Dolomite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -81.65816, 37.10146

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Ne-Sw Trend
Type of structure Local
Structure description Paint Lick Mountain Syncline

Ore body information

  • General form IRREGULAR

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Veins

Comments on the geologic information

  • VEINS AND REPLACEMENT MASSES OF BARITE AS MUCH AS A FOOT THICK ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CRYSTALLINE LIMESTONE WHICH LIES BETWEEN A FOOTWALL OF BLUE FINE-GRAINED LIMESTONE AND A HANGING WALL OF GRAY DOLOMITE. LOCALLY THE ROCKS STRIKE ABOUT N70EAND DIP 30SE. (EDMUNDSON, 1938)

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Non-metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1880
Year of first production 1880

Mining district

District name Russell-Tazewell Counties Barite District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Comments on the production information

  • ONE OF LARGE PRODUCING MINES IN TAZEWELL CO.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • SOME BARITE OF GOOD QUALITY MAY REMAIN HERE.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface
    Area 0.232HA
    Overall length 69.49M
    Overall width 30.5M

Comments on the workings information

  • OPEN CUT ABOUT 250 FT X 20 TO 100 FT X 6 TO 20 FT DEEP. (76 M X 6.1 TO 30.5 M X 1.8 TO 6.1 M DEEP).

Comments on development

  • ONE OF THE IMPORTANT BARITE MINES IN TAZEWELL CO. IT WAS OPERATED SOMETIME BETWEEN 1880 AND 1908. NO PRODUCTION FIGURES ARE AVAILABLE.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    LUTTRELL, G.W., 1966, BASE-AND PRECIOUS-METAL AND RELATED ORE DEPOSITS OF VIRGINIA: VIRGINIA DIV. MINERAL RESOURCES, MINERAL RESOURCES REPT. 6, 164 P.

  • Deposit

    EDMUNDSON, R.S., 1938, BARITE DEPOSITS OF VIRGINIA: VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULL. 53, 85 P.

  • Deposit

    ? DIREXPL ? - DUG OPEN CUT, MINE

  • Production

    EDMUNDSON, R.S., 1938, VA. DIV. GEOLOGY BULL. 53.

  • Reserve-Resource

    EDMUNDSON (1938)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit BARITE OCCURS AS VEINS AND REPLACEMENT MASSES AS MUCH AS A FOOT THICK. BARITE NOTED IN BEDROCK AND ON THE DUMPS IS COARSELY CRYSTALLINE, WHITE, AND REMARKABLY FREE FROM IRON STAINS.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-SEP-1973 Fagan, James M. Tennessee Valley Authority
Updater 01-OCT-1980 Trimble, David C. (Sweet, Palmer C.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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