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Williams Barite Mine

Past Producer in Cocke county in Tennessee, United States with commodities Barium-Barite, Fluorine-Fluorite, Sulfur-Pyrite, Copper
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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. Ownership information
  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 10025882
MRDS ID K001856
Record type Site
Current site name Williams Barite Mine
Alternate or previous names Mims Barite Mine
Related records 10178752

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -82.9457, 35.88981 (WGS84)
Relative position 0.5 MILE E OF DRY POND GAP

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Cocke(county)

Tennessee(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Paint Rock(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Asheville(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Knoxville(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper French Broad(hydrologic unit)

French Broad-Holston(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Tennessee(hydrologic subregion)

Tennessee(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Cherokee 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 Tennessee Cocke

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Barium-Barite Critical Primary
Fluorine-Fluorite Critical Tertiary
Sulfur-Pyrite Tertiary
Copper Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Barite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Fluorite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Analytical data

Result CHANNEL SAMPLE BY FERGUSON & JEWELL (1951) ACROSS VEIN CONTAINED: 75.26% BASO4, 19.54% CAF2, 2.08% SIO2, 0.60% FE2O3, 0.14% FEO, 0.35% FES2, 0.24% AL2O3, 1.23% CACO3, 0.43% MGCO3, 0.05% P, CU & NI NIL. ANALYSES BY D.F. FARRAR FOR TENNESSEE DIVISION OF GEOLOGY.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name Longarm Quartzite, Quartzite & Arkose;Wilhite Formation, Slate
    Rock description Longarm Quartzite, Quartzite & Arkose;Wilhite Formation, Slate
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -82.9457, 35.88981
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Brushy Mountain Thrust Fault

Ore body information

  • General form PINCH AND SWELL
    Strike N 85 DEG W
    Dip 27 DEG S
    Thickness 4.27M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Fault Zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • THIS DEPOSIT AND OTHERS IN THE DISTRICT LIKE IT ARE REFERRED TO BY FERGUSON AND JEWELL (1951) AS THE WILLIAMS TYPE OF BARITE VEIN, IN THAT THE ORE HAS "...BEEN FORMED ALMOST ENTIRELY BY REPLACEMENT OF MICROSCOPICALLY GRANULATED, BRECCIATED, AND SHEARED AND CRINKLED GOUGE OR MYLONITE THAT FORMED ALONG PLANES OR ZONES OF INTENSE SHEARING IN THRUST FAULTS." THE BARITE IS DENSE, PLATY AND MICROSCOPICALLY RIBBONED, IN CONTRAST TO THE GLASSY, COARSELY CRYSTALLINE BARITE OF THE MOCCASIN GAP TYPE. SMALL STRINGERS OF BARITE UP TO 3 INCHES IN THICKNESS OCCUR LOCALLY ALONG MINOR FRACTURES IN THE HANGING WALL. HORSES OF ARKOSE OCCUR WITHIN THE VEIN. AGE OF MINERALIZATION - LATE OR POST - PAL ( FERGUSON & JEWELL, 1951 )

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant No
Year of first production 1901
Production years 1900-1947

Mining district

District name Del Rio Barite District

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Tennessee Mining Co.
    Home office Jacksonville, Fl.
  • Type Owner
    Owner New Jersey Zinc Co.

Comments on the production information

  • CHIEF USE OF BARITE FROM THE WILLIAMS MINE WAS FOR FILLER PURPOSES, WHERE THE HIGH FLUORITE AND QUARTZ CONTENT ARE NOT PARTICULARLY DETRIMENTAL.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Area 0.007HA

Comments on the workings information

  • DRIFTS RANGE FROM 35 TO 170 FEET IN LENGTH. WELL-DEVELOPED ROLLS ALONG THE FOOT AND HANGING WALLS OF THE VEIN CAUSE THE VEIN TO VARY FROM 4 TO 14 FEET IN THICKNESS IN THE LOWER DRIFT.

Comments on development

  • PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS CONSIST OF FOUR DRIFTS WITH CONNECTING STOPES AND RAISES. THE MINE WAS KNOWN AS THE MIMS MINE IN EARLY MINING DAYS, AND WAS SOLD BETWEEN 1900 AND 1903 TO JOHN T. WILLIAMS & SONS, WHO WAS FIRST TO OPERATE THE PROPERTY. AFTER MR. WILLIAMS' DEATH, PROPERTY WAS SOLD TO WILLIAM H. FEARING WHO RETAINED TITLE UNTIL 1926. ALBERT B. SHULTZ OF SWEETWATER, TENNESSEE IS THOUGHT TO HAVE LEASED PROPERTY IN EARLY 1920'S. PROPERTY BOUGHT BY BERTHA MINERAL COMPANY, A NEW JERSEY ZINC COMPANY SUBSIDIARY, IN 1926. MINE WAS LEASED TO CLINCHFIELD SAND AND FELDSPAR CORPORATION IN 1943, WHO SUBLEASED IT TO TENNESSEE MINING COMPANY IN 1946 (FERGUSON & JEWELL, 1951). ; ECON.COM: USBM TESTS INDICATE THAT GRINDING TO 200 MESH, 97.6% OF THE BARITE CAN BE RECOVERED ASSAYING 97% BASO4, AND 94.1% OF THE FLUORITE IN A PRODUCT ASSAYING 88.8% CAF2, (FERGUSON & JEWELL, 1951). THEY REGARD THE WILLIAMS MINE AS THE MOST FAVORABLE IN THE DISTRICT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE BARITE RESERVES.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    FERGUSON, H.W., AND JEWELL, W.B., 1951, GEOLOGY AND BARITE DEPOSITS OF THE DEL RIO DISTRICT, COCKE COUNTY, TENNESSEE: TENNESSEE DIV. GEOLOGY BULL. 57, 235 P.

  • Deposit

    MAHER, S.W., 1970, BARITE RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE: TENNESSEE DIV. GEOLOGY, REPT. INV. 28, 40 P.

  • Deposit

    1951 COMPILE FERGUSON & JEWELL, TENN. DIV. GEOL. BULL.

  • Deposit

    1970 COMPILE MAHER, S.W., TENN. DIV. GEOL., RPT. INV.

  • Production

    FERGUSON AND JEWELL, 1951, TENN. DIV. GEOL. BULL. 57

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit FERGUSON AND JEWELL (1951) CONSIDERED THE SLATE UNDER THE BRUSHY MOUNTAIN FAULT AS BELONGING TO THE SANDSUCK FORMATION. TVA FILE MAPS SHOW THE LONGARM QUARTZITE OVERLYING THE WILHITE FORMATION ALONG THE BRUSHY MOUNTAIN THRUST FAULT IN THE VICINITY OF THE MINE. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-1974 Hale, Robin C. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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