Mud Tunnel Hollow Barite Mine

Past Producer in Cocke county in Tennessee, United States with commodities Barium-Barite, Iron
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. Ore body information
  10. Controls for ore emplacement
  11. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Ownership information
  14. Workings at the site
  15. Links to other databases
  16. Bibliographic references
  17. General comments
  18. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10026041
MRDS ID K002496
Record type Site
Current site name Mud Tunnel Hollow Barite Mine
Related records 10178454

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -83.09459, 35.92565 (WGS84)
Relative position 0.35 MILE NE OF MORGAN GAP.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Cocke(county)

Tennessee(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Neddy Mountain(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Knoxville(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
Iron Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • FERGUSON AND JEWELL (1951) MENTION THE POSSIBLE OCCURRENCE OF PYRITE

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Barite Ore

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name Cochran Conglomerate, Conglomerate
    Rock description Cochran Conglomerate, Conglomerate
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cambrian
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cambrian

Nearby scientific data

(1) -83.09459, 35.92565

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form PINCH AND SWELL
    Strike N 45-55 E
    Dip 60-85 S
    Thickness 1.83M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Bedding Plane Fault, Shear Zone (Ferguson And Jewell, 1951)

Comments on the geologic information

  • THE MINERALIZED ZONE IS BADLY WEATHERED, SO THAT THE MATERIAL CONSISTS OF REDDISH-BROWN, SANDY CLAY CONTAINING SCATTERED LUMPS AND VEINLETS OF COARSE, GLASSY, CRYSTALLINE BARITE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant No
Discovery year 1885
Year of first production 1885
Production years 1880'S-1890'S

Mining district

District name Del Rio Barite District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner U.S. Forest Service

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCED BARITE.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall length 762M

Comments on the workings information

  • WORKINGS INCLUDE FOUR TUNNELS OR ADITS AND NUMEROUS PITS AND TRENCHES. MANY OF THE UNDERGROUND AND SURFACE WORKINGS ARE CAVED OR SLUMPED SO THAT THEIR FULL EXTENT AND THE OCCURRENCE OF BARITE IS NOT KNOWN.

Comments on development

  • DEPOSITS WERE FIRST WORKED IN THE 1880'S, FURNISHING BARITE TO THE GRINDING MILL AT WEST MEYER. THE WORKINGS ARE THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN IDLE SINCE THE MILL WAS CLOSED IN THE 1890'S. MINERAL RIGHTS ARE (1951) RETAINED BY THE TENNESSEE COAL AND IRON COMPANY. ; ECON.COM: SOME OF THE BARITE IS COARSE, GLASSY, AND VERY PURE. LITTLE OR NO BARITE WAS OBSERVED IN MANY OF THE WORKINGS.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

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

  • 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) CLASSIFY THE MUD TUNNEL HOLLOW BARITE DEPOSIT AS BELONGING TO THE MOCCASIN GAP TYPE, BECAUSE OF THE COARSELY CRYSTALLINE HABIT OF THE BARITE AND ITS OCCURRENCE ALONG A BEDDING PLANE FAULT. THEY BELIEVE THAT PYRITE AND ANKERITE IS PROBABLY ABUNDANT IN THE UNWEATHERED SHEAR ZONE MATERIAL, WHICH UNDERLIES THE MOCCASIN GAP QUARTZITE MEMBER OF THE UNICOI FORMATION. THE COUNTRY ROCK IS SHOWN AS COCHRAN CONGLOMERATE ON TVA FILE MAPS. ; INFO.SRC : 4 OTHER SRC
Deposit Discovery Year: 1880'S

Reporter information

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

Beyond USGS

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

External references