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Southern Iron Mining Company Mine

Past Producer in Cherokee county in North Carolina, United States with commodity Iron
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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. Alteration
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Ownership information
  16. Workings at the site
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10026116
MRDS ID K002587
Record type Site
Current site name Southern Iron Mining Company Mine
Alternate or previous names Lena Walker Iron Mine
Related records 10247942

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -83.87768, 35.18067 (WGS84)
Relative position IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF WHERE THE RAILROAD CROSSES SHARPS BRANCH

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Cherokee(county)

North Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Marble(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Fontana Lake(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Knoxville(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Hiwassee(hydrologic unit)

Middle Tennessee-Hiwassee(hydrologic accounting unit)

Middle Tennessee-Hiwassee(hydrologic subregion)

Tennessee(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Nantahala National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Croatan National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

National Forests in North Carolina(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States North Carolina Cherokee

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Iron Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Limonite Ore
Chert Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Weathering Of Iron-Bearing Minerals To Form Limonite

Analytical data

Result BAYLEY (1925) REPORTS THAT DAILY PRODUCTION DURING 1919-1921 AVERAGED 48.5% FE. USBM ANALYSES (ROBERTSON, 1946) OF LIMONITE FROM CORE DRILL HOLES RANGE FROM 17.1 TO 54.4 PERCENT IRON
Result VALUES ARE PREDOMINANTLY LESS THAN 45 PERCENT IRON.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Rock unit name Metadiorite, Dark-Green, Loccally Porphyritic, Pyroxenite And Amphibolite. Van Horn ( 1948 , P. 15 ) Terms These Rocks Metadiorite Because He Considers Them To Be Metamorphosed Diorites That Have Lost Their Feldspar Quartz Through Metamorphism
    Rock description Metadiorite, Dark-Green, Loccally Porphyritic, Pyroxenite And Amphibolite. Van Horn ( 1948 , P. 15 ) Terms These Rocks Metadiorite Because He Considers Them To Be Metamorphosed Diorites That Have Lost Their Feldspar Quartz Through Metamorphism
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name Clayey And Sandy Alluvium And Residuum;Mineral Bluff Formation, Quartz-Sericite Schist Or Phyllite With Sandy Lenses And Intercalated Quartzites
    Rock description Clayey And Sandy Alluvium And Residuum;Mineral Bluff Formation, Quartz-Sericite Schist Or Phyllite With Sandy Lenses And Intercalated Quartzites

Nearby scientific data

(1) -83.87768, 35.18067
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Northeast-Trending Strike Belts Define A Major Syncline

Ore body information

  • General form IRREGULAR AND BLANKET

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Bedding, Fractures, And Residuum.

Comments on the geologic information

  • TWO TYPES OF DEPOSITS OCCUR ON THE PROPERTY AND WERE EXTENSIVELY MINED. A BED OR CONCENTRATION OF LIMONITIC ORE OCCUPIED AN OLD STREAM CHANNEL THAT WAS ABOUT 100 FEET WIDE AT THE NORTH END OF THE LAKE AND 20 FEET WIDE ABOUT 200 FEET SOUTH OF THE LAKE. SAND- TO BOULDER-SIZED MASSES OF LIMONITE, MANY OF WHICH ARE ROUNDED AND SHOW TRANSPORT, TOGETHER WITH ROUNDED PEBBLES AND BOULDERS OF QUARTZITE, ARE CEMENTED BY LIMONITE AND FORM BEDDED DEPOSITS. OTHER LAYERS OF LIMONITE CONTAIN FEW TRANSPORTED FRAGMENTS. FURTHER UP THE HILL ARE EXPOSURES (IN THE CUT) OF LIMONITE WHICH OCCURS AS VEINS ALONG CROSS FRACTURES AND AS LAYERS INTERBEDDED IN THE SCHIST. THIS TYPE OF OCCURRENCE WAS THE SOURCE OF RESIDUAL LIMONITE MASSES RANGING FROM A FEW INCHES TO SEVERAL FEET IN THICKNESS, FORMING A BLANKET-LIKE DEPOSIT OVER A CONSIDERABLE AREA.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Year of first production 1925
Production years PRE-WWI; 1919-1921.

Mining district

District name Murphy Marble Belt

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Southern Iron Mining Co.
  • Type Owner
    Owner E. A. Wood (Leased To Southern Iron Mining Co.)
    Home office Andrews

Comments on the production information

  • 80 CARLOADS OF ORE WERE MINED PRIOR TO WORLD WAR I. ABOUT 11,000 TONS OF CONCENTRATES WERE SHIPPED DURING 1919 TO 1921.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall length 182.88M
    Overall width 106.68M

Comments on the workings information

  • A SMALL LAKE OCCUPIES THE MINED AREA AT THE LOWER ELEVATIONS ON THE PROPERTY. THE 350-FOOT BY 600-FOOT IRREGULAR CUT IS ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF THE LAKE. SEVERAL OTHER SMALLER PITS AND A 38-FOOT SHAFT ARE ALSO PRESENT ON THE TRACT.

Comments on development

  • THE MINE WAS OPERATED ON A LIMITED BASIS PRIOR TO 1919, AND WAS OPERATED ON A LARGE SCALE BY THE SOUTHERN IRON MINING COMPANY FROM 1919 TO 1921. THE U.S. BUREAU OF MINES DID SOME CORE DRILLING (TWO HOLES TOTALING 188 FEET), TRENCHING (298 LINEAR FEET), AND DUG 14 TEST PITS TOTALING 122 FEET IN DEPTH, DURING 1944-1945. ; ECON.COM: PHOSPHOROUS CONTENT OF LIMONITE IN DRILL CORE SAMPLES RANGED FROM 0.16 TO 1.09%. (ROBERTSON, 1946).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    BAYLEY, W.S., 1925, DEPOSITS OF BROWN IRON ORES (BROWN HEMATITE) IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA: NORTH CAROLINA GEOL. AND ECON. SURVEY BULL. 31, 76 P.

  • Deposit

    ROBERTSON, A.F., 1946, EXPLORATION OF THE CHEROKEE IRON DEPOSITS, CHEROKEE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: U.S. BUREAU OF MINES RPT. INV. R.I. 3974, 31 P.

  • Deposit

    POWER, W.R., AND FORREST, J.T., 1973, STRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY IN THE MURPHY MARBLE BELT: AM. JOUR. SCI., V. 273, P. 698-711.

  • Deposit

    1925 COMPILE BAYLEY, N.C. GEOL. AND ECON. SUR. BULL. 31

  • Deposit

    1946 DIREXPL ROBERTSON , USBM RPT. INV. RI 3974

  • Deposit

    1973 OTHER POWER AND FORREST, AM. JOUR. SCI., PAPER

  • Production

    BAYLEY, W.S., 1925, N.C. GEOL. AND ECON. SUR. BULL. 31

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-OCT-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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