New Sawyer Mine

Producer in Randolph county in North Carolina, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Workings at the site
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10026503
MRDS ID K005178
Record type Site
Current site name New Sawyer Mine
Alternate or previous names Ross, Powell
Related records 10297993

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -79.86172, 35.80065 (WGS84)
Relative position 7.1 MILES NORTHWEST OF ASHEBORO AND 3.6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF RANDLEMAN.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Randolph(county)

North Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Randleman(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Chapel Hill(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Raleigh(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Yadkin(hydrologic unit)

Upper Pee Dee(hydrologic accounting unit)

Pee Dee(hydrologic subregion)

South Atlantic-Gulf(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States North Carolina Randolph

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATION APPROXIMATE

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Magnetite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Hematite Gangue
Kaolinite Gangue
Muscovite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Muscovite, Silica

Analytical data

Result 87 FOOT WIDTH OF 0.046 OPT AU ACROSS STRIKE OF ZONE. ASSAYS ALONG STRIKE FOR 500 FEET RANGED FROM 0.057 TO 0.24 OPT.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 104
USGS model code 25a
Deposit model name Hot-spring Au-Ag
Mark3 model number 45

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock unit name Tillery Formation
    Rock description Tillery Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Ne-Trending Foliation
Type of structure Local
Structure description Minor Ne-Trending Shears That Produce N-Plunging Ne Trending Folds

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR
    Length 150M
    Width 5M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Fault Zones

Comments on the geologic information

  • MINING WAS CARRIED OUT IN A BLEACHED, SERICITIZED AND SILICIFIED MYLONITE. OPERATIONS CEASED WHEN SULPHIDES WERE ENCOUNTERED. RHYOLITES NEAR THE WORKINGS HAVE BEEN INJECTED BY DIORITE DIKES STRIKING N 20 E.. SHEARED, AND APPARENTLY BARREN, IRON-STAINED, MILKY QUARTZ IS ON SOME OF THE DUMPS. THE DIORITE CONTAINS MINOR DISSEMINATED PYRITE AND MAGNETITE. THIS MYLONITE CONTAINS DISSEMINATED PYRITE BOTH IN CUBE FORM AND IN SMEARED FRACTURED CRYSTALS. THE FRACTURED PYRITE CRYSTALS ARE FILLED WITH QUARTZ AND SERICITE. POSSIBLY THERE ARE TWO AGES OF PYRITE OR SOME OF THE PYRITE CUBES WERE NOT AFFECTED BY LATER MOVEMENT. GOLD IS CONTAINED IN PYRITE. IN SOME OF THE MYLONITE, THE PYRITE IS OXIDIZED TO HEMATITE WHICH HAS CAUSED CONSIDERABLE STAINING IN THE QUARTZ AND SERICITE. FINE-GRAINED SACCHAROIDAL QUARTZ WITH BLEBS OF DISSEMINATED BIOTITE AND PHLOGOPITE MICA OCCURS IN PARTS OF THIS MYLONITE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1902
Year of first production 1902

Mining district

District name Carolina Slate Belt

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall depth 20M

Comments on the workings information

  • SEVERAL SHAFTS RANGING IN DEPTH FROM 30 TO 60 FT. WERE SUNK ON THE PROPERTY. AN EXAMINATION OF THE PROPERTY IN 1968 REVEALED SEVERAL SHAFTS, A SERIES OF NORTHEAST-TRENDING TRENCHES AND A STOPE. DRIFTS TRENDING N 45 DEG W ARE ABOUT 30 FT DOWN THE SHAFTS. THE AREA ADJOINING THE MINE WORKINGS HAS BEEN HEAVILY PROSPECTED BY PITS AND TRENCHES. THE DEEPEST SHAFT IS APPROXIMATELY 100 FT. DEEP.

Comments on development

  • AFTER INITIAL OPERATION IN 1902, SOME SAMPLING WAS CARRIED OUT AGAIN IN 1930.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Analytical Data

    LUTTRELL, 1976

  • Deposit

    CARPENTER, P. A., III, 1976, METALLIC MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE CAROLINA SLATE BELT, NORTH CAROLINA: NORTH CAROLINA MINERAL RESOURCES SEC. BULL. 84, 166 P.; LUTRELL, G.W., 1976, GOLD, BASE-METAL, AND RELATED DEPOSITS OF NORTH CAROLINA: USGS OPEN-FILE REPORT 76-152

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit INTERPRETATIONS BASED ON WORK IN PROGRESS BY T.L. KLEIN, USGS

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-OCT-1976 Mcdaniel, Ronald D. North Carolina Division of Land Resources
Updater 01-JUN-1991 Klein, T.L. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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