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Masons Branch

Past Producer in Macon county in North Carolina, United States with commodities Garnet, Gold, Platinum, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Arsenic
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Ore body information
  11. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Links to other databases
  16. Bibliographic references
  17. General comments
  18. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10038133
MRDS ID M045419
Record type Site
Current site name Masons Branch
Alternate or previous names Mason Branch

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -83.37821, 35.25872 (WGS84)
Elevation 884
Location accuracy 1000(meters)
Relative position 2 MI SOUTHWEST OF NED WILSON BRANCH OCCURRENCE ABOUT 4 MI NORTH OF FRANKLIN, Est Imated On West Side Of Mason Mountain

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Macon(county)

North Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Alarka(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Fontana Lake(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Knoxville(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Little Tennessee(hydrologic unit)

Upper Tennessee(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Tennessee(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 Macon

Comments on the location information

  • UNSURVEYED. ON MASON MOUNTAIN. IN NANTAHALA NATIONAL FOREST. LOCATION GIVEN IS AN ARBITRARY ESTIMATE ON THE WEST SIDE OF MASON MOUNTAIN USING THE KNOXVILLE 1 BY 2 DEGREE QUADRANGLE. AN ALTERNATIVE LOCATION GIVEN WAS 35-14-52N, 83-23-15W, POSSIBLY FROM USBM FILE DATA

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Garnet Primary
Gold Secondary
Platinum Critical Tertiary
Copper Tertiary
Lead Tertiary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • SPERRYLITE OCCURS AS CUBO-OCTAHEDRAL CRYSTALS IDENTIFIED MICROSCOPICALLY

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Corundum Ore
Gold Ore
Sperrylite Ore
Biotite Gangue
Bronzite Gangue
Cordierite Gangue
Monazite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Rhodolite Gangue
Rutile Gangue
Garnet Unknown

Analytical data

Result PANNED CONCENTRATES FROM STREAM SEDIMENTS IN THE AREA OF MASON MOUNTAIN YIELDED UP TO 200 PPB PT (COOK AND BURNELL, 1990)

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel
    Rock unit name Coweeta Group;Tallulah Falls Formation
    Rock description Coweeta Group;Tallulah Falls Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -83.37821, 35.25872
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form STREAM SEDIMENT DEPOSITS

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Stream Hydraulics

Comments on the geologic information

  • COUNTRY ROCK CONSISTS OF GNEISS AND SCHIST. 1 001 003 021 (POSSIBLY A DEPOSIT NUMBER OF WHITLOW. NO EXPLANATION WAS GIVEN IN HIS UPDATE)

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1894
Discoverer W.E. Hidden

Mining district

District name Mason Mountain Area

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Comments on the workings information

  • HYDRAULIC MINING

Comments on development

  • SPERRYLITE DISCOVERED THROUGH ANALYSIS OF SAMPLE. ITS OCCURRENCE IS OF MINERALOGICAL INTEREST ONLY

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    HIDDEN, W.E., AND PRATT, J.H., 1898, ON THE ASSOCIATED MINERALS OF RHODOLITE: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, 4TH SERIES, V. 6, P. 463-468.

  • Deposit

    KEMP, J.F., 1902, THE GEOLOGIC RELATIONS AND DISTRIBUTION OF PLATINUM AND ASSOCIATED METALS: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 193, P. 34, 59.

  • Deposit

    COOK, R.B., AND BURNELL, J.R., 1990, A GEOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE MASON MOUNTAIN SPERRYLITE OCCURRENCE, MACON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, IN COOK, R.B., ED., PROCEEDINGS OF THE SYMPOSIUM ON THE ECONOMIC MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE SOUTHEAST: METALLIC ORE DEPOSITS: GEORGIA GEOLOGIC SURVEY BULLETIN 117, P. 163-176.

  • Deposit

    NORTH CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, FILE DATA.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit SOURCE IS PROBABLY GARNET-BIOTITE-SULFIDE GNEISS ON MASON MOUNTAIN. COOK AND BURNELL (1990) SUGGEST A POSSIBLE SUPERGENE ORIGIN FOR THE SPERRYLITE
Deposit RECORD W021109 HAS BEEN MERGED AND DELETED.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAR-75 Blair, Will N. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-NOV-83 Whitlow, S. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-FEB-90 Peterson, Jocelyn A. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site