White Rock Number 1 Mine

Past Producer in Smyth county in Virginia, United States with commodities Iron, Manganese
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. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Land status
  13. Workings at the site
  14. Links to other databases
  15. Bibliographic references
  16. General comments
  17. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10067253
MRDS ID VA01740
Record type Site
Current site name White Rock Number 1 Mine
Alternate or previous names White Rock Furnace Banks

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -81.32288, 36.8273 (WGS84)
Elevation 847
Relative position 9400 FT. 267 DEGREES FROM JCT. SR 16 AND 614 IN CEDAR SPRINGS.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Smyth(county)

Virginia(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Cedar Springs(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Wytheville(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Winston-Salem(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper New(hydrologic unit)

Kanawha(hydrologic accounting unit)

Kanawha(hydrologic subregion)

Ohio(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Jefferson National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

George Washington and Jefferson 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 Virginia Smyth

Comments on the location information

  • NORTH SIDE OF WHITE ROCK CREEK, IN WHITE ROCK VALLEY, SOUTH FLANK OF WHITE ROCK MTN.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Iron Primary
Manganese Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Psilomelane Ore

Analytical data

Result MN 34.04%, FE 14.30%, SIO2 9.08%, P 0.146%

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Dolomite
    Rock unit name Shady
    Rock description Shady
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cambrian
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cambrian

Nearby scientific data

(1) -81.32288, 36.8273

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form RESIDUAL

Comments on the geologic information

  • MANGANESE OCCURS AS AMORPHOUS NODULES AND MASSES, LIMONITE AS NODULES, BOTH WITHIN A YELLOW RESIDUAL CLAY.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1875
Year of last production 1875

Mining district

District name Pulaski-Wythe

Land status

Ownership category Private

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface
    Overall length 76.2M
    Overall width 30.48M

Comments on the workings information

  • AREA CONSISTS OF SEVERAL DEPRESSIONS OF VARIOUS SIZES (1988). LATE 1800'S WORKINGS CONSISTED OF SEVERAL SMALL PITS AND ONE MAIN PIT. EXPLORATION TRENCHES WERE DUG INTO THIS LARGER PIT IN 1942.

Comments on development

  • IN THE LATE 1800'S THE WORKINGS WERE BY LOBDELL CAR WHEEL COMPANY (WILMINGTON, DELAWARE). THE ORE WAS HAULED TO WHITE ROCK FURNACE (TO THE EAST OF THE MINE) WHERE SUPERIOR GRADE CAST IRON WAS MADE. IN 1942 THE PROPERTY WAS PROSPECTED FOR MANGANESE BUT NO PODUCTION RESULTED. SEVERAL TRUCKLOADS WERE HAULED TO THE UMBARGER MINE WASHER TO TEST (SEE ALALYSES, ABOVE). MINE MAP IN MILLER, 1944, P. 76.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    STOSE, G.W., MISER, H.D., KATZ, F.S., AND HEWETT, D.F., 1919, MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF THE WEST FOOT OF THE BLUE RIDGE, VIRGINIA: VGS BULLETIN 17, P. 148.

  • Deposit

    MILLER, RALPH L., 1944, GIOLOGY AND MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF THE GLADE MTN. DISTRICT: VGS BULLETIN 61, P. 76-78.

  • Deposit

    GOOCH, E.O., 1954, IRON IN VIRGINIA: VDG MINERAL RESOURCES CIRCULAR 1, P. 9.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Discovery Year: LATE 1800'S

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUN-1988 Wilkes, Gerald P. (Sweet, Palmer C.) Virginia Division of Mineral Resources

Beyond USGS

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