Blewett Iron

Prospect in Chelan county in Washington, United States with commodities Iron, Nickel, Chromium
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Ownership information
  17. Reserves and resources
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10068216
MRDS ID W001165
Record type Site
Current site name Blewett Iron
Alternate or previous names Blewett, Washington Nickel
Related records 10055839

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -120.65923, 47.39232 (WGS84)
Elevation 1173
Relative position 80 MI EAST OF SEATTLE; ABOUT 25 MI EAST OF THE CLE ELUM IRON DEPOSIT; ABOUT 2.5 MI SOUTH OF BLEWETT CAMP

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Chelan(county)

Washington(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Blewett(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Wenatchee(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Wenatchee(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Wenatchee(hydrologic unit)

Upper Columbia(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Columbia(hydrologic subregion)

Pacific Northwest(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Okanogan-Wenatchee 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 Washington Chelan

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Willamette 022N 017E 13,14 Washington

Comments on the location information

  • ON PROMINENT RIDGE NORTH OF SHASER CREEK AT ITS JUNCTION WITH PESHASTIN CREEK

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Iron Primary
Nickel Critical Primary
Chromium Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • PRINCIPAL IRON-RICH LENS HAS AN AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF 32.65% OF FE, 0.90% NI, 1.66% CR. THE MATRIX OF THE CONGLOMERATE HAS AVERAGE CONTENT OF 18.11% FE, 0.52% NI, 0.88% CR

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chromite Ore
Hematite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Spinel Ore
Serpentine Gangue

Analytical data

Result THE PRINCIPAL IRON-RICH LENS HAS AN AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF 32.65% FE, 0.90% NI, AND 1.66% CR. THE MATRIX OF THE CONGLOMERATE, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAS AN AVERAGE CONTENT OF 18.11% FE, 0.52% NI, AND 0.88% CR. THE ENTIRE CONGLOMERATE, INCLUDING ALL IRON-RICH LENSES, AVERAGES 13.34% FE, 0.47% NI, AND 0.64% CR. AVERAGE SILICA CONTENT OF SEVERAL COMPOSITE SAMPLES OF THE CONGLOMERATE IS 34.4%.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 110
USGS model code 38a
Deposit model name Lateritic Ni

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Serpentinite
    Rock unit name Ingalls Tectonic Complex
    Rock description Ingalls Tectonic Complex
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Ultramafic Intrusive Rock > Peridotite
    Rock unit name Swauk Formation;Ingalls Tectonic Complex
    Rock description Swauk Formation;Ingalls Tectonic Complex

Nearby scientific data

(1) -120.65923, 47.39232

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form LENS (PODS)-IRON-RICH, CONGLOMERATE
    Thickness 10.67M
    Length 137.16M
    Width 137.16M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • The Deposit Is An Iron-Rich Conglomerate, Which, Like That At Cle Elum, Overlies Serpentine And Underlies The Swauk Formation.

Comments on the geologic information

  • DEPOSIT IS CONSIDERED AN EASTWARD EXTENSION OF SAME IRON FORMATION AS AT CLE ELUM, 25 MI TO THE WEST. LAMEY (1950) BELIEVED THAT THE DEPOSIT RESULTED FROM RESIDUAL WEATHERING OF THE UNDERLYING SERPENTINITE. INGALLS COMPLEX IS AN OPHIOLITE COMPLEX ; GEOL.DESC: DEPOSIT OVERLIES SERPENTINE AND UNDERLIES THE SWAUK FORMATION; IT IS LOCALLY CUT BY YOUNGER DIABASE DIKES. PRINCIPAL IRON-RICH LENS IN EXPLORED AREA IS ABOUT 450 FT. LONG, 35 FT. WIDE, AND EXTENDS DOWNWARD FOR 450 FT.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No

Mining district

District name Blewett District

Land status

Ownership category National Forest
Area name In Wenatchee National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Washington Nickel Mining And Alloys, Inc.
    Home office Seattle, WA
    First year 1944

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1945
    Total resources 20000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Iron Fe 32 wt-pct Iron Major 1945
    Nickel Ni 0.88 wt-pct Nickel Major 1945
    Chromium Cr2O3 2.5 wt-pct Chromium Minor 1945

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • ABOVE INCLUDES "MEASURED" AND "INDICATED" MATERIAL
  • CORNWALL, 1966, INDICATES A DEPOSIT OF NICKELIFEROUS LATERITES OF 10,000 TO 200,000 TONS OF CONTAINED NICKEL.

Comments on the workings information

  • 10 PITS, 2 CAVED ADITS, 10 DIAMOND DRILL HOLES TOTALING 2,395 FT.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit DEPOSIT IS A CONGLOMERATE OF SUBANGULAR TO WELL-ROUNDED PEBBLES, COBBLES, AND BOULDERS OF SERPENTINIZED PERIDOTITE EMBEDDED IN A FERRUGINOUS AND SERPENTINOUS MATRIX, PLUS SCATTERED IRON-RICH LENSES OF FINER NONCONGLOMERITIC MATERIALS. FINE-GRAINED LENSES AND MATRIX OF CONGLOMERATE ARE PARTICLES OF MAGNETITE, HEMETITE, SERPENTINE, SPINEL, AND CHROMITE. FINE-GRAINED LENSES RESEMBLE MATRIX BUT ARE FINER GRAINED AND CONTAIN MUCH MORE HEMATITE AND MAGNETITE. DIMENSIONS ARE FOR PRINCIPAL IRON-RICH LENS. DEPOSIT LOCALLY CUT BY DIABASE DIKES.
Deposit MRDS RECORDS US53036, W017901 HAVE BEEN MERGED WITH THIS RECORD AND DELETED

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-1973 Coury, Anny B. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-JAN-1975 Shaffer, Glenn L. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-OCT-1992 Peterson, Jocelyn A. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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