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Silver Reef-Harrisburg District

Occurrence in Washington county in Utah, United States with commodities Silver, Copper, Uranium
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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. Host and associated rocks
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Production statistics
  12. Workings at the site
  13. Links to other databases
  14. Bibliographic references
  15. General comments
  16. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10072235
MRDS ID W017220
Record type District
Current site name Silver Reef-Harrisburg District
Alternate or previous names Silver Reef District, Harrisburg District, Leeds District

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Approximate
Geographic coordinates: -113.37099, 37.25401 (WGS84)
Relative position Extends from north of Silver Reef townsite about a mile north of Leeds to about 3/4 mile southwest of Harrisburg. Coordinates are for the likely location of the Barbee and Walker mine, about 0.2 mi west of the old Silver Reef townsite. District continues for about another 4 to 5 miles to the southwest, along strike. 37-15-14, -113-22-15, WGS 84.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Washington(county)

Utah(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Pintura(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Saint George(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Cedar City(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Virgin(hydrologic unit)

Lower Colorado-Lake Mead(hydrologic accounting unit)

Lower Colorado-Lake Mead(hydrologic subregion)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Utah Washington

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Copper Secondary
Uranium Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cerargyrite Ore

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone
    Rock unit name Springdale Sandstone Member of the Moenave Formation (locally knownk as the Leeds and Tecumseh Sandstones).
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Jurassic
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Jurassic

Nearby scientific data

Approximate (1) Navajo Sandstone, Kayenta and Moenave Formations
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure name Virgin Anticline

Comments on the geologic information

  • From Biek, 2003, M-187, p. 33: The Silver Reef mining district consists of four "reefs" alon ght e NE-plunging nose of the Virgin Anticline. White, Buckeye, and Butte Reefs are on the NW flank. East Reef is on the east flank.
  • From Biek, 2003, M-187, p. 33: The ore horizons are in the Springdale Sandstone Member of the Moenave Formation, known locally as the Leeds and Tecumseh Sandstones, which is repeated by thrust faults on the anticline's northwest flank to form the three reefs.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Discovery year 1869
Discoverer John Kemple

Comments on exploration

  • From Biek, 2003, M-187, p. 33: "A leach-pad operation established between White and Buckeye Reefs to process tailings opened in 1979, but this venture closed with the collapse of silver prices. In 1998, a Canadian mining company revaluated a portion of the Silver Reef mining district."
  • From Biek, 2003, M-187, p. 33: In the 1950s the US Atomic Energy Commission drilled more than 350 holes at Buckeye Reef to evaluate uranium mineralization in the district. The district produced several hundred tons of uranium ore, with carnotite the predominant mineral.

Production statistics

  • Year 1875
    Period 1875-1880
    Material Silver
    Ore mined 103234133.02g
    Accuracy Accurate
  • Year 1881
    Period 1881-1890
    Material Silver
    Ore mined 111680096.67g
    Accuracy Accurate
  • Year 1891
    Period 1891-1900
    Material Silver
    Ore mined 6409463.22g
    Accuracy Accurate
  • Year 1901
    Period 1901-1909
    Material Silver
    Ore mined 2977909.47g
    Accuracy Accurate
  • Year 2003
    Period 1949-1968
    Material Biek, 2003, M-187, p. 33.
    Accuracy Accurate
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Secondary Uranium Uranium 1125000g
    Secondary Copper Copper 54000000g
    Primary Silver Silver 4706000g

Comments on the production information

  • SILVER Production reported in ounces: 1875-1880 3,319,054 1881-1890 3,590,598 1891-1900 206,069 1901-1909 95,742 7,211,463 oz Silver recovered
  • Stowe (UGS Bull. 106, p. 45): 1875-1961 Silver reef district produced 5,337 short tons Copper, 22 short tons lead, 664 fine ounces gold, 7,499,153 fine ounces silver. (Source of Stowe's data is Butler's USGS PP-111)
  • Production 1963: 3,900 lbs Cu, 200 lbs Pb, 300 lbs. Zn, 5,889 troy oz Ag. (Stowe, p. 52) 1964: 18,100 lbs Cu, 2,200 lbs Zn, 3,750 troy oz Ag (p. 53) 1967: 1,600 lbs Cu, 3,680 troy oz Ag (p. 54) 1968: 3,700 lbs Cu, 1 troy oz Au, 9,351 troy oz Ag (p. 55)
  • From Biek, 2003, M-187, p. 33: "The principal mining activity in the district lasted only through 1888, with lessee operations thorugh 1909, after wihc operations essentially ceased. Prior to 1910 the district produced aobut 8 million ounces (226,800 kg) of silver, nearly 70 percent of which came from the prolific Buckeye Reef. Sporadic production between 1949 and 1968 amounted to about 30 ounces (0.85 kg) of gold, 166,000 ounces (4,706 kg) of silver, 60 short tons (54,000 kg) of copper, and at least 2,500 pounds (1,125 kg) of uranium oxide. The mines were shallow, less than 350 ft deep, and most ore bodies were lens shaped, averaging 200 to 300 ft long by about half as wide. The ore averaged 20 to 50 ounces (0.6-1.4 kg) silver per ton, but varied from only a few ounces to about 500 ounces (14 kg) per ton.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground

Comments on the workings information

  • Most of the shafts and adits in the district have been reclaimed (Biek, 2003, M-187, p. 38). More than 500 adits and shafts were sealed in the western part of the district and 184 in the East Reef area.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Geology

    Biek, R.F., 2003, Geologic map of the Harrisburg Junction 7.5' quadrangle, Washington County, Utah: Utah Geological Survey Map 191, 42 p. pamphlet, 2 pls., scale 1:24:000. [http://geology.utah.gov/maps/geomap/7_5/pdf/m-191.pdf, accessed 4/27/2010]

  • Production

    Stowe, C.H., 1975, Utah mineral industry statistics through 1973: Utah Geological and Mineral Survey Bulletin 106, 121 p.

  • Deposit

    Butler, B.S., 1920, Silver Reef (Harrisburg, Leeds) District, in Butler, B.S., Laughlin, G.F., Heikes, V.C., and others, The ore deposits of Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 111, p. 582-594.

  • Deposit

    Proctor, P.D., 1953, Geology of the Silver Reef (Harrisburg) Mining District, Wahsington County, Utah: Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey Bulletin 44, 169 p.

  • Geology

    Biek, R.F., 2003, Geologic map of the Hurricane 7.5' quadrangle, Washington County, Utah: Utah Geological Survey Map 187, 61 p. pamphlet, 2 pls., scale 1:24:000. [http://geology.utah.gov/maps/geomap/7_5/pdf/m-187.pdf, accessed 4/27/2010]

  • Deposit

    Stugard, Frederick, Jr., 1951, Uranium Resources in the Silver Reef (Harrisburg) District, Washington County, Utah: US Geological Survey Open-File Report 51-41.

  • Geology

    Hurlow, H.A., and Biek, R.F., 2003, Geologic map of the Pintura 7.5' quadrangle, Washington County, Utah: Utah Geological Survey Map 196, 20 p. pamphlet, scale 1:24:000. [http://geology.utah.gov/maps/geomap/7_5/pdf/m-196.pdf, accessed 4/27/2010]

Comments on the references

  • ABW filled out complete reference and correct page numbers.
  • Keith Long's (USGS) list of Significant sed-hosted Cu deposits lists Stowe, 1975 as the only referenence. There is no description of this district in that volume (Bull. 106). (Circular 57 by the same author, same year, had no mention whatsoever of production or reserves in Harrisburg/Silver Reef/Washington Co.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit For the copper in this area, see 10088794 (old MRDS M058729).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 1976-01-01 Weeks, Robert U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 1992-10-01 Spanski, Gregory T. U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 2008-06-20 Wilson, A.B. 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