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Morrow Mine

Past Producer in Buckingham county in Virginia, United States with commodities Gold, Copper, Silver, Sulfur-Pyrite, Tellurium
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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. Geologic structures
  11. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Ownership information
  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 10079437
MRDS ID W028974
Record type Site
Current site name Morrow Mine
Alternate or previous names Booker Mine, Garnett Mine, Mosely Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -78.49334, 37.49562 (WGS84)
Elevation 172
Relative position ABOUT 3.5 KM (2.2 MI) NW OF WILLIS MTN.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Buckingham(county)

Virginia(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Willis Mountain(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Appomattox(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Roanoke(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle James-Willis(hydrologic unit)

James(hydrologic accounting unit)

Lower Chesapeake(hydrologic subregion)

Mid Atlantic(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Virginia Buckingham

Comments on the location information

  • 0.5 KM (0.3 MI) OFF W SIDE OF STATE ROAD 774 ABOUT 1.37 KM (0.85 MI) BY ROAD S OF ITS INTERSECTION WITH U.S. HIGHWAY 15.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Tertiary
Silver Tertiary
Sulfur-Pyrite Tertiary
Tellurium Critical Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Silver Ore
Biotite Gangue
Garnet Gangue
Magnetite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Tetradymite Gangue
Pyrite Unknown
Pyrrhotite Unknown

Analytical data

Result IT WAS REPORTED THAT THE ORE WAS TREATED IN A HOWLAND MILL AND YIELDED $13.00 PER TON.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist
    Rock unit name Arvonia Formation
    Rock description Arvonia Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Ordovician
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Ordovician

Nearby scientific data

(1) -78.49334, 37.49562
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Arvonia Syncline, Ne-Sw Trend

Controls for ore emplacement

  • In Quartz Veins, Unaltered Or With Sulfides.

Comments on the geologic information

  • OPALESCENT QUARTZ EYES IN SCHIST, WHICH SHOWS BANDING, USUALLY GARNETIFEROUS; GARNETS ARE GRANULAR AGGREGATES

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1835
Year of first production 1835

Mining district

District name Gold-Pyrite Belt

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Santa Fe Mining

Comments on the production information

  • OVER $60,000 REPORTEDLY RECOVERED FROM PLACER WASHINGS NEAR VEINS, ACCORDING TO TABER (1913).

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Length 106.7M

Comments on the workings information

  • ORIGINALLY MINE WAS OPERATED AS AN OPEN CUT TO A DEPTH OF 9 M (30 FT) AND FOR A DISTANCE OF OVER 366 M (1200 FT). BY 1853, 5 SHAFTS HAD BEEN SUNK TO AN AVERAGE DEPTH OF 30.5 M (100 FT), AND CONNECTED BY DRIVES 107 M (350 FT) IN LENGTH. THE VEIN HAD BEEN PROVED FOR OVER 0.8 KM (0.5 MI) BY 4 OR 5 SHAFTS 9 TO 15 M (30 TO 50 FT) DEEP, AND BY AS MANY AS 50 SURFACE CUTS. LATER DEVELOPMENT WORK EXTENDED THE UNDERGROUND WORKINGS, AND A GOOD DEAL OF STOPING WAS DONE, BUT NONE OF THE SHAFTS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN CARRIED BELOW 35 M (115 FT)? IN 1974, 3 CAVED SHAFTS, 35 CAVED PITS, AN OPEN CUT, TRENCH AND DUMPS WERE REPORTED.

Comments on development

  • MINE WAS ALREADY IN THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT IN 1835. IN ITS EARLY HISTORY IT WAS FIRST CALLED THE BOOKER MINE. LATER THE MINE WAS WORKED AS TWO SEPARATE MINES, THE GARNETT AND THE MOSELEY, BY THE GARNETT MINING CO. AND W.M. MOSELEY AND CO. RESPECTIVELY. IN 1852 THEY WERE CONSOLIDATED UNDER ONE MANAGEMENT AND INCORPORATED. FOR SEVERAL YEARS AFTER THIS THE PROPERTY WAS CONTROLLED BY AN ENGLISH COMPANY. IN 1880 THE MINE WAS WORKED BY THE MORROW MINING CO. AND THEREAFTER WAS REFERRED TO AS THE MORROW MINE. IN 1938 THE MINE WAS OPERATED FOR MOST OF THE YEAR AND THE BULLION WAS SHIPPED TO THE PHILADELPHIA MINT AND CONCENTRATES WERE SHIPPED TO CARTERET, N.J. WHILE THE GARNETT AND MOSELEY MINES WERE BEING WORKED SEPARATELY THERE WERE TWO SMALL MILLS IN OPERATION. IN 1854, SOON AFTER THE ENGLISH COMPANY HAD BOUGHT THE MINE, A NEW MILL WITH 72 STAMPS WAS IN OPERATION, REPLACING THE 24 STAMPS THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN EMPLOYED, AND THE AMALGAMATION WAS PERFORMED ON TWO SETS OF SHAKING TABLES.
  • IN 1865 CREDNER FOUND TWO MILLS ON THE PROPERTY{ ONE CONTAINING 4 SHAKING TABLES, NEARLY NEW, AND A VERY LARGE BALL-CRUSHER WHICH HAD NOT BEEN USED. THE OTHER WITH 12 BATTERIES OF 3 STAMPS EACH, 72 SHAKING TABLES, ARRANGED IN 2 SYSTEMS, AND CHILIAN MILLS. IN LATER YEARS, A HOWLAND MILL WAS USED TO PULVERIZE THE ORE AND THE SULPHIDES WERE CONCENTRATED ON 2 VANNERS. AN ATTEMPT WAS MADE IN 1893-4 TO TREAT THE SULPHIDES BY THE MEARS CHLORINATION PROCESS, BUT IT IS SAID TO HAVE FAILED BECAUSE OF MECHANICAL DEFECTS IN THE PROCESS USED, THOUGH A SATISFACTORY EXTRACTION OF THE GOLD WAS OBTAINED. PLACER OPERATIONS WERE ALSO CONDUCTED NEAR THE VEINS DURING ITS EARLY HISTORY. A NUGGET OF NEARLY 9 POUNDS, BESIDES MANY MASSES OF A FEW OUNCES EACH WERE MIXED WITH GRAINS OF GOLD IN THE BED OF A RIVULET IMMEDIATELY SOURCE OF THE MINE. CALLAN MINING CORPORATION PUT IN A 1000 FOOT TRENCH IN THE EARLY 1980'S. HUNT, WARE AND PROFFIT OF LYNCHBURG HAD SOME INTEREST LATER AND SO DID FREEPORT MACMORAND. THE
  • PROPERTY WAS SOLD BY OWENS-ILLINOIS TOWESTVACO IN LATE 1986; HOWEVER OWENS-ILLINOIS RETAINED 1/2 INTEREST IN THE MINERAL RIGHTS.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    SWEET, P.C., 1980, GOLD IN VIRGINIA: VIRGINIA DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES, PUBLICATION 19, 77 P.

  • Deposit

    TABER, S., 1913, GEOLOGY OF THE GOLD BELT IN THE JAMES RIVER BASIN, VIRGINIA; VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 7, 271 P.

  • Deposit

    LUTTRELL, G.W., 1966, BASE-AND PRECIOUS-METAL AND RELATED ORE DEPOSITS OF VIRGINIA; VA. DIV. OF MINERAL RESOURCES, MINERAL RESOURCES REPORT 7, 167 P.

  • Deposit

    WATSON, T.L., 1907, MINERAL RESOURCES OF VIRGINIA: LYNCHBURG, VA., E. P. BELL CO., 618 P.

  • Deposit

    CREDNER, HERMANN, REPORT OF EXPLORATIONS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA: AMER. JOUR. MNG., 1869, VOL. VII, P. 73{

  • Deposit

    HAMMETT, A.B.J., 1966, THE HISTORY OF GOLD: KERRVILLE, TEXAS, BRASWELL PRINTING CO., P. 43-53.

  • Deposit

    THE VIRGINIAS, 1880, P. 31.

  • Deposit

    THE VIRGINIAS, 1882, P. 175.

  • Deposit

    U.S. BUREAU OF MINES MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1939, P. 321, U. S. BUREAU OF MINES.

  • Deposit

    1852 DIREXPL W.M. MOSELY AND CO. AND GARNETT MINING CO.:

  • Deposit

    1880 DIREXPL MORROW MINING CO:

  • Deposit

    1974 RECON VA. DIV. OF MINERAL RESOURCES; SITE INSPECTED

  • Production

    TABER, S., (1913) P. 200

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit VEIN ESTIMATED TO BE OVER 9.1 M WIDE AND OVER 183 M LONG. MINE CONTAINED LENTICULAR VEINS OR CONCRETIONS OF WHITE QUARTZ, CARRYING IRON OXIDE, PYRITE, AND GOLD. IN SOME PLACES THESE GOLD-BEARING BEDS WERE CUT OFF BY DOMES AND RIDGES OF DIORITE, WHICH WAS TOTALLY BARREN OF GOLD. WHEN THE MINE WORKINGS STRUCK THIS DIORITE THEY WERE STOPPED.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUN-1979 Beaulieu, Harvey R. (Le Van, D. C.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-JUL-1987 Sweet, Palmer C. (Trimble, David C.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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