Minesota Mine

Past Producer in Ontonagon county in Michigan, United States with commodities Copper, Silver
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. Alteration
  9. Mineral occurrence model information
  10. Host and associated rocks
  11. Nearby scientific data
  12. Geologic structures
  13. Ore body information
  14. Controls for ore emplacement
  15. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  16. Mining district
  17. Land status
  18. Production statistics
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10080378
MRDS ID W031503
Record type Site
Current site name Minesota Mine
Alternate or previous names Minesota Fissure

Comments on the site names

  • ABSORBED BY MICHIGAN MINE 1899

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -89.17563, 46.73028 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Ontonagon(county)

Michigan(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Rockland(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Ontonagon(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Iron River(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Ontonagon(hydrologic unit)

Southcentral Lake Superior(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southern Lake Superior(hydrologic subregion)

Great Lakes(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Michigan Ontonagon

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Michigan 050N 039W 15 NW OF NW Michigan
NE OF NW Michigan
SE OF NW Michigan
SW OF NW Michigan
SW OF SW Michigan
SE OF SW Michigan
NE OF SW Michigan
NW OF SW Michigan

Comments on the location information

  • CENTERED BETWEEN A GROUP OF TWELVE SHAFTS IN SECTIONS 15 AND 16.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Copper Ore
Silver Ore
Quartz Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Epidote Gangue
Pumpellyite-(Mg) Gangue
Chlorite Gangue
Feldspar Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Bleaching and iron removal; silicification, pumpellitization

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 96
USGS model code Unassigned
Deposit model name Native Cu
Mark3 model number 99

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt
    Rock unit name Portage Lake Volcanics
    Rock description Portage Lake Volcanics
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Stenian
    Chronological age 1095
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Conglomerate
    Rock unit name Minnesota Conglomerate
    Rock description Minnesota Conglomerate
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Stenian
    Chronological age 1095

Nearby scientific data

(1) -89.17563, 46.73028

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Syncline
Type of structure Local
Structure description Minnesota fisssure, branch fissure

Ore body information

  • Name MINESOTA FISSURE
    General form TABULAR FISSURE
    Strike 44 NW
    Thickness 2M
    Depth to top 370M

Comments on the ore body information

  • Orebody thickness 2-8 ft.

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Fissures and permeable conglomerates and amygdaloidal flow tops

Comments on the geologic information

  • COPPER OCCURED IN TWO NORTHWARD-DIPPING BEDS (MINNESOTA CONGLOMEATE AND CALICO AMYGDALOID) AND IN STRIKE FISSURES THAT PARALLELED THE BEDS OR DIP MORE STEEPLY THAN THE BEDS AND CUT THEM (MINNESOTA AND BRANCH FISSURES). THE MINNESOTA CONGLOMERATE IS A PEBBLE TO BOULDER CONGLOMERATE COMPOSED MAINLY OF FELSITIC MATERIAL. THE CALICO LODE IS A FRAGMENTAL LODE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant Yes
Year of first production 1848
Year of last production 1885

Mining district

District name Keweenaw Copper

Land status

Ownership category Private

Production statistics

  • Year 1885
    Period 1848-1885
    Accuracy Accurate
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major conc Cu Copper Copper 1574.27mt

Comments on the production information

  • NO GRADE ANALYSIS AVAILABLE. PRODUCTION WAS FROM MINNESOTA CONGLOMERATE, CALICO AMYGDALOID AND THE BRANCH AND MINNESOTA FISSURES. SILVER SOLD IN NINE DIFFERENT YEARS AMOUNTED TO - $6,051.29

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • NO RESERVES COMMERCIALLY PRODUCIBLE.

Comments on the workings information

  • OPEN PIT 1848-1870, FIRST MINED BY COPPER CULTURE INDIANS. CALLED 'THE MOTHER OF ALL MINES'. NOTABLE FOR LARGEST MASS OF NATIVE COPPER FOUND IN KEWEENAW DISTRICT. THE MINESOTA HAD 9 SHAFTS ON THE MINNESOTA FISSURE.

Comments on development

  • BALTIMORE MINING CO. 1846, VULCAN MINING CO. 1847, ONTONAGON MINING CO. 1847, MINESOTA MINING CO. 1848, DUE TO CONFLICTS, OWNERSHIP HAD TO BE SETTLED BY SUPREME COURT; MINE WENT TO TRIBUTORS 1870, TO MICHIGAN MINING CO. 1899, MOHAWK MINING CO.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    COPPER RANGE CO., UNPUBLISHED, 1968, BEDROCK GEOLOGY MAP OF THE ROCKLAND (NW 1/4) QUADRANGLE, ONTONAGON COUNTY, MICHIGAN. GEOLOGY MAPPED AND COMPILED BY THE COPPER RANGE EXPLORATION CO., INC., AND BY H. HUBBARD (U.S.G.S.)

  • Deposit

    BUTLER, B.S., AND BURBANK, W.S., 1929, THE COPPER DEPOSITS OF MICHIGAN: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROF. PAPER 144,238P.

  • Deposit

    WILBAND, J.T., 1978, THE COPPER RESOURCES OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN; PREPARED FOR THE U.S. BUREAU OF MINES, CONTRACT NO J0366067, 66P.

  • Deposit

    JOHNSON, A.M., AND GROTH, E.H.,, 1998, INVENTORY OF UNDERGROUND MINES, ONTONAGON COUNTY, P. 173-176, MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES.

  • Production

    BUTLER AND BURBANK (1929)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit MINNESOTA MINING CO. INCORPORATED IN 1848 AND REORGANIZED 1855. WORKED BY TRIBUTORS AFTER 1870 UNTIL LAST PRODUCTION IN 1885. LATER BECAME THE PROPERTY OF THE MICHIGAN COPPER MINING CO. IN 1898 AND THE MOHAWK MINING CO. IN 1923. PRODUCED FROM THE MINNESOTA CONGLOMERATE, CALICO AMYGDALOID, AND THE BRANCH AND MINNESOTA FISSURES. MOST OF EARLY PRODUCTION WAS FROM THE FISSURES, WHICH CONTAINED MASS COPPER (INCLUDING THE LARGEST SINGLE PIECE EVER FOUND).
Deposit THE MINESOTA [SIC] MINE WORKED THE MINNESOTA FISSURE WHERE IT OCCURRED WITHIN THE MINNESOTA CONGLOMERATE, THE RELATED BRANCH FISSURE, AND THE ADJACENT MINNESOTA CONGLOMERATE AND CALICO AMYGDALOIDAL LODES. THE TREMENDOUSLY RICH MINNESOTA (AND BRANCH) FISSURE WAS THE TOP PRODUCING FISSURE IN THE DISTRICT, PRODUCING OVER 61 MILLION POUNDS OF COPPER AND 21,000 OUNCES OF SILVER. MUCH OF THE COPPER REPLACED CONGLOMERATE, BUT WAS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE FISSURES.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-OCT-1980 Yeager, Keith (Cannon, W.) Michigan Geological Survey Division
Updater 01-MAR-1997 Sutphin, D.M. U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 01-MAY-1997 Mason Jr., G.T. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 08-AUG-2001 Anderson, Arlene (M. Gere) Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Beyond USGS

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

External references