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Serpentine Deposit

Unknown in St. Louis county in Minnesota, United States with commodities Copper, Nickel
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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. Geologic structures
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Reserves and resources
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10082823
MRDS ID W062176
Record type Site
Current site name Serpentine Deposit

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -91.87185, 47.67528 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

St. Louis(county)

Minnesota(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Babbitt NE(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Ely(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Two Harbors(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rainy Headwaters(hydrologic unit)

Rainy(hydrologic accounting unit)

Rainy(hydrologic subregion)

Souris-Red-Rainy(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Superior 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 Minnesota St. Louis

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
4th Principal 60N 12W 16 Minnesota

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Nickel Critical Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • PGE MINERALIZATION IS KNOWN TO OCCUR ONLY ALONG THE WESTERN CONTACT OF THE 1.1 GA DULUTH COMPLEX.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Pentlandite Ore
Cubanite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 9
USGS model code 5a
Deposit model name Duluth Cu-Ni-PGE

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Gabbro > Troctolite
    Rock unit name South Kawishiwi Intrusion
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesoproterozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -91.87185, 47.67528
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Several Ne-Trending Normal Faults Parallel The Midcontinent Rift System Near The Margin. These Faults Formed During The Opening Of The Rift And Controlled Emplacement Of The Troctolitic And Late Intrusions.
Type of structure Local
Structure description At The Serpentine Deposit, Footwall Relationships Indicate That Movement Along The Grano Fault Was Initiated Prior To Emplacement Of The Partridge River Intrusion.

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Faults And Folds Were Responsible For Localizing Sulfide Mineralization As Well As For Providing Conduits For Later Syn- To Post-Magmatic Hydrothermal Fluids.

Comments on the geologic information

  • THE DULUTH COMPLEX IS A LARGE, COMPOSITE THOLEIITIC MAFIC INTRUSION THAT WAS EMPLACED INTO COMAGMATIC FLOOD BASALTS ALONG A PORTION OF THE MIDDLE PROTEROZOIC (1.1 GA, KEWEENAWAN) MIDCONTINENT RIFT SYSTEM. IN THE SOUTH KAWISHIWI INTRUSION, SULFIDES FORM A DISCREET ZONE UNDERLYING SULFIDE-FREE ROCKS. MOST SULFIDES OCCUR INTERSTITIALLY BETWEEN EUHEDRAL OLIVINE OR PLAGIOCLASE OR ARE INCLUDED IN THE RIMS OF SILICATES. THE SULFIDES FORMED AFTER MOST SILICATES HAD ACCUMULATED.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Commodity type Metallic
Significant No

Mining district

District name Western Margin Duluth Complex

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1994
    Total resources 7000mt ore

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • ALONG THE WESTERN MARGIN OF THE DULUTH COMPLEX, THE CU-NI SULFIDE RESOURCES ARE ESTIMATED AT 4.4 BILLION TONS OF 0.66 PERCENT CU WITH A CU:NI RATIO OF 3.3:1.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    PAGE, N. J, 1986, DESCRIPTIVE MODEL OF DULUTH CU-NI-PGE, IN COX, D.P. AND SINGER, D.A., MINERAL DEPOSIT MODELS: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1693, P. 16.

  • Deposit

    HAUCK, S.A., SEVERSON, M.J., ZANKO, L., BARNES, S-J., MORTON, P., ALMINAS, H., FOORD, E.E., AND DAHLBERG, E.H., IN PRESS [1996], AN OVERVIEW OF THE GEOLOGY AND OXIDE, SULFIDE AND PLATINUM-GROUP ELEMENT MINERALIZATION ALONG THE WESTERN AND NORTHERN CONTACTS OF THE DULUTH COMPLEX: GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA SPECIAL PAPER.

  • Deposit

    FOOSE, M.P., 1985, THE SETTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF COPPER-NICKEL SULFIDES IN THE SOUTH KAWISHIWI INTRUSION, DULUTH COMPLEX, MINNESTOA, IN KRAFT, KATHLEEN, ED., U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY RESEARCH ON MINERAL RESOURCES--1985, PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 949, P. 12-13.

  • Deposit

    SEVERSON, M.J., 1994, IGNEOUS STRATIGRAPHY OF THE SOUTH KAWISHIWI INTRUSION, DULUTH COMPLEX, NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA: [MINNESOTA] NATURAL RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, TECHNICAL REPORT, NRRI/TR-93/34, 210 P.

  • Reserve-Resource

    HAUCK AND OTHERS, IN PRESS.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-96 Sutphin, David M. (Cannon, W. F.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAR-97 Sutphin, David M. U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 01-MAY-97 Mason Jr., G.T. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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