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El Frances Mine

Past Producer in Guanacaste, Costa Rica with commodity Manganese
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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. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Ore body information
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Ownership information
  15. Links to other databases
  16. Bibliographic references
  17. General comments
  18. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10097769
MRDS ID CS00021
Record type Site
Current site name El Frances Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -85.70413, 10.4955 (WGS84)
Elevation 130

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Guanacaste(province)

Costa Rica(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

Geographic areas

Country State
Costa Rica Guanacaste

Comments on the location information

  • ACCORDING TO SEARS (1919), THE DEPOSIT IS ABOUT 450 M W OF LAS PILAS, S OF THE ROAD TO POTRERO. ROBERTS (1944) HAS LOCATED IT 5.5 KM W OF SARDINAL AND 800 M S OF THE SARDINAL-NUEVO COLON ROAD. THE WORKINGS ARE ALONG THE CREST AND NORTH SLOPE OF A VERY STEEP AND NARROW RIDGE BETWEEN TWO GULLIES, APPARENTLY FOR A LENGTH OF ABOUT 250 M.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Manganese Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Braunite Ore
Psilomelane Ore
Pyrolusite Ore
Wad Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Silicification

Analytical data

Result GRAB SAMPLE FROM DUMPS: 31.60 % MN
Result 13.10 % FE
Result 39.75 % INSOLUBLE MATERIAL

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 97
USGS model code 24c
Deposit model name Volcanogenic Mn

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale

Nearby scientific data

(1) -85.70413, 10.4955
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form LENTICULAR TO IRREGULAR
    Length 25M
    Width 6M

Comments on the geologic information

  • HEIN AND OTHERS (1983) STATE THAT THE AGE OF THE CHERT IS UNKNOWN. KUYPERS AND DENYER (1979) NOTE THAT THE BASALT IS AT LEAST 10 M STRATIGRAPHICALLY BELOW THE RADIOLARIAN CHERT AND JASPER.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No

Mining district

District name Sardinal District

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner E. W. Creevy
  • Type Owner
    Owner Rothe Co.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • SEARS (1919) STATES THAT 40-50 METRIC TONNES ARE EXPOSED AT THE SURFACE AND THAT SOME OF THE NUMEROUS FRAGMENTS IN THE FLOAT ARE HIGH GRADE. ROBERTS (1944) NOTES THAT ABOUT 356 METRIC TONNES OF ORE HAVE BEEN PILED NEAR THE WORKINGS BUT THAT NO ORE HAS BEEN SHIPPED.

Comments on the workings information

  • SHALLOW OPEN PITS AND TRENCHES.

Comments on development

  • LAST WORKED IN 1938.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit FRAGMENTS IN FLOAT AND ORE IN PLACE IN POCKETS IN A HIGHLY WEATHERED ROCK THAT RESEMBLES THE RED HOST ROCK AT PLAYA REAL. ROBERTS (1944) STATES THAT LENTICULAR OREBODIES EXTEND ALONG BEDDING PLANES AND SMALL FAULTS, REPLACING SHALE, CHERT, AND JASPER. KUYPERS AND DENYER (1979) STATE THAT RADIOLARIAN CHERT WITH MN-RICH LAMINAE IS LATERAL TO JASPERIZED RADIOLARIAN CHERT, AND THAT BOTH ROCKS ARE OVERLAIN BY A MN NODULE DEPOSIT THAT, NEAR THE JASPERIZED CHERT, COALESCES INTO A CONTINUOUS LAYER. THIS NODULE CRUST OCCURS 15 M ABOVE THE BASALT-RADIOLARIAN CHERT CONTACT. ROBERTS (1944) CLAIMS "ALONG THE RIDGE TO THE NORTHEAST AND SOUTHWEST THERE IS SHALE STAINED WITH MANGANESE OXIDE, BUT NO PROMISING SHOWINGS HAVE BEEN FOUND THERE."

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAR-1986 Howe, Stephen S. U.S. Geological Survey PARSED HOST ROCK AND ASSOCIATED ROCK INFORMATION FROM OLD SINGLE VALUED FIELD TO NEW MULTIVALUED FIELD
Editor 27-APR-1995 Mosier, Dan U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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