Bear Creek Mine

Past Producer in Chatham county in North Carolina, United States with commodities Copper, Gold
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. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Workings at the site
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10098194
MRDS ID K005042
Record type Site
Current site name Bear Creek Mine
Related records 10296658

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -79.48726, 35.53038 (WGS84)
Relative position 4.1 MI. SOUTHEAST OF BENNETT AND 8.2 MI. SOUTHWEST OF BEAR CREEK (TOWN).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Chatham(county)

North Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bear Creek(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Chapel Hill(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Raleigh(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Deep(hydrologic unit)

Cape Fear(hydrologic accounting unit)

Cape Fear(hydrologic subregion)

South Atlantic-Gulf(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States North Carolina Chatham

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Gold Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bornite Ore
Chalcocite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Malachite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Chlorite Gangue
Epidote Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Chlorite

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite

Nearby scientific data

(1) Felsic Metavolcanic Rock

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Ne-Trending Folds Overturned To The East

Ore body information

  • General form CONCORDANT WITH METAMORPHIC FOLIATION - TABULAR
    Thickness 3M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Shearing In Coarse Felsic Lithic Tuff.

Comments on the geologic information

  • MOST DEPOSITS IN THE CHATHAM COUNTY COPPER "BELT" ARE ASSOCIATED WITH COARSEuFELSIC FRAGMENTAL ROCKS.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1942
Discoverer Bear Creek Copper Mine Co. Of Wilmington, N. C.
Year of first production 1944

Mining district

District name Chatham County Copper

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall depth 7M

Comments on the workings information

  • SHAFT WAS ORIGINALLY SUNK TO 23 FEET DEEP. IN 1970 SHAFT WAS FILLED WITH DEBRIS.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    CARPENTER, P. A., III, 1976, METALLIC MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE CAROLINA SLATE BELT, NORTH CAROLINA: NORTH CAROLINA MINERAL RESOURCES SEC. BULL. 84, 166 P.

  • Deposit

    NIXON, E.C., 1954, GEOLOGY OF THE HARPERS CROSSROADS AREA, SOUTHWESTERN CHATHAM COUTNY, NORTH CAROLINA: M.S. THESIS, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY, RALEIGH, 39 P.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit PROBABLY CONTINUOUS WITH THE PHILLIPS MINE. SULFIDE MINERALSuIN DISSEMINATED AND IN PATCHES, AND ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH QUARTZuAND QUARTZ-EPIDOTE VEINLETS.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1976 Carpenter Iii, Albert P. North Carolina Division of Land Resources
Updater 01-JUN-1993 Klein, T.L. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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