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Ore Hill Mine

Past Producer in Chatham county in North Carolina, United States with commodity Iron
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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. 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 10102379
MRDS ID K005045
Record type Site
Current site name Ore Hill Mine
Related records 10126924

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -79.42198, 35.65981 (WGS84)
Relative position 4.5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SILER CITY AND 4.2 MILES NORTHWEST OF THE TOWN OF BEAR CREEK.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Chatham(county)

North Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Siler City(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
Iron Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Goethite Ore
Hematite Ore
Limonite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Sericite, Pyrophyllite (Immediately West Of Deposit)

Analytical data

Result 40-60 % METALLIC FE, 0.03-1.6% P205, 1% TIO2, 0.2% S, 1.5-24% SIO2

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -79.42198, 35.65981
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Nw- And Ne-Trending Fractures

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR
    Strike N 40 E AND N 25 TO N 80 W AND NE
    Dip 70-80
    Plunge direction NW AND NE
    Length 100M
    Width 6M
    Depth to bottom 27M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Nw- And Ne-Trending Fractures Or Small Faults

Comments on the geologic information

  • SHEARED AND BLEACHED RHYOLITIC TUFF STRIKES N 45 DEG E AND DIPPING 70 NW. ORE APPEARS TO BE A PSEUDOGOSSAN COMPOSED OF TRANSPORTED LIMONITE WITH GOETHITE AND HEMATITE. TENSION FRACTURES ALONG BOTH SIDES OF THE SHEAR ZONE HAVE BEEN FILLED WITH IRON ORE AND SMALLER FRACTURES HAVE BEEN FILLED WITH QUARTZ. LIMONITE WAS ALSO DEPOSITED IN THE VEINS. EARLY REPORTS DESCRIBE ORE AS BEING SPOUNGY, POROUS, SCORIACEOUS, BOTRYOIDAL, MAMILLARY, STALACTITIC AND TABULAR. LARGE CAVITIES WERE REPORTED IN PORTIONS OF THE VEINS.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1750
Year of first production 1775
Year of last production 1903

Mining district

District name Carolina Slate Belt

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall depth 27M

Comments on the workings information

  • NUMEROUS SHAFTS ARE ON THE PROPERTY. OPENING NO. 1 WAS 40 FT. DEEP WITH DRIFTS IN SEVERAL DIRECTIONS. OPENING NO. 2 WAS 80 FT. DEEP W/ONE SHORT DRIFT. WHIM SHAFT WAS 90 FT. DEEP. FOUR OPENINGS 85, 10, 4 AND 12 FT. DEEP.

Comments on development

  • FIRST PRODUCTION DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. THE SAPONA IRON CO. OPERATED A SMALL FURNACE HERE DURING THE CIVIL WAR, AND THE N. C. STEEL AND IRON CO. TOOK OUT 700 TONS DURING PROSPECTING, AROUND 1890. MINOR PRODUCTION IN 1903.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Analytical Data

    NITZE, 1893

  • 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.; NITZE, H.B., 1893, IRON ORES OF NORTH CAROLINA: NORTH CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1, P. 51-56.; KERR, W.C. AND HANNA, B., 1888, ORES OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPTER II, P. 137-139

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit WEATHERED PYRITIC OR PYRRHOTITIC VEINS RELATED TO AREA OFuADVANCED ARGILLIC AND PHYLLIC ALTERATION 1800M X 750M.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1976 Carpenter Iii, Albert P. North Carolina Division of Land Resources
Updater 01-JUN-1991 Klein, T.L. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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