Marion Mine

Past Producer in Custer county in Colorado, United States with commodities Zinc, Copper, Lead, Silver
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. Geologic structures
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Reserves and resources
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10166864
MRDS ID DC02534
MAS/MILS ID 0080270100
Record type Site
Current site name Marion Mine
Alternate or previous names Marion Mines Inc.

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Main Entrance
Geographic coordinates: -105.09166, 37.98562 (WGS84)
Elevation 3231
Location accuracy 50(meters)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Custer(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

San Isabel(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Blanca Peak(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Trinidad(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic unit)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic subregion)

Arkansas-White-Red(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Pike and San Isabel National Forests(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Custer

Comments on the location information

  • Wet Mountains, a few miles west of San Isabel along Amethyst Creek.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Zinc Critical Primary
Copper Primary
Lead Primary
Silver Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Mined principally for zinc and copper in the early 1900s. Lead and silver present in locally high concentrations.
  • The Marion mine is the principal mine of the Wet Mountain district (Davis and Streufert, 1990).

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Sphalerite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Gahnite Gangue
Cordierite Gangue
Garnet Gangue
Pyroxene Gangue
Gahnite Gangue
Sapphirine Trace
Amphibole Unknown

Alteration

  • (Local) calc-silicate host rocks within gneiss.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 271
USGS model code Unassigned
Deposit model name Stratabound Precambrian sulfide, Colorado and Wyoming

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Amphibolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist > Calc-Silicate Schist
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Rock unit name San Isabel Granite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss > Migmatite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleoproterozoic

Nearby scientific data

Main Entrance (1) -105.09166, 37.98562

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description NE-striking sulfide lenses

Comments on the geologic information

  • Sulfide lenses associated with calc-silicate gneiss layers within larger package ofPaleoproterozoic gneiss that may be a xenolith within San Isabel Granit e.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

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

Mining district

District name Wet Mountains

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Comments on the production information

  • Unknown production from 1906-1916(?). Fairly extensive workings.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1956
    Measured 109000mt ore
    Indicated 200000mt ore
    Demonstrated 309000mt ore
    Inferred 300000mt ore
    Total resources 609000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Copper 1.4 wt-pct Copper Major 1956
    Zinc 9.1 wt-pct Zinc Major 1956

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Resource estimate from reports in Sunshine Mining Co. files (Colorado Geological Survey).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 17-NOV-83 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines
Updater 28-FEB-05 Keller, John W. Colorado Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

External references

Authoritative Colorado resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.