1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Franklin-Sterling Hill Zinc District

Past Producer in Sussex county in New Jersey, United States with commodities Zinc, Iron, Manganese
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
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. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Production statistics
  14. Bibliographic references
  15. General comments
  16. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10307218
MRDS ID K002900
Record type District
Current site name Franklin-Sterling Hill Zinc District
Alternate or previous names Franklin District
Related records 60000884

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -74.58292, 41.1 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Sussex(county)

New Jersey(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Franklin(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Middletown(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Scranton(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rondout(hydrologic unit)

Upper Hudson(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Hudson(hydrologic subregion)

Mid Atlantic(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States New Jersey Sussex

Comments on the location information

  • This is the DISTRICT record for Franklin-Sterling Hill zinc mines. The boundaries of the Franklin-Sterling Hill District are strictly defined -- Eastern boundary: bases of Sparta Mt & Hamburg Mt; Western boundary: eastern edge of the Wildcat Band of marble northward until it plunges beneath the unconformity, then, northerly along the Wallkill River; the southern boundary: Brooks Flat Road, an East-West road at the southern margin of Ogdensburg borough; and, the northern boundary: an East-West line from the intersection of state route 23 and county route 517 (Quarry Road) in Hamburg Borough at the Franklin borough-Hamburg borough line (an area formerly called Hardistonville) westward to the Wallkill River (Dunn, P.J.1995, Pt 1 p. 71). Additional information is availble with deposit records: W109035 - Franklin mine and W031395 - Sterling Hill.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Zinc Critical Primary
Iron Secondary
Manganese Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Mill concentrate data for the Franklin-Sterling Hill District:Franklin: 17.3% Zn, 13.52% Mn, 36.04% Fe, 1.57% Ca, 3.0% SiO2Sterling Hill: 17.09% Zn, 6.53% Mn, 41.40% Fe, 2.72% Ca, 2.42% SiO2(from Frondel and Baum, 1974).

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Franklinite Ore
Willemite Ore
Zincite Ore
Sphalerite Unknown

Alteration

  • (Local) Dolomitization

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Marble
    Rock unit name Franklin Marble
    Rock description Franklin Marble
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Proterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type
    Rock unit name Furnace Magnetite Bed
    Rock description Furnace Magnetite Bed
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Proterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss
    Rock unit name Cork Hill Gneiss
    Rock description Cork Hill Gneiss
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Proterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name Hardyston Quartzite
    Rock description Hardyston Quartzite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Cambrian
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Kittatinny Limestone
    Rock description Kittatinny Limestone
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cambrian

Nearby scientific data

(1) -74.58292, 41.1
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Folding, faulting, and fractures control ore occurrence

Comments on the geologic information

  • Within the Franklin-Sterling Hill District there are several iron ore bodies, including the Furnace Magnetite Bed, magnetite ore bodies on Ball's Hill and other magnetite beds in the Franklin Marble as well as the two zinc ore bodies (Franklin deposit and Sterling Hill deposit). The Furnace Magnetite Bed is probably genetically separate from the other units, and could have a genetic connection to the Franklin zinc ore body. However, information about the iron ore bodies is incomplete, and like the zinc ore bodies, their origin is not well understood.
  • Both the Franklin and the Sterling Hill ore bodies are enclosed in the Prroterozoic Franklin Marble formation. Sterling Hill is near the center of the Franklin Marble band, which is approximately a half-mile (~800 meters) wide locally, but the Franklin deposit is closer to the formation?s west side, where it has proximity relations to the Furnace Magnetite Bed, the Cork Hill Gneiss, and the overlying Hardyston Quartzite and Kittatinny Limestone.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant Yes

Mining district

District name Franklin-Sterling Hill Zinc District

Production statistics

  • Year 1954
    Period 1850-1954
    Material zinc ore
    Ore mined 22000000mt
  • Year 1986
    Period 1875-1986
    Material zinc ore
    Ore mined 11000000mt

Comments on the production information

  • Zinc mining began at Franklin about 1840 and continued until 1957 when the mine closed. Production during that time was approximately 22 million tons of ore. The Sterling Hill deposit was mined from about 1875 until 1986 with production of about 11 million tons of ore. Total production from the district was about 33 million tons of zinc ore, with an average grade about 19 wt % Zn.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Franklin-Sterling Hill zinc deposits are stratabound, sedimentary exhalative zinc deposits that are unique in the world. Willemite and franklinite occur as grains and bunches in calcite.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-AUG-1973 Fischer, Richard P. U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 01-APR-1975 Wedow, Helmuth U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 13-NOV-2003 Woodruff, Laurel G. U.S. Geological Survey Work done in Filemaker

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site