Barite Hill

Past Producer in McCormick county in South Carolina, United States with commodities Gold, Barium-Barite, Copper, Zinc, 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. 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 10307219
MRDS ID TK00001
Record type Site
Current site name Barite Hill

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -82.29485, 33.87486 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 10000(meters)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

McCormick(county)

South Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Plum Branch(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Clark Hill Lake(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Athens(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Savannah(hydrologic unit)

Savannah(hydrologic accounting unit)

Ogeechee-Savannah(hydrologic subregion)

South Atlantic-Gulf(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Sumpter National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Francis Marion and Sumter 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 South Carolina McCormick

Comments on the location information

  • Two miles south of Mccormick, SC.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Barium-Barite Critical Primary
Copper Secondary
Zinc Critical Secondary
Lead Secondary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Pyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Barite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Chert Gangue
Talc Gangue
Tremolite Gangue
Sericite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Hydrothermal Alteration

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metavolcanic Rock > Felsic Metamorphic Rock
    Rock unit name Persimmon Fork Formation
    Rock description Persimmon Fork Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -82.29485, 33.87486

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Tight to isoclinal folding

Comments on the geologic information

  • Host rocks for the Barite Hill deposit are sericitic, felsic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Late Proterozoic Persimmon Fork Formation, which consists of the Lincolnton meta-rhyolite and overlying lower and upper pyroclastic units. The deposit lies stratigraphically below an overturned contact between the upper and lower pyroclastic units. The Barite Hill deposit is interpreted to be the result of Kuroko-type submarine volcanogenic base-metal sulfide mineralization followed by precious metal deposition under epithermal conditions (Clark and others, 1999).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant Yes

Mining district

District name Lincolnton-Mccormick District

Production statistics

  • Year 1994
    Period 1990-1994
    Material silver
    Ore mined 3390280g
  • Year 1994
    Period 1990-1994
    Material gold
    Ore mined 1835000g
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major gold Gold Gold 0oz/st

Comments on the production information

  • Production data from Clark and others, 1999. Barite Hill was mined from 1990 to 1994. Gold and silver production was primarily from the oxidized ores in the Main and Rainsford Pits.

Comments on development

  • Exploration begain in the mid-1970's for barite. Gold exploration begain in 1985.

Reference information

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Main Pit at Barite Hill contains four parallel zones of gold-silver mineralization: footwall, middle, hanging wall, and Red Hill ore zones. The Rainsford Pit contains only one gold-silver -rich zone, which is the stratigraphic equivalent of the footwall ore zone in the Main Pit. Gold-silver-rich zones in the Main Pit are partly coincident with lenses of siliceous barite rock, but not confined to them, and occur more commonly in pyrite-quartz altered fragmental rock. The stratigraphically uppermost of the four ore zones in the Main Pit is overlain by a zone of barite and base-metal enrichment, which is, in turn, overlain by a talc-tremolite alteration zone. Siliceous barite zones are absent in the Rainsford Pit and gold-silver minerals are associated with silicified rock and chert (Clark and others, 1999).
Deposit The ore strike in N 60 E, and the ore dip is 75 NW. The two pits (Main Pit and Rainsford Pit) are separated by 500 m. The overal length of the surface working is 1000 m.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-83 Klein, Terry U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 17-DEC-03 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.