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Cliffdweller Mine

Past Producer in Montrose county in Colorado, United States with commodities Copper, Silver, Gold, Lead, Zinc, Antimony, Arsenic
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Alteration
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Ownership information
  17. Production statistics
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10014258
MRDS ID D010954
Record type Site
Current site name Cliffdweller Mine
Alternate or previous names Cliff Dweller Mine, Patented Claims: Titon, MS 13030a, Cliff Dweller, MS 17486, Rainbow, MS 17487, General Lee, MS 18541a, White Chief, MS 18541a, Colorado, MS 18541a, Isabella, MS 18541a, Morgan, MS 18541a, Way Up, MS 18541a, Bay City, MS 18541a, Queen of the West, MS 18541a, Paradox, MS 18541a, Paradox Mill Site, MS 18541b
Related records 10190962, 10263850

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -108.95235, 38.3161 (WGS84)
Elevation 1661
Relative position 12.1 MILES S 73 W FROM URAVAN

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Montrose(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Paradox(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Nucla(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Moab(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Dolores(hydrologic unit)

Upper Colorado-Dolores(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Colorado-Dolores(hydrologic subregion)

Upper Colorado(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Montrose

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
New Mexico 047N 019W 22,27,28 Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • CLAIMS LIE ACROSS LA SAL CREEK AND ONTO NYSWONGER MESA ABOUT 2.8 MIES ABOVE CONFLUENCE WITH DOLORES RIVER 3.7 MILES SSE OF PARADOX AND 3.4 MILES WNW OF BEDROCK. ELEV AND LAT-LONG GIVEN ARE FOR PRINCIPAL TUNNEL IN NW SW NE SEC. 22. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1975

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Silver Primary
Gold Secondary
Lead Tertiary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Antimony Critical Tertiary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • ORE MINERALS DESCRIBED ONLY AS SIMILAR TO THOSE IN CASHIN MINE

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Amalgam Ore
Argentite Ore
Bornite Ore
Copper Ore
Cuprite Ore
Galena Ore
Silver Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Tennantite Ore
Barite Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Dolomite Gangue
Kaolinite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Oxidation Of Cu Sulfides To Carbonates And Oxide

Analytical data

Result ORE SHIPMENT IN 1937 CONTAINED 6% CU, 2.6 OZ/TON AG, 0.01 OZ/TON AU, 0.7% PB, 2% ZN

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone
    Rock unit name Wingate Sandstone;Chinle Formation
    Rock description Wingate Sandstone;Chinle Formation

Nearby scientific data

(1) -108.95235, 38.3161
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Paradox Basin Fold And Fault Belt
Type of structure Local
Structure description Paradox Anticline, Paradox Valley Graben, Unnamed Faults

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Fault Cutting Poorly Cemented, Friable Sandstone

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discoverer L.W. Galloway (Claimant)
Year of last production 1975

Mining district

District name La Sal (Paradox Valley) District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Nicolas Murphy
    First year 1975
  • Type Owner
    Owner Harold Bowen
    First year 1975

Production statistics

  • Year 1937
    Description Ap_Grade: ^6% Cu, 2.6 Oz/Ton Ag, 0.01 Oz/Ton Au, 0.7% Pb, 2% Zn
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Trace Ore Zinc Zinc 2wt-pct
    Trace Ore Lead Lead 1wt-pct
    Minor Ore Gold Gold 0g/mt
    Major Ore Silver Silver 73g/mt
    Major Ore Copper Copper 6wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • PARTIAL PRODUCTION RECORD. FIGURES UNAVAILABLE FOR YEARS PRIOR TO 1937 AND FOR YEARS BETWEEN 1937 AND 1974.

Comments on the workings information

  • CDM RECORDS FOR 1937 DESCRIBE WORKINGS AS MAIN (UPPER) TUNNEL DRIVEN 300 FT WITH 18-FT INCLINED WINZE NEAR PORTAL; STOPES. LOWER TUNNEL DRIVEN AS DRIFT FOR 528 FT, WITH RAISE TO UPPER LEVEL AT 475 FT FROM PORTAL. NEW 100-FT ADIT DRIVEN IN 1974-1975.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    EMMONS, W.H., 1906, THE CASHIN MINE, MONTROSE COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS BULL. 285, P.125-128.

  • Deposit

    COFFIN, R.C., 1921, RADIUM, URANIUM, AND VANADIUM DEPOSITS OF SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO: CGS BULL. 16, P.219-220.

  • Deposit

    WITHINGTON, C.F., 1955, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE PARADOX QUADRANGLE, COLORADO: USGS MAP GQ-72.

  • Deposit

    FISHCER, R.P., 1936, PECULIAR HYDROTHERMAL COPPER-BEARING VEINS OF THE NORTHEASTERN COLORADO PLATEAU: ECON. GEOLOGY, V. 31, NO. 6, P.588.

  • Deposit

    COLORADO DIV. MINES INF. REPTS. AND ANNUAL OPERATOR REPTS.

  • Deposit

    BLM MINERAL SURVEYS MS 13030A, 17486, 17487, 18541A&B

  • Production

    COLORADO DIV. MINES ANNUAL OPERATOR REPTS.; USBM 1954 MINERALS YEARBOOK

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit CLIFFDWELLER DEPOSIT DESCRIBED ONLY AS SIMILAR TO CASHIN MINE. DEPOSIT OCCURS IN WINGATE SANDSTONE ON SW LIMB OF PARADOX VALLEY ANTICLINE. ALTHOUGH FLANK OF FOLD IS CHARACTERIZED BY NUMEROUS GRABEN-TYPE NORMAL FAULTS TRENDING NW-SE AND DOWNTHROWN ON NE, CASHIN-CLIFFDWELLER DEPOSITS LOCALIZED IN VEINS ALONG TWO FAULTS TRENDING GENERALLY N 26 E (CLIFFDWELLER) AND N 45 E (CASHIN), POSSIBLY REPRESENTING EXTENSIONS OF SALT INTRUSIVE BULGES FROM INTERIOR OF PARADOX VALLEY (SIMILAR TO FAULT AT SUNRISE MINE ON NORTH SIDE OF VALLEY). ORES CHARACTERIZED BY ARGENTIFEROUS CU SULFIDES, CU ARSENIDES, NATIVE CU AND NATIVE AG. REPLACEMENT ORE CONSISTS OF SHORT BLADED AGGREGATES OF CHALCOPYRITE REPLACING SAND GRAINS, IN TURN REPLACED BY COVELLITE; MINOR ASSOCIATED SPHALERITE. VEIN ORE CONSISTS OF DOLOMITE FILLING VEIN AND CEMENTING BRECCIA OF SPHALERITE, GALENA, CHALCOPYRITE, AND FINE-GRAINED INTERGROWTH OF CHALCOPYRITE AND UNKNOWN SULFIDE; SOME ORE CARRIES BORNITE AND CHALCOCITE. LATER LUZONITE AND
Deposit COVELLITE CUT AND REPLACE GANGUE AND EARLY SULFIDES. ARBOREAL MASSES OF ARGENTIFEROUS NATIVE CU WEIGHED 400 TO 500 LB AND REPORTEDLY OCCURRED IN RED BEDS (CHINLE FM) UNDERLYING WINGATE. ALTHOUGH SOME AGE RELATIONS WERE INCONCLUSIVE, FISCHER (1936) PROPOSED GENERAL PARAGENESIS: EARLY BARITE(?); PYRITE, EARLY CHALCOPYRITE, SPHALERITE, GALENA, CHALCOPYRITE INTERGROWTH; BORNITE, CHALCOCITE, TENNANTITE(?), UNKNOWN SILVERY WHITE MINERAL; (BRECCIATION OF ORE BY POSSIBLE FAULT MOVEMENT); DOLOMITE (CEMENTING); LUZONITE, COVELLITE. FISCHER (1936) BELIEVED NATIVE CU AND CU ARSENIDES TO BE HYPOGENE ORIGIN. LINES OF EVIDENCE FOR HYPOGENE ORIGIN OF FINE-GRAINED CHALCOCITE: (1) REPLACEMENT OF SPHALERITE SIMULTANEOUSLY BY GALENA, BORNITE, CHALCOCITE, AND OTHER MINERALS; (2) REPLACEMENT INDEPENDENT OF FRACTURING; (3) GRANULAR TEXTURE AND INTERLOCKING GRAINS; (4) UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION OS SCATTERED MINERALS IN HOST SULFIDES; (5) ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE OF SUPERGENE ENRICHMENT.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1983 Schwochow, Stephen D. Colorado Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

External references

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Colorado resources

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