Big Ben

Occurrence in Cascade county in Montana, United States with commodities Molybdenum, Silver
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. Ore body information
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Ownership information
  15. Links to other databases
  16. Bibliographic references
  17. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10008404
MRDS ID D000518
Record type Site
Current site name Big Ben

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -110.71751, 46.96658 (WGS84)
Relative position IN THE LITTLE BELT MTNS IN LEWIS & CLARK NATIONAL FOREST; 61 MILES SE OF GREAT FALLS

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Cascade(county)

Montana(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Neihart(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

White Sulphur Springs(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

White Sulphur Springs(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Belt(hydrologic unit)

Upper Missouri(hydrologic accounting unit)

Missouri-Marias(hydrologic subregion)

Missouri(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Montana Cascade

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Montana Principal 014N 008E 21 Montana

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Molybdenum Primary
Silver Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Molybdite Ore
Sphalerite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Kaolinization

Analytical data

Result AVERAGE GRADE-0.33% MOS2

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Rock unit name Pinto Diorite;Carpenter Creek Granite Porphyry;Snow Creek Quartz Porphyry
    Rock description Pinto Diorite;Carpenter Creek Granite Porphyry;Snow Creek Quartz Porphyry
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss

Nearby scientific data

(1) -110.71751, 46.96658

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form ELLIPSOIDAL

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Discovery year 1922

Mining district

District name Neihart Mining Dist.

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Amax, Inc.
  • Type Owner
    Owner Frank Mansikka
    Home office Neihart, Montana

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    SCHAFER, P., 1935, GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE NEIHART MINING DIST. MONTANA: MONTANA BUR. OF MINING & GEOL. MEMO 13

  • Deposit

    HORTON, F., 1916, MOLYBDENUM ITS ORE AND THEIR CONCENTRATION: U.S.B.M. BULL. 111

  • Deposit

    HERDLICK, J.A., 1949, R.I 4406

  • Deposit

    1893 RECON W.H. WEED

  • Deposit

    1938 DIREXPL FEDERAL MINING & SMELTING CO

  • Deposit

    1943 GEOLMAP S. CREASEY & E. SCHOLZ

  • Deposit

    1962 DIREXPL AMAX

  • Reserve-Resource

    ITEM 1: R.U. KING ITEM 2: MONT. B.M.&G. BULL. 111

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-AUG-1974 King, Robert U. U.S. Geological Survey PARSED HOST ROCK AND ASSOCIATED ROCK INFORMATION FROM OLD SINGLE VALUED FIELD TO NEW MULTIVALUED FIELD
Editor 09-JUN-1995 Mosier, Dan U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.