Du Pont Tunnel

Prospect in Gunnison county in Colorado, United States with commodities Niobium (Columbium), REE, Titanium, Metal, Iron, Manganese, Thorium, Zinc, Phosphorus-Phosphates

Sections on this page

Identification information
Geographic coordinates
Site location context
Geographic areas
Public Land Survey System information
Commodities
Materials information
Alteration
Host and associated rocks
Nearby scientific data
Geologic structures
Economic information about the deposit and operations
Mining district
Land status
Ownership information
Workings at the site
Links to other databases
Bibliographic references
General comments
Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID	10014564
MRDS ID	D011389
Record type	Site
Current site name	Du Pont Tunnel

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates:	-107.06701, 38.25944 (WGS84)
Elevation	2573
Relative position	20.7 MILES S 22 W FROM GUNNISON

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Gunnison(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Powderhorn(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Montrose(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Montrose(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Gunnison(hydrologic unit)

Gunnison(hydrologic accounting unit)

Gunnison(hydrologic subregion)

Upper Colorado(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country	State	County
United States	Colorado	Gunnison

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian	Township	Range	Section	Fraction	State
New Mexico	046N	002W	11	SE OF NE OF NW	Colorado

Comments on the location information

NEAR NW BASE OF IRON HILL ON SOUTH SIDE OF DELDORADO CREEK, 2 MILES SE OF POWDERHORN AND 0.85 MILE NW OF IRON HILL SUMMIT. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1976

Commodities

Commodity	Importance
Niobium (Columbium) Critical	Primary
REE Critical	Secondary
Titanium, Metal Critical	Tertiary
Iron	Tertiary
Manganese Critical	Tertiary
Thorium	Tertiary
Zinc Critical	Tertiary
Phosphorus-Phosphates	Tertiary

Materials information

Materials	Type of material
Pyrochlore	Ore
Anatase	Gangue
Apatite	Gangue
Barite	Gangue
Bastnaesite	Gangue
Biotite	Gangue
Calcite	Gangue
Fluorite	Gangue
Ilmenite	Gangue
Magnetite	Gangue
Monazite	Gangue
Phlogopite	Gangue
Pyrite	Gangue
Rutile	Gangue
Sphene	Gangue
Synchisite	Gangue
Zircon	Gangue

Alteration

(Local) Oxidation Of Pyrite To Hematite And Goethite; Oxidation Of Rhodochrosite(?) To Mn Oxides

Host and associated rocks

Host or associated

Associated

Rock type

Plutonic Rock > Carbonatite, Intrusive

Rock unit name

Carbonatite

Rock description

Carbonatite

Stratigraphic age (youngest)	Late Cambrian
Stratigraphic age (youngest)	Late Cambrian

Host or associated Host

Rock type Plutonic Rock > Carbonatite, Intrusive

Host or associated	Host
Rock type	Plutonic Rock > Carbonatite, Intrusive

Nearby scientific data

(1)	-107.06701, 38.25944	ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure	Regional
Structure description	Gunnison Uplift, San Juan Volcanic Field
Type of structure	Local
Structure description	Iron Hill Alkalic Complex, Cimarron Fault, Powderhorn Stock

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status	Prospect
Commodity type	Both
Deposit size	Large
Significant	No
Discovery year	1956

Mining district

District name	White Earth (Powderhorn) District

Land status

Ownership category	BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

Type Operator

Owner Humphreys Mineral Industries, Inc., Denver, Co. And Raymond Kaiser Engineers, Inc., Oakland,

First year 1983
Type Owner

Owner Buttes Oil And Gas Co.

Home office Oakland, Ca.

First year 1983

Type	Operator
Owner	Humphreys Mineral Industries, Inc., Denver, Co. And Raymond Kaiser Engineers, Inc., Oakland,
First year	1983

Type	Owner
Owner	Buttes Oil And Gas Co.
Home office	Oakland, Ca.
First year	1983

Workings at the site

Type of workings Underground

Length 111.25M

Overall length 111.25M

Type of workings	Underground
Length	111.25M
Overall length	111.25M

Comments on the workings information

365-FT-LONG TUNNEL DRIVEN GENERALLY SE; NUMEROUS DRILL HOLES

Comments on development

INTEREST IN NB2O5 PRODUCTION.
FOLLOWING ATTEMPTS TO MINE VERMICULITE IN AREA IN 1930S AND 1940S, MINNESOTA INVESTORS TURNED POWDERHORN PROPERTY OVER TO HUMPHREYS ENGINEERING COMPANY, WHO CONDUCTED TI EXPLORATION AND DRILLING AND PERFECTED PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION OF PEROVSKITE CONCENTRATES. IN 1956, HUMPHREYS INTERESTED DUPONT IN PROPERTY. DUPONT'S CHIEF GEOLOGIST, ROBERT GROGAN, RECOGNIZED IRON HILL AS A CARBONATITE BASED ON HIS EXAMINATION OF AFRICAN CARBONATITES. FOLLOWING ITS ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY IN 1956, DUPONT BEGAN NB EXPLORATION, INCLUDING DRILLING AND TUNNEL DRIVING IN 1957-1958. ENGINEERING STUDY ON MINING AND CONCENTRATING METHODS AND COSTS DONE BY STEARNS-ROGER, AND ORE DRESSING STUDY DONE BY COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES RESEARCH INSTITUTE. BUTTES OIL AND GAS ACQUIRED PROPERTY IN 1968 AND BEGAN INTENSIVE STUDIES, INCLUDING GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYING, DRILLING, MARKET STUDIES, COMPUTER ORE RESERVE ANALYSES, AND ECONOMIC MODELLING, MOSTLY AIMED AT TIO2 PRODUCTION WITH BY-PRODUCT RARE EARTHS BUT WITH CONTINUED

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency	Database name	Acronym	Record ID	Notes
USGS	Mineral Resources Data System	MRDS	D011389

Bibliographic references

Deposit

HEDLUND, D.C., AND OLSON, J.C., 1975, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE POWDERHORN QUADRANGLE, GUNNISON AND SAGUACHE COUNTIES, COLORADO: USGS MAP GQ-1178.
Deposit

THOMPSON, J.V., 1983, ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF THE CARBONATITE AND ALKALIC STOCK AT POWDERHORN, GUNNISON COUNTY, COLORADO, IN HANDFIELD, R.C., ED., GUNNISON GOLD BELT AND POWDERHORN CARBONATITE FIELD TRIP GUIDEBOOK: DREGS, P. 32-42.
Deposit

OLSON, J.C., AND HEDLUND, D.C., 1981, ALKALIC ROCKS AND RESOURCES OF THORIUM AND ASSOCIATED ELEMENTS IN THE POWDERHORN DISTRICT, GUNNISON COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS PROF. PAPER 1049-C.
Deposit

COLORADO DIV. MINES INF. REPTS.

General comments

Subject category	Comment text
Deposit	CARBONATITE STOCK LIES WEST OF CENTER OF IRON HILL COMPLEX, INTRUDED BETWEEN PYROXENITE ON NE AND SE AND SHEARED GRANITE AND DUBOIS FELSITE ON SW. STEEPLY DIPPING TO VERTICAL FOLIATION IS MARKED BY APATITE-RICH SEAMS OR SEGREGATIONS, BY PHLOGOPITE-BIOTITE SEAMS, OR BY STRAINED AND DEFORMED CARBONATE CRYSTALS. TEXTURE VARIES FROM COARSE GRAINED TO PEGMATITIC TO FINE GRAINED. PYROCHLORE IS DISSEMINATED THROUGH STOCK AND CARBONATITE DIKES AS TINY, WEAKLY ZONED, OCTAHEDRAL CRYSTALS. CONTAINED RADIOACTIVITY COULD BE DUE TO TH IN PYROCHLORE OR TO MONAZITE.

Subject category

Comment text

Deposit

CARBONATITE STOCK LIES WEST OF CENTER OF IRON HILL COMPLEX, INTRUDED BETWEEN PYROXENITE ON NE AND SE AND SHEARED GRANITE AND DUBOIS FELSITE ON SW. STEEPLY DIPPING TO VERTICAL FOLIATION IS MARKED BY APATITE-RICH SEAMS OR SEGREGATIONS, BY PHLOGOPITE-BIOTITE SEAMS, OR BY STRAINED AND DEFORMED CARBONATE CRYSTALS. TEXTURE VARIES FROM COARSE GRAINED TO PEGMATITIC TO FINE GRAINED. PYROCHLORE IS DISSEMINATED THROUGH STOCK AND CARBONATITE DIKES AS TINY, WEAKLY ZONED, OCTAHEDRAL CRYSTALS. CONTAINED RADIOACTIVITY COULD BE DUE TO TH IN PYROCHLORE OR TO MONAZITE.

Reporter information

Type	Date	Name	Affiliation	Comment
Reporter	01-FEB-1984	Schwochow, Stephen D.	Colorado Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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.