Alta Mine

Past Producer in McKinley county in New Mexico, United States with commodities Uranium, Vanadium
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. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Ore body information
  11. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Land status
  14. Ownership information
  15. Production statistics
  16. Workings at the site
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10014704
MRDS ID D011591
Record type Site
Current site name Alta Mine
Alternate or previous names Mine: Anaconda, Claims: Alta Group
Related records 10151229

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -108.03257, 35.47088 (WGS84)
Elevation 2176
Relative position ABOUT 24.4 MILES N26W OF GRANTS, NM

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

McKinley(county)

New Mexico(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Thoreau NE(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Zuni(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Gallup(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rio San Jose(hydrologic unit)

Rio Grande-Elephant Butte(hydrologic accounting unit)

Rio Grande-Elephant Butte(hydrologic subregion)

Rio Grande(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States New Mexico McKinley

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
New Mexico 014N 011W 05,06 NW OF SW (05); SE (06) New Mexico

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATION IS ACCURATE FOR THE PORTAL OF THE ADIT ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1979

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Uranium Primary
Vanadium Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Carnotite Ore
Coffinite Ore

Nearby scientific data

(1) -108.03257, 35.47088

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Big Draw Fault Zone

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR
    Length 91.44M

Comments on the geologic information

  • THE DEPOSIT OCCURS IN THE WESTWATER CANYON MEMBER OF THE MORRISON FORMATION.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1950
Discoverer Henry E. Andrews
Year of first production 1951
Year of last production 1968

Mining district

District name Grants Uranium District: Smith Lake Subdistrict

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Anaconda Co.
    Home office Bluewater, N.M.
  • Type Owner
    Owner Henry E. Andrews

Production statistics

  • Year 1968
    Period 1951 To 1968
    Accuracy Accurate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^0.40 Percent U3o8
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major U3O8 Ore Uranium Uranium 0wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCTION TOTALLED 3,330 TONS OF ORE

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Length 45.72M

Comments on the workings information

  • WORKINGS CONSIST OF THREE ADITS RANGING IN LENGTH FROM A FEW FEET TO 150 FEET. ALL OF THE ADITS ARE TIMBERED. THERE IS A WOODEN ORE CHUTE LEADING TO A LOADOUT LEVEL 40-FEET BELOW.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    HILPERT, L.S., 1969, USGS PP 603, P.

  • Deposit

    HOLMQUIST, R.J., 1970, USAEC, RME-172, P. 27

  • Deposit

    ANDERSON, O.J., 1980, NMBMMR OFR-148

  • Deposit

    MCLEMORE, V.T., 1983, NMBMMR OFR-183, APPENDIX 1

  • Deposit

    NMBMMR GENERAL FILE DATA

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THE TOP FOOT OR SO OF THE HOST SANDSTONE CONTAINS ABUNDANT MACERATED CARBONIZED PLANT FRAGMENTS. THE URANIUM MINERALIZATION IS IMMEDIATELY BELOW THIS CARBONACEOUS ZONE IN A COARSE-GRAINED SANDSTONE THAT IS FREE OF ANY OBVIOUS CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAR-1984 Murray, Diane New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources

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.