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West Meyer Barite Mine

Past Producer in Cocke county in Tennessee, United States with commodities Barium-Barite, Iron
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Host and associated rocks
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Ore body information
  11. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Ownership information
  15. Workings at the site
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10025891
MRDS ID K001865
Record type Site
Current site name West Meyer Barite Mine
Alternate or previous names Herr Barite Mine
Related records 10202135

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -83.08098, 35.93342 (WGS84)
Elevation 427
Relative position ON THE SOUTHEAST SIDE OF THE VALLEY AT WEST MEYERS AND 2.2 MILES SE OF THE BRIDGE OVER THE FRENCH BROAD RIVER AT HUFF ISLAND.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Cocke(county)

Tennessee(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Neddy Mountain(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Knoxville(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Knoxville(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper French Broad(hydrologic unit)

French Broad-Holston(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Tennessee(hydrologic subregion)

Tennessee(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Cherokee 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 Tennessee Cocke

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Barium-Barite Critical Primary
Iron Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Barite Ore
Limonite Ore

Analytical data

Result ORE ASSAYED 97.84 TO 98.52 PERCENT BASO4.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Clay, Mud
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name Cochran Conglomerate, Chilhowee Group, Conglomerate & Quartzite;Clay Residuum
    Rock description Cochran Conglomerate, Chilhowee Group, Conglomerate & Quartzite;Clay Residuum

Nearby scientific data

(1) -83.08098, 35.93342
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Northeast-Striking Great Smoky Fault On The Southeast

Ore body information

  • General form PINCH AND SWELL
    Strike N 50 DEG E
    Dip 75 DEG S
    Thickness 1.83M
  • General form PINCH AND SWELL
    Dip 75 DEG S

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Bedding Plane Fault, Sheared Zone, According To Ferguson & Jewell (1951)

Comments on the geologic information

  • ORE IS HARD, CRYSTALLINE BARITE IN MASSES AND STRINGERS IMBEDDED IN CLAY. FERGUSON & JEWELL (1951) STATE THAT THE SHEARED SANDSTONE AND QUARTZITE CONTAIN VEINLETS AND LENSES OF COARSE, CRYSTALLINE BARITE THAT HAS BEEN DEPOSITED IN OPEN FRACTURES AND PARTLY BY REPLACEMENT. THE BULK OF THE BARITE CONTAINS HORSES AND FRAGMENTS OF UNREPLACED HOST ROCK. THE OCCURRENCE IS DESIGNATED AS THE MOCCASIN GAP TYPE OF BARITE. AGE OF MINERALIZATION: LATE - OR POST - PALEOZOIC ( FERGUSON & JEWELL, 1951 )

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant No
Year of first production 1885
Production years 1880'S TO 1907

Mining district

District name Del Rio Barite District

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Krebs Pigment And Chemical Co.
    Home office Baltimore, Md.
  • Type Owner
    Owner George Taffy
    Home office South Carolina
    First year 1951

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCTION CEASED WITH PASSAGE OF THE PURE FOOD LAW IN TENNESSEE DURING 1907. MINE PRODUCTION WAS USED IN THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Length 60.96M
    Overall length 396.24M
    Overall width 243.84M

Comments on the workings information

  • THICKNESS OF VEIN RANGES FROM 4 TO 6 FEET. SURFACE WORKINGS WERE PRIMARILY FOR RESIDUAL BARITE.

Comments on development

  • THE WEST MEYER BARITE MINE FIRST SUPPLIED ORE TO THE WHITWELL COMPANY'S MILL AT WEST MEYER DURING THE 1880'S. THE MINE BECAME INACTIVE FOR A FEW YEARS IN THE 1890'S FOLLOWING CLOSING OF THE MILL, BUT WAS REOPENED IN 1900 WHEN IT BECAME KNOWN AS THE HERR MINE, OPERATED BY THE HIAWASSEE MINING COMPANY, WITH A MILL AT KNOXVILLE. BY 1904, THE COMMERCIAL MINING AND MILLING COMPANY OF KNOXVILLE TOOK OVER THE MINE AND WORKED IT UNTIL 1907, WHEN BARITE MINING CEASED IN THE DISTRICT. THE KREBS PIGMENT AND CHEMICAL COMPANY OF NEWPORT, DELAWARE, DID SOME WORK ON THE PROPERTY IN 1919, BUT SHIPPED NO ORE. ; ECON.COM: PROXIMITY TO RAILROAD ALONG THE FRENCH BROAD RIVER; AMPLE WATER; HIGH PURITY OF BARITE.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    GORDON, C.H., 1920, BARITE DEPOSITS IN UPPER EAST TENNESSEE: TENNESSEE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, BULL. 23, P. 65-70.

  • Deposit

    FERGUSON, H.W., AND JEWELL, W.B., 1951, GEOLOGY AND BARITE DEPOSITS OF THE DEL RIO DISTRICT, COCKE COUNTY, TENNESSEE: TENNESSEE DIV. GEOLOGY BULL. 57, 235 P.

  • Deposit

    MAHER, S.W., 1970, BARITE RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE: TENNESSEE DIV. GEOLOGY, REPT. INV. 28, 40 P.

  • Deposit

    1920 OTHER GORDON, C.H., TENN. GEOL. SUR. BULL. 23

  • Deposit

    1951 OTHER FERGUSON & JEWELL, TENN. DIV. GEOL. BULL. 57

  • Deposit

    1970 COMPILE MAHER, S.W., TENN. DIV. GEOL. RPT. INV. 28

  • Production

    FERGUSON & JEWELL, 1951, TENNESSEE DIV. GEOLOGY BULL. 57

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit BARITE UNDERLIES THE MOCCASIN GAP MEMBER OF THE UNICOI FORMATION, (FERGUSON & JEWELL, 1951), OR COCHRAN CONGLOMERATE (TVA FILES). ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-1974 Hale, Robin C. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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