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Rocky River Mine

Past Producer in Cabarrus county in North Carolina, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Copper
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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. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  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 10026453
MRDS ID K005090
Record type Site
Current site name Rocky River Mine
Alternate or previous names Rocky River Gold-Silver-Lead Mine, Jake Shin, Tom Shin
Related records 10247865

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -80.4773, 35.30649 (WGS84)
Relative position 0.9 MI SOUTHWEST OF GEORGEVILLE AND 9.2 MI SOUTHEAST OF CONCORD.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Cabarrus(county)

North Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Locust(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Charlotte(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Charlotte(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rocky(hydrologic unit)

Upper Pee Dee(hydrologic accounting unit)

Pee Dee(hydrologic subregion)

South Atlantic-Gulf(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States North Carolina Cabarrus

Comments on the location information

  • DIGITIZED FROM STROMQUIST AND HENDERSON, 1985

Commodities

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

Comments on the commodity information

  • QUARTZ VEINS ENCLOSED BY CHLORITE - SERICITE PHYLLITE; PHYLLITE STRIKES N 20 TO 30 DEGREES E AND DIPS 70 DEGREES NW, QUARTZ VEIN STRIKES N 30 DEGREES E AND DIPS 85 DEGREES NW; QUARTZ ORES AVERAGE $15.00 TO $30.00 PER TON GOLD AT $20.00 PER OUNCE; MINERALS AURIFEROUS GALENA, AURIFEROUS PYRITE, CALCITE, SPHALERITE AND CHALCOPYRITE, WITH ABOUT HALF OF THE GOLD VALUES FREE GOLD; AURIFEROUS PYRITE IN ADJACENT PHYLLITE ASSAYED ABOUT $3.50 PER TON GOLD; QUARTZ VEINS AS MUCH AS 1.7M THICK BUT PINCH OUT RAPIDLY ALONG STRIKE AND WITH DEPTH; FOUR ASSAYS SHOW GOLD CONTENT FROM $5.17 TO $64.59 PER TON AT $20.00 PER OUNCE, AND SILVER FROM TRACE TO $7.18 PER TON AT $1.29 PER OUNCE; SIX SHAFTS, THE DEEPEST WAS 43M AND HAD ABOUT 67M OF DRIFT; NUMEROUS TRENCHES, NOW ABOUT 0.3M DEEP, 1M WIDE AND 10M LONG; SMALL AMOUNT OF DUMP MATERIAL; MINE WORKINGS MAY POSSIBLY EXTEND 450M ON STRIKE TO SW

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Sericite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Silicic, Carbonate, Sericitic

Analytical data

Result ASSAYS FOR FOUR SAMPLES WERE 0.25 OPT AU, 0.8 OPT AG
Result 0.82 OPT AU, TRACE AG
Result 2.75 OPT AU, 5.6 OPT AG
Result 2.8 OPT AG.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Argillite
    Rock unit name Tillery Formation
    Rock description Tillery Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cambrian
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cambrian

Nearby scientific data

(1) -80.4773, 35.30649
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Gold Hill Fault
Type of structure Local
Structure description Ne-Trending

Ore body information

  • General form LENTICULAR
    Strike N 20-30 E
    Dip 40-70 NW
    Thickness 1.5M
    Length 244M
    Width 40M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Quartz Veins Filling Fractures; Possible Contribution Of Base-Metals From Pre-Exisiting Massive Sulfide Deposit Of The Gold Hill Type.

Comments on the geologic information

  • WITHIN THE TILLERY FORMATION (OF STROMQUIST) ALONG THE WESTERN BOUNDARY OF THEuCAROLINA SLATE BELT. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THIS MUDSTONE UNIT TO THE TILLERY AND NOT THE CID FORMATION IS PROBLEMATIC, GIVEN THEIR LITHOLOGIC SIMILARITY IN UNDEFORMED AREAS.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1895
Year of first production 1865
Year of last production 1895

Mining district

District name Carolina Slate Belt

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Overall depth 40M
    Overall length 228.6M
    Overall width 150M

Comments on the workings information

  • TOTAL OF SIX SHAFTS WERE OPENED DURING OPERATION. THERE ARE NUMEROUS TRENCHES APPROXIMATELY 1 FT. DEEP, 3 FT WIDE, AND 30 FT LONG. SHAFT NO.1 IS 40 M DEEP AND HAS 61 M OF DRIFTS ON AT LEAST TWO LEVELS (80 FT AND 130 FT).

Comments on development

  • NO WORK HAS BEEN DONE AT MINE SINCE 1895.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Analytical Data

    NITZE AND HANNA, 1896, P. 93

  • Deposit

    CARPENTER, P. A., III, 1976, METALLIC MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE CAROLINA SLATE BELT, NORTH CAROLINA: NORTH CAROLINA MINERAL RESOURCES SEC. BULL. 84, 166 P.

  • Deposit

    PARDEE, J. T., AND PARK, C. F., JR., 1948, GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE SOUTHERN PIEDMONT: U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROF. PAPER 213, 156 P.

  • Deposit

    NITZE, H.B.C., 1896, GOLD DEPOSITS OF NORTH CAROLINA: NORTH CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULL. NO. 3, 200P.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit SIX QUARTZ LENSES AND SILICIFIED ZONES WERE EXPLOITED. DISCRETEuQUARTZ VEINS AND SILICIC REPLACMENT (EXHALITE? OF THE GOLD HILLuTYPE (BROWN, 1934) HAVE BEEN OBSERVED. THE BASE METALuASSEMBLAGE AND PRESENCE OF SILICIC REPLACEMENT AS WELL ASuQUARTZ-CARBONATE PODS SUGGESTS MULTI-STAGE ORIGIN. QUARTZ VEINSuWERE COMMONLY 0.3 TO 1 M THICK.
Deposit APPROXIMATELY 50% OF THE GOLD WAS FREE MILLING; HOWEVER, MUCH OF THE GOLD WAS CARRIED BY GALENA AND PYRITE. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 3 FIELD OBSERV; 4 , USGS UNPUBLISHED FIELD NOTES

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1976 D'Agostino, John P. U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 01-JUL-1976 Mcdaniel, Ronald D. North Carolina Division of Land Resources
Updater 01-JUN-1992 Klein, T.L. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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