Brightlight Mine

Past Producer in Union county in North Carolina, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Lead, Iron, Sulfur, Copper
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. Controls for ore emplacement
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10026527
MRDS ID K005231
Record type Site
Current site name Brightlight Mine
Alternate or previous names Crowell Mine
Related records 10151929

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -80.57536, 35.18067 (WGS84)
Relative position 9 MI. NORTHEAST OF INDIAN TRAIL AND 7.7 MI. NORTHWEST OF UNIONVILLE.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Union(county)

North Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Midland(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 Union

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATION APPROXIMATE

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary
Lead Tertiary
Iron Tertiary
Sulfur Tertiary
Copper Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • THREE QUARTZ VEINS IN SERICITE PHYLLITE; VUGGY IRON-STAINED VEIN QUARTZ CONTAINING SMALL AMOUNTS OF DECOMPOSED PYRITE; SMALL AMOUNT OF GALENA AND 27M DEEP, CHOKED TO WITHIN 10M OF SURFACE; HAD TWO DRIFTS, ONE 17M TO NE, OTHER 20M TO SW; NUMEROUS SMALL PROSPECT PITS ON EAST SIDE OF HILL; SMALL AMOUNT OF ORE PRODUCED; GOLD AND SOME SILVER PRODUCED; PROPERTY DRILLED BY U.S. BUREAU OF MINES IN 1954; MINERALIZED ZONE COMPOSED OF SILICIFIED SERICITE SCHIST CONTAINING A SPRINKLE OF SULFIDES; ONE QUARTZ VEIN, 0.3M TO 1.3M IN THICKNESS STRIKES N 30 DEGREES E AND DIPS STEEPLY TO NW; MIDDLE VEIN 333M EAST AND PARALLEL TO ONE BUT IS NARROW; THIRD QUARTZ VEIN 500M EAST OF MIDDLE VEIN AND IS 0.8M TO 1.3M THICK; IT DIPS 40 TO 45 DEGREES NW; OF MINE ASSAYS GIVEN GOLD PER TON OF ORE RANGED FROM $3.51 TO $41.34 AT $20.00 PER OUNCE; SILVER RANGED FROM $0.32 TO $9.95 AT $1.29 PER OUNCE

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Limonite Gangue
Sericite Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Argillite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Permian

Nearby scientific data

(1) Phyllite and Schist

Economic information

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Quartz Veins

Comments on the geologic information

  • THE SHAFT WAS OPENED IN QUARTZ VEINS IN SERICITE PHYLLITE. MOST OF THE DUMP MATERIAL IS VUGGY, IRON-STAINED VEIN QUARTZ CONTAINING SMALL AMOUNTS OF DECOMPOSED PYRITE. A SMALL AMOUNT OF GALENA IS DISSEMINATED THROUGH THE QUARTZ.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant No
Discovery year 1882
Year of first production 1882

Mining district

District name Carolina Slate Belt

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCTION WAS PROBABLY FROM A SMALL AMOUNT OF HIGH-GRADE ORE; BOTH GOLD AND SILVER PRODUCED

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • PROBABLY LOW-GRADE GOLD-BEARING QUARTZ IN UNMINED VEINS STILL REMAINS; LOW-GRADE SULFIDE ZONE OF UNKNOWN EXTENT PRESENT.

Comments on the workings information

  • THE MAIN SHAFT IS 15 FT. BY 15 FT. AND WAS CHOKED TO WITHIN 30 FT. OF THE SURFACE IN 1969. NUMEROUS SMALL PROSPECT PITS ARE ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE HILL. THE MINE EXPLORED THREE QUARTZ VEINS. THE SHAFT WAS SUNK TO 80 FT AND SOME SILVER AS WELL AS GOLD WAS IN COUNTERED. ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT OF ORE WAS PRODUCED FROM THIS MINE.

Comments on development

  • DRILLING BY THE U. S. B. M. REVEALED A MINERALIZED ZONE OF SILICIFIED SERICITE SCHIST CONTAINING A SPRINKLE OF SULFIDES. THE DRILLING WAS PART OF THE BUREAU'S STRATEGIC MINERALS SURVEY.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    CARPENTER, P. A., 1976, METALLIC MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE CAROLINA SLATE BELT, NORTH CAROLINA: NORTH CAROLINA MINERAL RESOURCES 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.

  • Deposit

    1954 DIREXPL U. S. BUREAU OF MINE

  • Production

    CARPENTER, 1976

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Discovery Year: JUNE 1882

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-1976 D'Agostino, John P. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-DEC-1976 Mc Daniel, Ronald D. North Carolina Division of Land Resources

Beyond USGS

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