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Melville Mine

Past Producer in Orange county in Virginia, United States with commodities Gold, Zinc, Lead, Copper, Sulfur-Pyrite, Arsenic
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Ownership information
  17. Workings at the site
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10067625
MRDS ID W000419
Record type Site
Current site name Melville Mine
Alternate or previous names Rapidan Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -77.72442, 38.3606 (WGS84)
Elevation 91
Relative position ABOUT 3 MI. N.W. OF THE WILDERNESS STORE ON THE FREDRICKSBURG-CULPEPER HIGHWAY.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Orange(county)

Virginia(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Chancellorsville(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Fredericksburg(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Washington(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rapidan-Upper Rappahannock(hydrologic unit)

Lower Chesapeake(hydrologic accounting unit)

Lower Chesapeake(hydrologic subregion)

Mid Atlantic(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Virginia Orange

Comments on the location information

  • 91 M (300 FT) OFF WEST SIDE OF STATE ROAD 667 EXTENDED, 3.6 KM (2.3 MI) BY ROAD NORTH OF JUNCTION WITH STATE HWY 3.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Lead Tertiary
Copper Tertiary
Sulfur-Pyrite Tertiary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • THE SHEAR ZONE HAS BEEN PROSPECTED FROM THE RAPIDAN RIVER TO MORE THAN 1000 FT. SOUTH OF THE MINE AREA. GOLD IS CONTAINED IN THE PYRITE.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Ankerite Gangue
Pyrrhotite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Sericite Gangue

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 Metamorphic Rock > Schist
    Rock unit name Chopawamsic Formation
    Rock description Chopawamsic Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cambrian
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cambrian

Nearby scientific data

(1) -77.72442, 38.3606
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Northeast-Southwest, Columbia Syncline To The East.
Type of structure Local
Structure description Small Faults In The Mine Workings . Schistosity Of Schist Strikes N40dege And Dips 700 Eg Nw

Ore body information

  • General form LENS
    Strike N 30 DEG. E
    Dip 85 DEG E
    Plunge 35 DEG
    Plunge direction NE
    Thickness 18.3M
    Depth to top 0M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Shear Zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • READY ACCESS FOR SOLUTIONS AFFORDED BY FAULTS AND FRACTURES . QUARTZ-CHLORITE SCHIST BECOMES MORE SERICITIZED AS THE MINERALIZED ZONE IS ENCOUNTERED AND BECOMES MORE SILICIFIED

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1865
Year of first production 1850

Mining district

District name Gold-Pyrite Belt

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Rapidan Gold Corp.
  • Type Owner
    Owner S. F Cooke, Jr

Comments on the production information

  • NO EARLY RECORDS OF PRODUCTION.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Length 549M
    Overall depth 33.5M
  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall depth 67.1M

Comments on the workings information

  • CREDNER REPORTED A SHAFT S2 M (72 FT) DEEP HAD BEEN FILLED IN WITH DEBRIS AND A DETERIORATING STAMP-MILL WERE PRESENT IN 1865. IN 1971, ONE CAVED SHAFT, NUMEROUS CAVED PITS, DUMPS, CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS, BRICK ROASTING-STACK AND SEVERAL LARGE (42 INCHES IN DIAMETER AND 14 INCHES THICK) GRANITE, WHEEL-SHAPED STONES, USED IN CHILEAN MILLS TO CRUSH ORE, WERE SEEN. THE MINE CONTAINED TWO SHAFTS 38 AND 73 M (125 AND 240 FT) DEEP. A LEVEL AT THE 33.5-M (110-FT) LEVEL CONNECTED THE TWO SHAFTS, AND A 61-M (200-FT) LEVEL HAD BEEN DRIVEV FROM THE DEEPER SHAFT. THE TOTAL LENGTH OF THE DRIFTS ACCESSIBLE IN 1935 WAS ABOUT 549 M (1800 FT)?

Comments on development

  • THE MINE WAS ORIGINALLY WORKED IN THE 1800'S. IN 1922, EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED AT MINE TO DETERMINE BEST ORE TREATMENT PROCEDURE. UNDERGROUND WORK WAS DISCONTINUED IN NOV 1935 AND THE MINE WAS LAST WORKED IN 1938. CALLAHAN MINING CORP. DRILLED 4 CORE HOLES ON THE PROPERTY IN 1982. IN 1980, T.A. HOUSTON, CONSULTANT DRILLED 2 CORE HOLES ON THE PROPERTY WITH DEPTHS OF 200 FT AND 186 FT. ; ECON.COM: FLOTATION MILL CAPABLE OF HANDLING MAXIMUM OF 75 T PER DAY ERECTED. MILL RECOVERS MORE THAN 90 PER CENT OF GOLD.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    PARDEE, J.T., AND PARK, C.F., 1948, U.S.G.S. PROF. PAPER 213, PP 57-59, PL 20.

  • Deposit

    PARK, C F, JR, 1936, PRELIMINARY REPORT ON GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE VIRGINIA PIEDMONT: VIRGINIA GEOL SURV BULL 44, 42 P

  • Deposit

    LONSDALE, J.T., 1927, VA. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULL. 30, P. 82.

  • Deposit

    SWEET, P C, 1980, GOLD IN VIRGINIA: VIRGINIA DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES, PUBLICATION 19, 77 P

  • Deposit

    SWEET, P.C., 1971, GOLD MINES AND PROSPECTS IN VIRGINIA: VIRGINIA MINERALS, VOL. 17, NO. 3, P. 25-35.

  • Deposit

    CREDNER, H., 1968, REPORT OF EXPLORATIONS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA: AMER. JOUR. MNG., VOL. VI, P. 371.

  • Deposit

    SWEET, P.C., 1975, ROAD LOG TO SOME ABANDONED GOLD MINES OF THE GOLD-PYRITE BELT, NORTHEASTERN VIRGINIA: VIRGINIA MINERALS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, P. 1-9.

  • Deposit

    1800S DIREXPL DETAILS OF WORKINGS UNKNOWN

  • Deposit

    1934 DIREXPL RAPIDAN GOLD CORP: SANK 2 SHAFTS, MINED, MILLED, AND SHIPPED GOLD ORE.

  • Deposit

    1974 RECON VA DIV MIN RES: INSPECTED SITE.

  • Production

    PARDEE AND PARK REFERENCE

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THE GOLD WAS SAID TO BE ENCLOSED IN COARSE-GRAINED PYRITE IN QUARTZ VEINS AND LENSES THAT OCCUR ALONG A MINERALIZED SHEAR ZONE 18.3 M (60 FT) WIDE IN CHLORITIC QUARTZ-BIOTITE SCHIST? SEE PARDEE AND PARK FOR A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DEPOSIT.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-1972 Wright, Nancy A. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-JUL-1987 Sweet, Palmer C. (Trimble, David 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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