Minorca Mine

Past Producer in St. Louis county in Minnesota, United States with commodity Iron
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. Alteration
  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. Ownership information
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10072829
MRDS ID W018512
Record type Site
Current site name Minorca Mine
Related records 10170560

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -92.51937, 47.54277 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

St. Louis(county)

Minnesota(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Virginia(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Vermilion Lake(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Hibbing(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

St. Louis(hydrologic unit)

St. Louis(hydrologic accounting unit)

Western Lake Superior(hydrologic subregion)

Great Lakes(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Minnesota St. Louis

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
58N 17W 4;5 Minnesota

Comments on the location information

  • THE MINNORCA MINE IS 2.5 MI. N OF VIRGINIA MN.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Iron Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Ankerite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Minnesotaite Ore
Siderite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Chert Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Metamorphism In East Mesabi Range. French (1973) Identified Three Distinct Mineral Assembleges Related To Temperature And Pressure Conditions.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Chemical Sediment > Iron Formation
    Rock unit name Biwabik Iron Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleoproterozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -92.51937, 47.54277

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure name Restricted Basin Required For Banded Iron Formation Deposition.
Type of structure Local
Structure name Faults

Ore body information

  • General form LINEAR
    Dip SOUTH: AT A LOW ANGLE
    Thickness 243.84M
    Length 321860M
    Depth to top 0M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Inavailability Of Free Oxygen Allowing Ferrous Oxides To Form. Advent Of Photosynthetic Eucaryotic Organisms Releasing O2 2 B.Y. Ago Upset The Oxygen Poor Environment Required Or Continued Ferrous Iron Deposition (Garrells, Et Al, 1973).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant No

Mining district

District name Lake Superior Region, Mesabi District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Inland Steel Co.

Comments on development

  • 1978- FIRST FULL YEAR OF PRODUCTION. PLANT IS 2.6 METON/YR FE PELLET CAPACITY.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    BAYLEY, R.W. AND JAMES, H.L., 1973, ECON. GEOL. V. 68, N. 7, PP. 934-1004.

  • Deposit

    FRENCH, B.V., 1973, ECON. GEOL. V.68, N. 7, PP. 1063-1074.

  • Deposit

    LA BERGE, G.L., 1973, ECON. GEOL., V. 68, N. 7, PP. 1098-1109.

  • Deposit

    GARRELS, R.M., PERRY, E.A., AND MACKENZIE, F.J., 1973, ECON. GEOL., VOL. 68, N. 7, PP. 1173-1179.

  • Production

    TRETHEWEY, W.D., 1974, UNIV. MINN. BULL., MINING DIRECTORY ISSUE

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1973, V. 68, NO. 7, PP. 913-1179; ISSUE DEALS IN DETAIL WITH MANY ASPECTS OF WORLD PRECAMBRIAN BANDED IRON FORMATIONS.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-1984 Schneider, Norma J. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-NOV-1981 Schneider, Norma J. (Orris, Greta J.) U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 01-MAY-1997 Mason Jr., G.T. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

External references