Sutphan Mine

Past Producer in Carroll county in Virginia, United States with commodities Copper, Sulfur-Pyrite
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. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Ownership information
  15. Production statistics
  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 10079994
MRDS ID W030867
Record type Site
Current site name Sutphan Mine
Alternate or previous names Sutphin Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -80.58313, 36.80007 (WGS84)
Relative position EXACT LOCATION UNKNOWN

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Carroll(county)

Virginia(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Dugspur(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Galax(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Winston-Salem(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper New(hydrologic unit)

Kanawha(hydrologic accounting unit)

Kanawha(hydrologic subregion)

Ohio(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Virginia Carroll

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATED EAST OF HILLSVILLE.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Sulfur-Pyrite Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • NATIVE COPPER OCCURRED IN WEATHERED OUTCROP.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Copper Ore
Pyrite Ore
Epidote Gangue
Hornblende Gangue
Magnetite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Metamorphosed

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist > Amphibole Schist
    Rock unit name Hornblende Gneiss
    Rock description Hornblende Gneiss
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist > Amphibole Schist
    Rock unit name Hornblende Gneiss;Lynchburg Formation
    Rock description Hornblende Gneiss;Lynchburg Formation

Nearby scientific data

(1) -80.58313, 36.80007

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Ne-Sw Trend, Blue Ridge Anticlinorium

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR
    Strike N 54-70 DEG. E
    Dip SE
    Thickness 1.8M
    Depth to top 7.6M

Comments on the geologic information

  • CURREY (1859) STATED THAT THE LEAD WAS 0.8 KM WIDE AND TRACEABLE FOR 26 KM.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1861
Year of first production 1854

Mining district

District name Native Lead/Southern Section - Blue Ridge Province.

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Meigs County, Tenn., And Virginia Mining Co.

Production statistics

  • Year 1859
    Period 1854-1859
    Material ORE CU
    Accuracy Accurate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^8% Cu
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Ore Copper Copper 8wt-pct

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall depth 7.6M

Comments on the workings information

  • ONE SHAFT SUNK (CURRY, 1859). ONE OR TWO OPEN PITS WERE NOTED BY FONTAINE (1884, P. 11).

Comments on development

  • PROPERTY WAS ORIGINALLY IN THE POSSESSION OF JOHN S. SUTPHAN. MINE WAS INITIALLY WORKED IN 1854, WITH VERY LITTLE WORKING BEING DONE AFTER THAT.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    CURREY, R.O., 1859, A GEOLOGICAL VISIT TO THE VIRGINIA COPPER REGION: KNOXVILLE, TENN., BECKETT, HAWS AND CO.; REPRINTED IN PART UNDER COPPER AND IRON REGION OF THE FLOYD-CARROLL-GRAYSON PLATEAU OF THE BLUE RIDGE IN VIRGINIA, ETC.: THE VIRGINIAS, 1880, V. 1, P. 62-64, 69-71, 74-77, 80-81, 95.

  • Deposit

    FONTAINE, W.M., 1883-84, NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE FLOYD, VA., PLATEAU: THE VIRGINIAS, V. 4, P. 167, 178-180, 185-192; V. 5, P. 8-12.

  • Deposit

    LUTTRELL, G.W., 1966, BASE-AND PRECIOUS-METAL AND RELATED ORE DEPOSITS OF VIRGINIA: VIRGINIA DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES, MINERAL RESOURCES REPORT 7, 167 P.

  • Deposit

    ESPENSHADE, G.H., RANKIN, D.W., SHAW, K.W., AND NEUMAN, R.B., 1975, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE EAST HALF OF THE WINSTON-SALEM QUADRANGLE, NORTH CAROLINA-VIRGINIA: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MAP I-709-B, 1 SHEET, SCALE 1: 250,000.

  • Deposit

    1834 DIREXPL MEIGS CO., TENN., & VA. MINING CO.: OPENED MINE

  • Deposit

    1911 RECON W.H. WEED: BULL. 455.

  • Deposit

    1935 RECON C.S. ROSS: PROF. PAPER 179.

  • Deposit

    1948 RECON R.J. WRIGHT & N.D. RAMAN: OPEN-FILE REPORT.

  • Production

    CURREY (1859)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit DISSEMINATED GRAINS OF NATIVE COPPER OCCUR IN PODS QUARTZ AND EPIDOTE NEAR THE SURFACE; AT DEPTH THE DIKE CONTAINS CHALCOPYRITE.
Deposit IT IS NOT KNOWN WHETHER THE GOLD MINE AND THE GARDINER MINE WERE ACTUALLY LATER WORKINGS OF THIS PROPERTY. THE NATIVE LEAD WAS ALSO CALLED THE TRAP LEAD. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT
Deposit Discovery Year: PRE-CIVIL WAR

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-1980 Meintzer, Robert E. (Sweet, P. C.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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