Elm River Mine

Past Producer in Houghton county in Michigan, United States with commodity Copper
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. Mineral occurrence model information
  10. Host and associated rocks
  11. Nearby scientific data
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Bibliographic references
  17. General comments
  18. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10080407
MRDS ID W031538
Record type Site
Current site name Elm River Mine
Alternate or previous names Contact Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -88.82978, 46.92333 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Houghton(county)

Michigan(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Donken(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

L'Anse(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Iron River(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Keweenaw Peninsula(hydrologic unit)

Southcentral Lake Superior(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southern Lake Superior(hydrologic subregion)

Great Lakes(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Michigan Houghton

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
052N 036W 02, 12 Michigan

Comments on the location information

  • CENTERED BETWEEN TWO SETS OF SHAFTS-SIX SHAFTS IN SECTION 12 AND TWO SHAFTS IN SECTION 2; PREVIOUS QUAD DESIGNATION = WINONA (NE 1/4) 1:24000

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Copper Ore
Quartz Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Epidote Gangue
Pumpellyite-(Mg) Gangue
Chlorite Gangue
Feldspar Gangue
Silver Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Removal of hematite, copper replacement, quartz- pumpellyite bleaching

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 96
USGS model code Unassigned
Deposit model name Native Cu
Mark3 model number 99

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt
    Rock unit name Portage Lake Volcanics
    Rock description Portage Lake Volcanics
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Stenian
    Chronological age 1095

Nearby scientific data

(1) -88.82978, 46.92333

Economic information

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Concentrated in shoots (stratigraphic in amygdaloid of fissure related)

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1899
Year of last production 1906

Mining district

District name Keweenaw Copper

Land status

Ownership category State Forest

Comments on the production information

  • NO PRODUCTION FIGURES AVAILABLE, ASSUMING SMALL SIZE.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • NO RESERVES COMMERCIALLY PRODUCIBLE.

Comments on the workings information

  • SEVERAL SHAFTS, BUT RELATIVELY SMALL EXTRACTION

Comments on development

  • ELM RIVER ORGANIZED 1899, 2360 ACRES BETWEEN STONINGTON & SHAWMUT MINES; PROPERTY WENT TO CONTACT COPPER CO 1912; THEY FOUND SOME ORE ZONES, BUT SOME SHAFTS PROVED NEARLY BARREN

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    COPPER RANGE CO., UNPUBLISHED, 1968, BEDROCK GEOLOGY MAP OF THE WINNER (NE 1/4) QUADRANGLE, HOUGHTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN. GEOLOGY MAPPED AND COMPILED BY COPPER RANGE EXPLORATION CO., INC., AND BY H. HUBBARD (U.S.G.S.)

  • Deposit

    BUTLER, B.S., AND BURBANK, W.S., 1929, THE COPPER DEPOSITS OF MICHIGAN: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROF. PAPER 144, 238P.

  • Deposit

    WILBAND, J.T., 1978, THE COPPER RESOURCES OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN; PREPARED FOR THE U.S. BUREAU OF MINES, CONTRACT NO. J0366067, 66P.

  • Deposit

    JOHNSON, A.M. AND GROTH, E.H., 1998, INVENTORY OF UNDERGROUND MINES, HOUGHTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit NO DESCRIPTION INFORMATION AVAILABLE.
Deposit HEAVY OVERBURDEN IN SOME PLACES AROUND 200'; WINONA LOAD, 12-30' WIDE

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-OCT-1980 Yeager, Keith (Cannon, W.) Michigan Geological Survey Division
Updater 01-MAR-1997 Sutphin, D.M. U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 01-MAY-1997 Mason Jr., G.T. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 23-JUL-2002 Anderson, Arlene (M. Gere) Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Beyond USGS

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