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Marvacar Mine

Past Producer in Cherokee county in North Carolina, United States with commodity Iron
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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. Alteration
  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. Ownership information
  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 10102344
MRDS ID K002582
Record type Site
Current site name Marvacar Mine
Related records 10183001

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -83.81351, 35.17844 (WGS84)
Relative position 0.25 MILE NORTHWEST OF CONFLUENCE OF MCCLELLAN AND SNYDER CREEKS

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Cherokee(county)

North Carolina(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Andrews(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Fontana Lake(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Knoxville(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Hiwassee(hydrologic unit)

Middle Tennessee-Hiwassee(hydrologic accounting unit)

Middle Tennessee-Hiwassee(hydrologic subregion)

Tennessee(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Nantahala National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Croatan National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

National Forests in North Carolina(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States North Carolina Cherokee

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATION IS ACCURATE FOR THE TRI-BULLION SHAFT AT THE KELLEY MINE. THE KELLY MINE WAS THE LARGEST PRODUCER IN THE DISTRICT. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1979)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Iron Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • APPROACHING EXHAUSTON, BUT STILL AN IMPORTANT PRODUCER IN 1957; HAS PRODUCED MUCH OF THE TIME SINCE 1866. OXIDIZED ZINC ORES IMPORTANT IN 1903-06, AND 1922-1928. (MCKNIGHT, 1960?, UNPUBLISHED DATA.)
  • BAYLEY (1925) QUOTES AN UNNAMED SOURCE THAT "...UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS THE MATERIAL GOING TO THE WASHER WOULD YIELD 3 TONS OF WASHED ORE CONTAINING ABOUT 50% FE TO 4 TONS OF GROUND EXCAVATED."

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Limonite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Weathering Of Iron-Bearing Minerals To Form Limonite

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name Clayey And Sandy Residuum;Mineral Bluff Formation, Quartz-Sericite Sc Hist Or Phyllite With Sandy Lenses And Intercalated Quartzites
    Rock description Clayey And Sandy Residuum;Mineral Bluff Formation, Quartz-Sericite Sc Hist Or Phyllite With Sandy Lenses And Intercalated Quartzites
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -83.81351, 35.17844
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Northeast-Trending Strike Belts Define A Major Syncline

Ore body information

  • General form IRREGULAR
    Strike N 50 E
    Dip 65-70 S
    Thickness 5.49M
    Width 152.4M
  • General form IRREGULAR
    Dip 65-70 S

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Bedding, Fractures, And Residuum.

Comments on the geologic information

  • ORES ARE REPLACEMENT DEPOSITS IN MISSISSIPPIAN LIMESTONE, MOSTLY ALONG CRESTS OF LOW ARCHES TRANSVERSE TO STRIKE OF BEDS, WITHIN 4 MILES OF AN IGNEOUS STOCK. IGNEOUS ROCKS ARE STOCK-LIKE BODIES OF MONZONITE, MONZONITE PORPHYRY, AND GRANITE; DIKES OF RHYOLITE, LAMPROPHYRE, AND MONZONITE APLITE; ALL OF PROBABLY TERTIARY AGE. (MCKNIGHT, 1960?, UNPUBLISHED DATA.)
  • TEN FEET OF THE 18-FOOT LIMONITE VEIN IS REPORTED (BAYLEY, 1925) TO BE HARD AND COMPACT, AND WAS THE PRINCIPAL ORE ZONE. THE VEIN FOOTWALL IS MICACEOUS SANDY SCHIST AND THE HANGING WALL IS "...A RED AND WHITE CLAY THAT MAY BE A FAULT GOUGE." BAYLEY (1925) ALSO NOTES THAT SIX DRILL HOLES PUT DOWN IN THE BOTTOM OF THE PIT 30 FEET NORTHWEST OF THE MAIN VEIN BOTTOMED IN LIMONITE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Year of first production 1917
Production years APRIL 1917 TO SUMMER 1921

Mining district

District name Murphy Marble Belt

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Marvacar Mining Co., Inc.

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCTION FIGURES AFTER 1940 ARE CONCEALED BY THE USBM.
  • ABOUT 24,000 TONS OF WASHED ORE WERE SHIPPED BETWEEN APRIL, 1917 AND DECEMBER, 1918. ABOUT 50 TONS WERE SHIPPED DAILY DURING 1920. MINING WAS SUSPENDED DURING THE SUMMER OF 1921. TOTAL PRODUCTION FIGURES NOT GIVEN.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface
    Overall length 167.64M
    Overall width 30.48M

Comments on the workings information

  • ALL OF THE MINES WERE WORKED UNDERGROUND. ACCESS WAS OBTAINED BY VERTICAL AND INCLINED SHAFTS AND TUNNELS. THERE ARE EXTENSIVE DRIFTS, STOPES, RAISES AND CROSSCUTS.
  • THE MAIN PIT VARIES IN DEPTH FROM A FEW FEET TO 50 FEET, AND FOLLOWS AN 18-FOOT VEIN OF LIMONITE, WHICH WAS THE MAIN SOURCE OF ORE. OVERBURDEN RANGES FROM ONE TO TEN FEET AND LOCALLY CONTAINS ENOUGH ORE FOR WASHING. PROSPECT TRENCHES 500 WEST OF THE MAIN PIT INDICATE THAT THE ORE-BEARING ZONE MAY BE AT LEAST THIS WIDE.

Comments on development

  • THE MINE WAS INITIALLY OPERATED BY THE COVER AND PORTER COMPANY, LATER BY GRIFFITH, MIDDLETON AND COMPANY, AND FINALLY BY THE MARVACAR MINING COMPANY. ; ECON.COM: ORE SHIPPED FROM NOVEMBER 1917 TO JUNE 1918 CONTAINED FROM 41 TO 52% IRON, 0.26 TO 1.12% MANGANESE, 0.52 TO 1.00% PHOSPHOROUS, AND 7.84 TO 17.92% SILICA OXIDE.
  • ALL OF THE MINES IN THE DISTRICT ARE CURRENTLY SHUT DOWN. THE WALDO MINE IS LEASED BY THE NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING AND TECHNOLOGY MINING DEPT. FOR USE BY STUDENTS AS A TRAINING LABORATORY.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit PRACTICALLY ALL OF THE ORES MINED HAVE BEEN FORMED AS REPLACEMENT OREBODIES IN THE KELLY LIMESTONE, BUT SOME ORE OCCURS IN THE PRECAMBRIAN BASEMENT ROCKS. THE LARGER OREBODIES ARE RELATED TO THE MAJOR NORTH-TRENDING FAULTS AND THREE MAJOR STOCKS. HYPOTHERMAL, MESOTHERMAL AND LEPTOTHERMAL MINERALIZATION AREFOUND THROUGHOUT THE DISTRICT. BOTH PRIMARY AND OXIDIZED MINERALS EXIST.
Deposit THE MAGDALENA DISTRICT WAS FOR A PERIOD OF YEARS THE LARGEST PRODUCER OF LEAD AND ZINC ORES IN NEW MEXICO. BETWEEN 1904 AND 1928, THE DISTRICT PRODUCED 46 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL ZINC AND 34 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL LEAD MINED IN NEW MEXICO.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-OCT-1974 Hale, Robin 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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