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Wilder Magnetite Mine

Past Producer in Carter county in Tennessee, 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. Host and associated rocks
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Ore body information
  11. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Ownership information
  14. Links to other databases
  15. Bibliographic references
  16. General comments
  17. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10102373
MRDS ID K004780
Record type Site
Current site name Wilder Magnetite Mine
Related records 10275015

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -82.01151, 36.17065 (WGS84)
Relative position NEAR HEAD OF WILDER MINE HOLLOW AND 0.6 MILE SW OF OAKS CEMETERY; 2.8 MILES SE OF ROAN MOUNTAIN, TENNESSEE.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Carter(county)

Tennessee(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

White Rocks Mountain(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Johnson City(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Johnson City(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Watauga, North Carolina, Tennessee(hydrologic unit)

French Broad-Holston(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Tennessee(hydrologic subregion)

Tennessee(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Cherokee National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Tennessee Carter

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Iron Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Magnetite Ore
Hornblende Gangue

Analytical data

Result THE AVERAGE IRON CONTENT OF ORE SHIPPED TO THE CRANBERRY FURNACE WAS 37.5%
Result TIO2 WAS 0.15%, ACCORDING TO BAYLEY (1923). A TENN. GEOL. SURVEY ANALYSIS OF A SAMPLE OF VEIN FILLING RESULTED AS FOLLOWS: 46.22% SI, 27.52% FE, 5.44% AL2O3, 16.00% CAO, 2.92% MGO, AND 0.40% H2O. GOLDICH AND WEDOW (1943) STATE THAT THE RUN OF THE MINE ORE IS POOR, PROBABLY AVERAGING ONLY 25% IRON.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss
    Rock unit name Cranberry Granite; Complex Of Intertonguing Rock Types Including Migmatite, Granitic Gneisses, Monzonite, Quartz Diorite, Greenstone, Mica And Hornblende Schists, Abundant Granitic Pegmatite
    Rock description Cranberry Granite; Complex Of Intertonguing Rock Types Including Migmatite, Granitic Gneisses, Monzonite, Quartz Diorite, Greenstone, Mica And Hornblende Schists, Abundant Granitic Pegmatite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss

Nearby scientific data

(1) -82.01151, 36.17065
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Westerly
Type of structure Local
Structure description Granite Becomes Less Platy And Interfoliated Gneisses Become Less Abundant As Distance From Vein Increases.

Ore body information

  • General form LENS, PINCH AND SWELL
    Thickness 1.52M

Comments on the geologic information

  • BAYLEY (1923) DESCRIBES THE VEIN MATERIAL AS VERY SIMILAR TO THAT AT THE CRANBERRY MINE. "THE MAJOR PART CONSISTS OF LAYERS OF INTERBANDED HORNBLENDE AND EPIDOTE ALTERNATING WITH LAYERS OF COARSE HORNBLENDE. THE EPIDOTE GRADES INTO PEGMATITE WHICH CLEARLY IS INTRUSIVE INTO THE HORNBLENDE... A SECTION OF A VERY EVENLY BANDED GNEISS REVEALS WIDE LAYERS OF COARSELY GRANULAR HORNBLENDE, VERY NARROW LAYERS COMPOSED OF ALTERNATING LAYERS OF HORNBLENDE AND EPIDOTE AND SLIGHTLY THICKER ONES OF EPIDOTE, ALL EVENLY INTERBANDED, AS THOUGH THE ROCK WERE AN IMPREGNATION GNEISS IN WHICH THE FELDSPAR HAD BEEN CHANGED TO EPIDOTE."

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Discovery year 1880
Year of first production 1880

Mining district

District name Cranberry Magnetite District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Tennolina Corp.

Comments on the production information

  • ACCORDING TO BAYLEY (1923), SOME OF THE ORE SHIPMENTS INCLUDED ORE FROM THE NEARBY GREENLEE AND RAY AND TESTER PROPERTY.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • S. H. HAMILTON MADE RESERVE ESTIMATES BASED ON HIS MAGNETOMETER SURVEY OF THE AREA; THE CONTEXT OF HIS REPORT INFERS A GRADE OF 25% IRON.

Comments on the workings information

  • THE MINE CONSISTS OF SEVERAL LARGE PITS, SEVERAL TUNNELS, DRIFTS, AND SMALL PITS. THE BEWILDERING ARRAY OF THE WORKINGS IS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE VEIN OCCURRING ALONG FOLDS, ACCORDING TO BAYLEY (1923). OVERALL, THE WORKINGS ARE ALONG TWO PARALLEL TRENDS ALONG A SINGLE DEPOSIT THAT LIES IN A SYNCLINAL FOLD, WITH ITS AXIS BETWEEN THE TWO LINES OF WORKINGS.

Comments on development

  • THE MINE WAS WORKED ON A SMALL SCALE JUST BEFORE 1880, AND WAS TAKEN OVER IN 1896 BY M. F. MILLER AND ASSOCIATES, AND OPERATED BY THEM UNTIL 1918. THEY WERE SUCCEEDED BY THE CRANBERRY FURNACE COMPANY, AND IN TURN BY THE TENNOLINA CORPORATION. ; ECON.COM: THE MAGNETITE IS EASILY SEPARATED FROM GANGUE AND IS EXCEPTIONALLY LOW IN PHOSPHOROUS, TITANIUM, AND SULFUR. HOWEVER, THE MATERIAL IS FINER GRAINED THAN THAT AT THE CRANBERRY MINE AND WOULD REQUIRE FINE GRINDING.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    STUCKEY, J. L., 1965, NORTH CAROLINA: ITS GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES: RALEIGH, N. C., NORTH CAROLINA DEPT. CONSERV. AND DEVEL., 550 P.

  • Deposit

    BAYLEY, W. S., 1923, THE MAGNETIC IRON ORES OF EAST TENNESSEE AND WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA: TENNESSEE DIV. GEOLOGY BULL. 29, 252 P.

  • Deposit

    KLINE, M. H., AND BALLARD, T. J., 1948, CRANBERRY MAGNETITE DEPOSITS, AVERY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, AND CARTER COUNTY, TENNESSEE: U.S. BUREAU OF MINES REPT. INV. RI 4274, 85 P.

  • Deposit

    1923 OTHER BAYLEY, W. S., TENN. DIV. GEOL. BULL. 29

  • Deposit

    1965 COMPILE STUCKEY, J. L., N. C. DEPT. CONS. & DEVEL.

  • Deposit

    GOLDICH, S. S., AND WEDOW, HELMUTH, JR., 1943, PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE MAGNETIC IRON ORES OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA AND EASTERN TENNESSEE: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OPEN - FILE REPORT.

  • Deposit

    1966 COMPILE BRYANT AND REED, GEOL. SURV. CIR. 521

  • Production

    S. H. HAMILTON, IN UNPUBLISHED REPORT TO TENNESSEE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

  • Reserve-Resource

    S. H. HAMILTON IN BAYLEY, W. S., 1923, P. 120.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit ACCORDING TO BAYLEY (1923), "THE VEINS IN WHICH THE ORE OCCURS COMPRISE MORE OR LESS BANDED MIXTURES OF PEGMATITE, EPIDOTIC GNEISSES, HORNBLENDE SCHISTS AND LENTICULAR MASSES OF A MIXTURE OF HORNBLENDE AND MAGNETITE, IN PLACES CUT BY SMALL VEINS OF MAGNETITE." ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-OCT-1975 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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