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Elk Park Mine

Producer in San Juan county in Colorado, United States with commodities Uranium, Silver, Copper, Nickel, Molybdenum
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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. Geologic structures
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Ownership information
  18. Workings at the site
  19. Links to other databases
  20. Bibliographic references
  21. General comments
  22. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10107995
MRDS ID D010887
Record type Site
Current site name Elk Park Mine
Alternate or previous names Surprise Group, Centennial Claims, Centenial Uranium Porspect, Long Mine
Related records 10118945

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -107.6562, 37.71501 (WGS84)
Elevation 2768
Relative position 6.3 MILES S 6 E FROM SILVERTON

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

San Juan(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Snowdon Peak(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Silverton(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Durango(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Animas(hydrologic unit)

Upper San Juan(hydrologic accounting unit)

San Juan(hydrologic subregion)

Upper Colorado(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

San Juan 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 Colorado San Juan

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
New Mexico 040N 007W 20 SE Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • (LAND STATUS AND ADMINISTRATIVE AREA LOCATIONS CALCULATED USING GIS OVERLAY ANALYSIS FOR SAN JUAN N. F.). WEST OF ANIMAS RIVER 0.4 MILE BELOW ELK CREEK CONFLUENCE, 1.85 MILES ENE OF SNOWDON PEAK. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1977

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Uranium Primary
Silver Tertiary
Copper Tertiary
Nickel Critical Tertiary
Molybdenum Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Erythrite Ore
Uraninite Ore
Hematite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Fe Oxidation

Analytical data

Result BACKGROUND RADIATION 150 CPS, RANGE 150 TO 10000 CPS. ORE GRADE THROUGH 1971 WAS 0.45% U3O8. CHIP SAMPLES OF URANIFEROUS CLAY GOUGE FROM FAULT ZONE IN QUARTZITE CONTAINED 0.5 TO 1.3 OZ/TON AG, UP TO 0.5% AS, 0.01 TO 0.07% CU, 0.01 TO 0.13% NI, 0.01% MO, 0.02% CO, 0.0002 TO 0.453% U (SCOTT, 1983).

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 155
USGS model code 25f
Deposit model name Volcanogenic U

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Precambrian
    Chronological age 1720
    Dating method U-Pb (zircon)
    Type of media Zircon
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Rock unit name Tenmile Granite
    Rock description Tenmile Granite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name Uncompahgre Formation
    Rock description Uncompahgre Formation

Nearby scientific data

(1) -107.6562, 37.71501
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description San Juan Uplift
Type of structure Local
Structure description Needle Mtns Uplift, Centennial Fault, Garfield Peak Fault

Controls for ore emplacement

  • East-West-Trending Faults And Fractures Cutting Quartzite

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1956
Discoverer American Sovereign Mines, Ltd
Year of first production 1956
Year of last production 1980

Mining district

District name Elk Park Area

Land status

Ownership category National Forest
Area name San Juan N. F.

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Minco, Inc.
    Home office Silverton, Co.
    First year 1980
  • Type Owner
    Owner L. E. Smith
    Home office Boulder, Co.
    First year 1982

Comments on the production information

  • POSSIBLY SOME DISCREPANCY AMONG REPORTED PRODUCTION FIGURES FOR LATE 1950S. FIGURES FOR 1958-80 CITED ABOVE ARE REPORTED BY CDM. FIGURE FOR 1956 IS STOCKPILED ORE REPORTED BY STEVEN AND OTHERS, 1969 (P. 88); THEIR REPORT OF 31 ST ORE MINED IN 1959 COULD BE SAME AS 30 ST ORE REPORTED IN 1958 BY CDM.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Length 204.22M

Comments on the workings information

  • MAIN ADIT DRIVEN S 40 W FOR 410 FT. THENCE DUE WEST FOR 50 FT. SHORT EXPLORATORY DRIFTS DRIVEN NW-SE AT 45 FT FROM PORTAL AND AT 85 AND 95 FT FROM PORTAL. SECOND ADIT LOCATED 30 FT NW OF MAIN ADIT AND IS DRIVEN S 55 W INITIALLY FOR 50 FT. D010887 THENCE CURVING SOUTH AND SE FOR 30 FT.

Comments on development

  • IN 1956 AMERICAN SOVEREIGN MINES, LTD, STAKED GROUND OVER RADIOACTIVE ANOMALIES DISCOVERED IN EAST-TRENDING SHEAR ZONES. SUBSEQUENT EXPLORATION DELINEATED ORE BODIES AND 22 ST ORE AT 0.9% U308 STOCKPILED. IN 1957, FOLLOWING EXAMINATION BY USGS AND USBM, AMERICAN SOVEREIGN MINES WAS GRANTED DMEA CONTRACT TO EXPLORE SURFACE EXPOSURES. GADDIS MINING COMPANY (LESSEE) DROVE MAIN TUNNEL AND CROSSCUT IN 1958 AND DEVELOPED 200 ST ORE-GRADE MATERIAL. IN 1959 GADDIS SHIPPED 31 ST ORE AT 0.47% U3O8 TO MILL AT GUNNISON AND STOCKPILED ADDITIONAL 200 ST ORE AT ESTIMATED 0.2% U3O8. LONG-HOLE EXPLORATION IN 1968. IN 1980-82, EXXON MINERALS COMPANY HAD STAKED ADDITIONAL 551 CLAIMS IN MINE AREA AND DRILLED 16 HOLES, ENCOUNTERING GRADES IN EXCESS OF 0.05% U3O8. LAST REPORTED PRODUCTION WAS 1978-79 BY L.E. SMITH AND IN 1980 BY MINCO, INC.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit UNCOMPAHGRE FM CONTAINS MAJOR WNW-ESE LAYERING OF SCHIST-PHYLLITE-SLATE AND QUARTZITE. EXPLORATORY DRILLING DEFINED MINERALIZAED ZONE AT LEAST 1500 FT IN STRIKE LENGTH, 350 FT IN WIDTH, AND OVER 700 FT IN VERTICAL EXTENT. MINERALIZATION OCCURS AS VEIN FILLINGS FROM MINUTE FRACTURES IN QUARTZITE TO MAJOR FAULT BRECCIAS RELATED TO EAST-WEST-TRENDING CENTENNIAL AND GARFIELD PEAK FAULTS. URANIUM FOUND IN SIMPLE VEINS ASSOSIATED WITH PYRITE AND HEMATITE, AND IN COMPLEX VEIN SYSTEMS WITH AMORPHOUS SULFIDES AND ARSENIDES. DRILLING INDICATED DECREASING BASE METAL/PRECIOUS METAL MINERALIZATION AND INCREASING URANIUM MINERALIZATION WITH DEPTH.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-AUG-1983 Schwochow, Stephen D. Colorado Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

External references

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Colorado resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.