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Big Five Tunnel

Past Producer in Clear Creek county in Colorado, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Copper
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Mineral occurrence model information
  7. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Land status
  11. Production statistics
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10167042
MRDS ID D002492
MAS/MILS ID 0080190244
Record type Site
Current site name Big Five Tunnel
Alternate or previous names Central Tunnel, Big Five - Belman
Related records 10107819

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Geographic coordinates: Elevation UTM Precision Relative position Point location
Main Entrance -105.53281, 39.74416 (WGS84) 2316 10
(click for info)
Main Entrance -105.53309, 39.74443 (WGS84) 2316 10

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Clear Creek(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Idaho Springs(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Denver West(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Denver(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Clear(hydrologic unit)

South Platte(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Platte(hydrologic subregion)

Missouri(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Clear Creek

Comments on the location information

  • An access-drainage-exploration tunnel, the portal is located at highway level just west of Idaho Springs, in the W/2 sec. 35, T3 S, R 73 W.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary
Lead Secondary
Zinc Critical Secondary
Copper Secondary

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Nearby scientific data

Main Entrance (1) -105.53281, 39.74416
ListMap
Main Entrance (2) -105.53309, 39.74443
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • The Big Five tunnel cuts Precambrian gneiss, amphibolite, granite and pegmatite, and Tertiary porphyry dikes, plus many veins.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No

Mining district

District name Idaho Springs District
District name Central City

Land status

Ownership category Private

Production statistics

  • Year 1937
    Period 1901-37
    Material ore
    Ore mined 17219.56mt
    Accuracy Accurate
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Minor Zinc Zinc 95285.24mt
    Minor Lead Lead 891626.06mt
    Minor Copper Copper 328957.88mt
    Trace Silver Silver 15153149.39g
    Major Gold Gold 548758.71g

Comments on the workings information

  • The tunnel extends due north for about 10,000 feet, at an elevation of 7600 feet, under Pewabic Mountain.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Workings

    Moench, R. H., and Drake, A. A., Jr., 1966, Economic geology of the Idaho Springs district, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1208, 91 p.

  • Deposit

    Sunshine Mining Co. Colorado exploration files, unpublished data, Colorado Geological Survey.

  • Deposit

    OME 6022 AND 6398

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit CERCLA (SUPERFUND) SITE. PROPERTY INCLUDED IN THE CLEAR CREEK/CENTRAL CITY MINING WASTE SITE ADDED TO THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST (NPL) IN 1983. ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS INCLUDE: 1) ACID MINE DRAINAGE CONTAMINATED WITH HEAVY METALS, AND 2) CONTAMINATED STORM- WATER RUNOFF.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 13-FEB-1978 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines
Reporter 01-APR-1977 Hasler, J. William U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 10-JAN-2006 Beach, Richard A. Colorado Geological Survey
Updater 28-JUN-0007 Melton, Greg U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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.