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Wet Mountains District

Past Producer in Custer county in Colorado, United States with commodities Zinc, Copper, Lead, Silver
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Production statistics
  15. Reserves and resources
  16. Bibliographic references
  17. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10311018
Record type District
Current site name Wet Mountains District
Alternate or previous names Greenhorn

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -105.09917, 37.9828 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Custer(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

San Isabel(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Blanca Peak(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Trinidad(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic unit)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Arkansas(hydrologic subregion)

Arkansas-White-Red(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Pike and San Isabel National Forests(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Custer

Comments on the location information

  • Amethyst Creek and Saint charles River area, west of San Isabel in the Wet Mountains.
  • The largest known deposit is the Marion mine. Other deposits include the Amethyst mine and the Dewey prospect.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Zinc Critical Primary
Copper Primary
Lead Primary
Silver Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Proterozoic stratabound-exhalative sulfide deposits (Sheridan and others, 1990).

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Sphalerite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) calc-silicate assemblage

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 271
USGS model code Unassigned
Deposit model name Stratabound Precambrian sulfide, Colorado and Wyoming

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Amphibolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss > Migmatite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Rock unit name San Isabel Granite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesoproterozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) Granitic rocks of 1400-m.y. age group
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description ENE-striking sulfide zones

Comments on the geologic information

  • Sulfide lenses are hosted in gahnite-, garnet-, cordierite- and sapphirine-bearing calc-silicate gneiss unit within a xenolith of Paleoproterozic gneisses enclosed within the Mesoproterozoic San Isabel Granite. Similar setting as the Sedalia, Betty, and Cotopaxi mines.
  • Mineralized lenses strike NE or ENE and dip 45-60 degrees northwest. Mineralized widths are from 1 to 8 meters. The Marion deposit consists of two mineralized zones exposed in workings over a vertical depth of about 110 m. Surface exposures of the mineralized zone are about 200 m long. The larger of the Marion lenses, known as the "Sam Davis vein", averages 5 m in width. The other lens, possibly a faulted segment, is about 1.3 m wide.
  • Sapphirine occurs at the Marion mine, the Amethyst prospect, and an unnamed prospect in the district.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Wet Mountains District

Production statistics

  • Year 1916
    Period 1906-1916?
    Accuracy Estimate

Comments on the production information

  • Production was in the early 20th century. Exact figures not known. Workings are fairly extensive at the Marion mine.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1956
    Measured 109000mt ore
    Indicated 200000mt ore
    Demonstrated 309000mt ore
    Inferred 300000mt ore
    Total resources 609000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Zinc 9.1 wt-pct Zinc Major 1956
    Copper 1.4 wt-pct Copper Major 1956

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • The resource numbers are from the Marion mine only. Resource quantities at the other deposits in the district have not been estimated. It appears that this district is underexplored and present significant potential for zincc, copper, and silver. Grades of up to 50 oz/ton silver are reported at places but no formal estimate of average silver grade was made for the 1956 resource estimate (data from unpublished Sunshine Mining Co. exploration files, Colorado Geological Survey).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 28-FEB-2005 Keller, John W. Colorado 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.