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Cripple Creek District

Producer in Teller county in Colorado, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Semiprecious Gemstone, Antimony, Tellurium, Mercury
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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. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10311065
MRDS ID D001977
Record type District
Current site name Cripple Creek District
Related records 60000279

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -105.15, 38.73333 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Teller(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Cripple Creek South(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Pikes Peak(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Pueblo(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)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Teller

Comments on the location information

  • About 24 miles SW of Colorado Springs, the district occupies an elliptical area bounded by Cripple Creek on the NW and by Victor on the south. It covers about 12 square miles in T 15 S, R 69 and 70 W.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Semiprecious Gemstone Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary
Tellurium Critical Tertiary
Mercury Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • In terms of value, gold is the dominant metal recovered; silver is a minor byproduct, and tellurium is not recovered. Turquoise is produced from a deposit at the northwest edge of the district.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Calaverite Ore
Gold Ore
Sylvanite Ore
Turquoise Ore
Krennerite Ore
Adularia Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Celestite Gangue
Dolomite Gangue
Fluorite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Roscoelite Gangue
Ankerite Gangue
Cinnabar Trace
Sphalerite Trace
Tetrahedrite Trace
Stibnite Trace
Galena Trace

Alteration

  • (Local) potassium and carbonate metasomatism

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 84
USGS model code 22b
Deposit model name Alkaline Au-Te (Au-Ag-Te veins)
Mark3 model number 80

Nearby scientific data

(1) -105.15, 38.73333
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description volcanic/diatreme complex

Comments on the geologic information

  • A Tertiary alkaline volcanic/diatreme complex intrudes Precambrian granitic and metamorphic rocks. The volcanic complex is composed mostly of a breccia unit that includes volcanoclastic and lacustrine sediments, and bedded tuffs. The breccia units have been intruded by a series of phonolite dikes and sills primarily along major structural zones. The complex was later intruded by a series of phonolite plugs, flow domes, and small stocks. The last phase of volcanic activity was the development of late-stage breccia pipes and the emplacement of mafic to ultramafic dikes. (Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co.)
  • Two types of gold deposits occur in the district: (1) narrow fissure veins, and sheeted zones of close-spaced veinlets, that carry high-grade gold-silver tellurides in quartz-pyrite-fluorite gangue and persist to vertical depths greater than 3,000 ft., and (2) zones of low-grade disseminated gold-pyrite-adularia hosted in breccia.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant Yes

Mining district

District name Cripple Creek District

Comments on the production information

  • Since its discovery in 1891, the district has produced about 23.5 million oz. of gold through 2005. It is the largest gold district in Colorado, acccounting for about half of the State's cumulative production, and it ranks among the largest in the U.S. Numerous underground mines worked narrow high-grade veins until 1962, when mining virtually ceased because of increasing costs. Renewed activity, beginning about 1975 as gold prices rose, focused on low-grade near-surface deposits. Production at the large open-pit Cresson mine began in 1995, and continues today.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • At 12/31/04, estimated ore reserves were 3,877,815 oz. of gold, at an average grade of 0.029 oz/ton, in 134,299,000 tons of ore. Additional gold resources have been identified that may be converted to reserves later. (Golden Cycle Gold Corp.)

Comments on the workings information

  • More than 500 mines operated in the district; several large mines produced more than 1 million oz. of gold and at least 20 produced more than 150,000 oz. of gold. Several long drainage tunnels were driven deep under the district to alleviate water problems. Shafts were sunk more than 3200 ft deep to tap rich persistent veins.

Comments on development

  • After discovery of gold in 1891, development of high-grade veins proceeded rapidly, and production increased markedly to nearly 1 million oz./yr by 1900. Production tapered off slowly until World War I, and then fell more thereafter during the 1920s and 1930s. Mining was sharply curtailed during World War II, then rose somewhat in the 1950s when a large, modern mill opened. Rising costs and a constant gold price caused the mill and mines to close at the end of 1961; the district was largely dormant until 1975. New technology and increasing gold prices encouraged exploration and small-scale production of low-grade, near-surface gold deposits. In 1995, production began at the large open-pit Cresson mine and continues at present (2006).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Lindgren, W., and Ransome, F. L., 1906, Geology and gold deposits of the Cripple Creek district, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 54, 516 p.

  • Deposit

    Loughlin, G. F., and Koschmann, A. H., 1935, Geology and ore deposits of the Cripple Creek district, Colorado: Colorado Scientific Society Proceedings, v. 13, no. 6, p. 217-435.

  • Deposit

    Koschmann, A. H., 1949, Structural control of the gold deposits of the Cripple Creek district, Teller County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 955-B, p. 19-60.

  • Deposit

    Koschmann, A. H., and Bergendahl, M. H., 1968, Principal gold-producing districts of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 610, 283 p.

  • Deposit

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

  • Deposit

    Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co. corporate info., accessed from internet on 4/13/2006

  • Reserve-Resource

    Golden Cycle Gold Corp. corporate info., accessed from internet on 4/13/2006

  • Deposit

    WHITE, D.E., 1962, ANTIMONY IN THE U.S.: USGS MR-20.

  • Geology

    Thompson, T. B., 1986, Geology and mineral deposits, Cripple Creek district, Colorado, in Cripple Creek mining district: Denver Region Exploration Geologists Society Fall Field Guidebook, pp. 16-63.

  • Deposit

    U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1965, Mercury potential of the United States: U.S. Bureau of Mines IC-8252, p. 371-372.

  • Deposit

    Jensen, E. P., 2003, Magmatic and hydrothermal evolution of the Cripple Creek gold deposit, Colorado, and comparisons with regional and global magmatic-hydrothermal systems associated with alkaline magmatism: Tucson, AZ, University of Arizona, Ph.D. dissertation, 846 p.

  • Deposit

    Vardiman, D.M., Roy, E., Thornton, D., Nicholson, D., White, D., and Melker, M., 2006, Geology and exploration developments, Cripple Creek mining district, Colorado, USA: Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co., Geology Field Guide, 11 p.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 2006-04-13 Beach, Richard A. Colorado Geological Survey
Editor 2012-09-18 Wilson, Anna B U.S. Geological Survey merged and deleted duplicate record 60000279
Reporter 1975-12-01 Miller, M.H. U.S. Geological Survey vague district record for Antimony

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.