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By Collings P. S, Adair D. L

The Upper Robe (Robe Gorge) deposits occur in Kumina Creek and the Robe River, some 20-40 km upstream from mining operations at Pannawonica. The Gorge Deposits were rec- ognised, mapped and sampled in 1962-3 and re- examined in detail in 1971. Approximately 180 mineralized occurrences were mapped in 1971 on 1:4800 scale and 50 of these were remapped in detail at 1:1200 scale. Eighty cross sections were measured and sampled and 300 geological maps prepared. In addition 88 holes totalling 7388 feet were drilled in three occurrences considered to have the greatest potential. The Gorge Deposits occur in the Robe Pisolite unit which forms thin remnant crusts, bay fillings and occasional cut-off meanders along the edge of the present streams. Less than 50 of the deposits have tonnage potential of one million or more. Consequently exploit- ation of the Gorge reserves must be considered as a very uncertain, long range possibility because the deposits are small and scattered throughout the gorges in the area, thereby necessitating costly railroad spur lines to gain mining access. Grade of the occurrences is extremely variable over short distances both vertically

Jan 1, 1973

By Thomas Leonard Watson

I. HISTORICAL. BARITE has been mined for many years in various parts of Virginia, probably the earliest mining-operations being in Prince William county, within 600 ft. of the Fauquier county line, about 4 miles south of east from Catlett, a station on the Southern Railway. It is claimed that the mineral was mined here as early as 1845. Mining-operations in Campbell and Pittsylvania counties in the Piedmont region, and near Marion in Smyth county, in the southwest Virginia Valley region, were begun about 30 years ago. The mining and milling of barite on a commercial scale in Tazewell and Russell counties are more recent, and commenced about 15 years ago. II. GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION. Barite occurs in many counties in the State, as shown in Fig. 1, but the industry has been confined to only a few of them. Its occurrence is noted in two of the three major divisions of the State-namely, the Piedmont region east of the Blue Ridge, and the Paleozoic area west of the Blue Ridge. In the Piedmont region the mineral has been mined in the following counties:, Bedford, Campbell, Louisa, Prince William, and Pittsylvania. In the region west of the Blue Ridge, composed of Paleozoic sediments, barite has been mined in Montgomery, Russell, Smyth, and Tazewell counties. Of the counties mentioned, Bedford, Campbell, and Pittsylvania of the Piedmont region, and Russell, Smyth, and Tazewell of the Valley region, have been the principal producers. In 1906, operations were confined to five counties-Bedford, Louisa, Pittsylvania, Russell, and Tazewell-but in the first two counties named there was no production, the work being solely development.

Jan 9, 1907

By Rosie Moore, Harvey Keats, Kerry Sparkes, A. J. Naldrett

"Abstract-The Voisey’s Bay Ni-Cu-Co deposit was discovered in late 1994 as the result of prospecting initiated in the summer of 1993. By July 1995, proven mineable reserves were 31.7 x 106 tonnes grading 2.83% Ni, 1.68% Cu and 0.12% Co, and current total resources in all categories are quoted to be in the order of 150 X 106 tonnes. The deposit is associated with a body of troctolite belonging to the Nain Anorthosite (1.35 Ga - 1.29 Ga) suite, which was emplaced across the boundary between the Proterozoic "Rae" Province to the west and Archean "Nain" Province to the east.The deposit can be described in terms of three geological settings. The "Ovoid" is a 600 m long by 350 m wide by 100 m deep lens of massive sulfide, covered by 10 m to 20 m of glacial overburden, and separated from the underlying country rock quartz-plagioclase-biotite gneiss by a breccia of gneissic fragments in troctolite known as the Basal Breccia Sequence. To the west of the Ovoid lies the "Western Extension", comprising disseminated and massive sulfides in a north-dipping sheet of troctolite which ranges from upper unmineralized troctolite down through troctolite with increasing amounts of sulfide (up to 50%), to massive sulfide (in some places only), and then to Basal Breccia Sequence. East of the Ovoid, the troctolite sheet broadens out into a troctolite intrusion, within which occurs the "Eastern Deeps", a zone of massive and disseminated sulfide up to 100 m thick that is currently being explored. The mineralization of the Eastern Deeps lies along the line of intersection of a feeder sheet with the base of the intrusion. The current interpretation is that the three geological environments represent different erosional levels through a single mineralized intrusion. In this model, the deepest erosional level lies to the west and exposes the feeder to surface, whereas the Ovoid represents the base of the intrusion at surface, and the Eastern Deeps the base of the intrusion overlain by 600 m to 900 m of troctolite. Sulfides and gneissic fragments were brought up by magma flowing quickly through the feeder, and settled out where the flow rate decreased as the sulfide-bearing magma mixed with magma already emplaced in the intrusive body."

Jan 1, 1996

By Don C. White

The Vulture mine near Wickenburg, Arizona was a major gold producer from 1863 to 1942, having yielded about 11t(12.1 st) Au and 8t (8.8st) Ag. Gold occurs as coarse native metal and electrum in quartz veins and also finely dis¬seminated within a quartz monzonite sill and its silicified wall rock. The sill is semi-conformable within a Proterozoic volcaniclastic-dominated sequence, all dipping north about 35°. Early mining focused on the vein-hosted gold, particularly in the immediate hanging wall and footwall of the sill. Later efforts included some open-pit mining of the outcropping sill and adjacent altered and mineralized rock. Two sets of post-mineral faults have complicated the orebody geometry. The sill is a 350 m (1148 ft) long apophysis from a quartz mozonite stock to the west of the mine area. The stock has been dated at 85 my and contains abundant lesser gold occurrences in its core and about its margins. The Proterozoic rocks are notably lean in precious metals except where altered in proximity to the Creataceous stock and sill. Circumstances dictate an interpretation of epigenetic mineralization related to the Laramide intrusion.

Jan 1, 1990

By D. C. White

The Vulture Mine near Wickenburg, Arizona was a major gold producer from 1863 to 1942, having yielded about 11,000 kg Au and 8,000 kg Ag. Gold occurs as coarse native metal and electrum in quartz veins and also finely disseminated within a quartz monzonite sill and its silicified wall rock. The sill is semi-conformable within a Proterozoic volcaniclastic-dominated sequence all dipping north about 35°. Early mining focused on the vein-hosted gold particularly in the immediate hanging wall and footwall of the sill. Later efforts included some open-pitting of the outcropping sill and adjacent altered and mineralized rock. Two sets of post-mineral faults have complicated the orebody geometry.

Jan 1, 1988

By W. K. Coughlan

The Wabana deposit of Dosco Industries Limited is situated on the east coast of Newfoundland, at Bell Island in Conception Bay. It is a Clinton-type iron-formation of Lower Ordovician age. Five separate beds have been recognized, with others noted locally. Economic production has been obtained from the Lower, Middle and Upper beds, which are second, third and fifth in sequence, al-though at present only the Lower Bed is worked. The potential area of occurrence is about 70 square miles. It i;; bounded by major faults to the north, east and west and truncated by erosion at the south, where rocks of the de-posit crop out on the north side of the island. The iron is contained in oolitic hematite and chamosite, with minor siderite. As the deposit is submarine, conventional exploration methods are not applicable and much interpretation and projection from mined areas is necessary to guide exploration and development. With the interpretation of information from existing mined ores, it is possible, using a minimum of diamond drilling in advance of working faces, to maintain adequate ore reserves.

Jan 1, 1966

By J. E. Gill

Introduction During the past summer, detailed geological mapping was extended to cover the entire group of 31 claims owned by Waite-Ackerman-Montgomery Mines, Ltd., and considerable new information was revealed by development and exploratory work underground. These new facts provide a more complete view of the lithology and structure of the area than has heretofore been available. They also necessitate revision of certain interpretations presented last year by Peale (l), and have served to straighten out some of the problems suggested by Porritt (2). The purpose of this paper is to outline in a broad way the relations as now understood and to discuss in detail certain points which should be of interest to members of the Institute. Maps and records by the mine staff have been freely used in arriving at the interpretation presented in the following pages. The writers are especially indebted to Mr. R. V. Porritt, the mine manager, with whom many of the problems touched upon were discussed on the ground and whose intimate knowledge of the geology of the underground workings aided greatly in testing various hypotheses. The writers have profited greatly, also, from close association with Dr. W. F. James during the course of the work. Permission to publish the included data has very kindly been given .by the management.

Jan 1, 1932

By Y. S. Bonillas

IRA B. JORALEMON, Warren, Ariz.-This paper has covered the situation so well that I have few suggestions to offer. Two points, however, are shown more clearly in the lower mines of the Calumet Arizona Mining Co. than in Copper Queen workings, and may be worth mentioning. The first is the usual association of high-grade primary sulphide orebodies with much larger masses of pyrite and silica, averaging less than 1 per cent. copper. The richer areas occur sometimes around the borders of the lean pyrite bodies, and sometimes entirely within them. While as yet we have not been able to find any certain reason for the location of high-grade sulphides in low-grade masses, it seems likely that the age of fracturing is one controlling feature. The first stage of mineralization, with pyrite and silica, had the effect of sealing up the rock. The later solutions, richer in copper, could pene-

Jan 12, 1916

By A. K. Chetin, W. W. Fitkin

"The reservoirs of Mississippian Mi-dale beds and Frobisher beds found in the Weyburn field lie at the north-western termination of a broad productive belt extending 120 miles along the northeastern rim of the Williston basin. These carbonates, and inter-bedded evaporites, originated during cycles of marine transgression and regression, and were deposited as rock types characteristic of shoal, lagoon, and basinward shelf environments. The Frobisher-Alida Beds, which form a secondary reservoir to the main Midale Beds of producing zone are composed of oolit1c, fragmental-bioclastic, vugular limestone capped by an impervious dolomitic mudstone. Production is controlled by localized structural features resulting from de-positional build-up. Excellent reservoir conditions are accompanied by an active water drive. The Frobisher Evaporite, consisting of massive primary anhydrite with dolomitic veinlets, forms the floor seal for the Midale beds oil accumulation. A significant facies transition into an oolitic, bioclastic, vugular limestone characterizes this unit. Beyond the depositional margin of the evaporitic facies, marked increases in porosity and permeability of the en-tire reservoir are noted. Carbonate units overlying the areal extent of the Frobisher Evaporite exhibit a greater degree of metasomatism, dolomitization, and more abundant secondary anhydrite.Porous carbonates comprising the producing zone of the Midale beds are divided into an oolitic, fragmental bioclastic, vugular limestone, and an overlying granular marly lime-stone unit, capped, by the Midale Evaporite. Oil is accumulated in a stratigraphic trap bounded above and be-low by primary anhydrite and truncated by the post-Mississippian erosional surface. Mississippian strata dip basinward from this erosional surface in a broad homocline exhibiting only minor irregularities. Rapid lateral and vertical porosity and permeability variations are common. Localized, separated, porous lenticles contain interstitial water in areas where the Midale beds are underlain by the Frobisher Evaporite. The major portion of the field, however, is capable of water-free production. Bottom and edge waters are found in certain portions of the field. Productive limits are tentatively defined around most of the present field perimeter. A large area along foe southern edge of the field remains open to future development. Probable ultimate remaining recoverable crude oil reserves, as of September 30th, 1958, were estimated by Mc-Daniel Consultants Ltd. to be in excess of 330 million barrels."

Jan 1, 1959

By V. T. McLemore

The Wind Mountain (WM) nepheline syenite deposit is part of the alkalic complex in the Cornudas Mountains, which ranges in age from 34.6 ± 1.5 Ma to 36.8 ± 0.6 Ma. The WM deposit consists of a complex, zoned pluton that ranges from syenite porphyry to nepheline syenite porphyry. The WM deposit has potential use for ceramics and dark-colored beverage containers and consists of nepheline, k-feldspar, albite, and varying amounts of other minerals. Analcime also is present locally but must be avoided because it is unsuitable for ceramic and glass. Chemically the deposit consists of 56-63 % SiO2 17-21 % Al2O3 and 4.0-5 % Fe2O3. Although initially iron is high, when the crushed rock is passed through a specialized magnetic separator, the iron content drops to below commercial maximum standards of less than 0.5% Fe2O3. The WM deposit is currently under exploration and testing to determine marketability.

Jan 1, 1994

By C. W. Hall

Owing to its isolation and comparatively small tonnage, the Yoquivo district is not widely known; though financially important and, geologically, quite interesting. San Francisco dc Yoquivo, the center of the mining district, is in the western part of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico; about 35 miles west of. San Juanito, on the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient R. R. The town can be reached from the railroad by a good trail over a rugged country. The elevation of Yoquivo is 6500 ft., and peaks surrounding the town are 2000 ft. higher. The mining towns of Concheno and Ocampo are 25 miles northwest, and Uruachic is 20 miles southwest. The climate, temperate and healthful, is almost ideal. The rainy season begins in July and ends the latter part of September. There is usually, though not always, some precipitation in all months except April, May, and June: The mountains are covered with pine and scrub oak. Water, wood and lumber are plentiful for all ordinary purposes, and hydroelectric power is available for. about six months of the year, when wood for steam, power is utilized as an expedient. The district has been worked: recurrently for over 60 years. The Yoquivo province lies on the steep western-slope of the Tara-humara division of the Sierra Madre range of mountains. The province is traversed by many deep canyons, most of which flow west. The town is situated on the San Francisco arroyo, which makes a confluence with the Huevachic stream 212 m. southwest; the Huevachic in turn joins the Candemeña river farther down and these two drain the western flank of the Tarahumara mountains and form the headwaters of the Mayo river. The claims of the Yoquivo Development Co., which, is the only organization in the district with a record of any considerable production,: lie within an area roughly 112 m. square. The area extends from the, San Francisco arroyo north, and from the Dolores arroyo west, and is confined to the andesitc formation.

Jan 2, 1926

By Paul Billingsley

IN THEIR course across Ecuador, the Andes fail to show the mineral wealth with which they abound in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. This may well be due merely to the concealment of recent volcanic ash and dense tropical jungle, but at any rate Ecuador has lacked the stimulation to development and progress afforded to the southern countries by the mines of Cerro de Pasco, Potosi, etc. 1 There is, however; in Ecuador, near its southern border, one mining district that, in recent years under North American management, has become a steady producer of mineral. wealth and. a community in which the sanitary and mechanical elements of modern life are displayed, for ;the first time, to the Ecuadorians of the lowland forests. The mining district of Zaruma is .situated in the province of El Oro, near the southwestern corner of Ecuador, about 50 km. (31 mi.) from the coast. Pizarro's first landing on the mainland was at Tumbez, at the mouth of the river that drains the Zaruma area; and the gold so abundantly found in this Indian town was soon traced to its source. In 1549, Mercadillo, one of the original (band, reached Zaruma, having worked his way up-stream through canyons that .are now regarded as impassable. The Spaniards proved themselves efficient prospectors, finding practically every orebody in the district as yet discovered; and, working

Jan 10, 1925

By P. W. A Severin

"The Sturgeon Lake deposit, a partly eroded lens of massive sulphides with an underlying sulphide stringer zone, is one of five orebodies that occur in the Sturgeon Lake area of northwestern Ontario within volcaniclastic rocks of the Archean Wabigoon Subprovince in the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield.The Sturgeon Lake Cu-Zn-Pb-A g-Au deposit was discovered in October 1970 as a result of an I.P. survey. Production from this open-pit mine began in March 1974 and continued until the ore was exhausted in March 1980.The Sturgeon Lake property is underlain by basaltic volcanics, minor amounts of mafic lapilli tuff and rhyolite volcaniclastics. A quartz crystal-bearing rhyolite occurs at the top of the felsic volcaniclastics and is ""capped"" by the Sturgeon Lake massive sulphide deposit. The felsic volcanics have been intruded by a crudely layered sill-like, carbonatized mafic intrusion. Recent work suggests that the felsic rocks that underlie the Sturgeon Lake deposit are lateral equivalents of those in the vicinity of the Mattabi Mine and are not correlative with the dacitic volcaniclastics that underlie the Lyon Lake and Creek Zone deposits. Hydrothermal processes that resulted in the formation of the Sturgeon Lake orebody have resulted in a depletion of Na2O, CaO and FeO and an increase in MgO, K2O, copper and zinc. In the vicinity of the sulphide stringer zone, the rhyolites are ""bleached"" due to silicification and sericitization. The rocks lying immediately below the massive sulphides are locally strongly chloritic.The Sturgeon Lake deposit may have formed on a top ographic high which prevented mafic flows and dacitic volcaniclastics that underlie the Lyon Lake and Creek Zone deposits from inundating the Sturgeon Lake fumarolic vent from the west. Continued or resurgent activity from the Sturgeon Lake fumarole may have resulted in the formation of the Lyon Lake and Creek Zones as more ""distal "" deposits in topographic lows. The Sturgeon Lake, Lyon Lake and Creek Zone deposits were subsequently overlain by mafic tuffs and flows."

Jan 1, 1982

By James H. Courtright, Kenyon Richard

TOQUEPALA is a porphyry copper deposit in which mineralization is localized by a large breccia pipe formed in dose genetic relation to intrusive rocks. The deposit is in southern Peru, 55 airline miles north of the small city of Tacna and the same distance inland from the port of 110. Quellaveco and Cuajone, geologically similar deposits, lie 12 and 19 miles north of Toquepala. Chuquicamata is 400 miles to the south. The deposit is high on the southwestern slope about 20 miles from the crest of the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes Chain. It lies in a mountainous desert where the steep southwesterly slope of the Andes is dissected by a succession of rapidly downcutting, deep canyons. Local topography is moderately rugged with a dendritic drainage pattern and an elevation of 8000 to 14,000 ft. Volcanic peaks along the crest of the Cordillera rise over 19,000 ft.

Jan 2, 1958

By T. M. Gurr

The United States is the world's leading producer of phosphate rock. In 1975 according to the U. S. Bureau of Mines' statistics, 44.3 million tonnes (48.8 million short tons) of phosphate rock were produced in the United States', which is 40.6 percent of the world's production2. The major phosphate producing areas of the United States are located in Figure 1 and the production for 1975 is listed as follows: Million Million Short Tonnes Tons Florida and North Carolina 36.9 40.7 Western States 5.3 5.8 Tennessee 2.1 2.3 All of these areas produce phosphate from deposits which are sedimentary marine in origin. Occurrences of phosphate exist throughout the United States in numerous locations that are of both igneous and sedimentary origins. However, these other phosphate occurrences vary greatly in extent and economic significance. Georgia, South Carolina, California, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia are but a few of the states in which phosphate is thought or known to

Jan 1, 1977

By A Turek

The Lake Cinch deposit occurs in the Tazin gneisses on the footwall side of the Black Bay fault. Ore is localized by two faults, the Main Ore fault and the Cracking-stone River fault, occurring in shoots along the former and on tension fractures between the two faults. Faulting leading to the localization of the deposit is analyzed in detail and tied into the regional pattern. Pitchblende, the chief radioactive mineral, is investigated by X-ray and found to be of very small particle size. The relation-ships of U, Fe and Mn in the ore are established quantitatively, and Fe is found to bear a catalytic relation to U. The deposit is classed as belonging to Lindgren's mesothermal class. Mineralization is attributed to carbonate solutions, and the uranium is believed to have been trans-ported in the hexavalent state as the uranyl tricarbonate ion; analogy is drawn to a recently developed hydro-metallurgical technique for the production of uranium dioxide. Introduction THE Lake Cinch deposit is located in the Beaver-lodge Camp, Saskatchewan. The property was staked in 1948 and went into production in 1957

Jan 1, 1965

By T. M. Gurr

The United States is the world's leading producer of phosphate rock. In 1975 according to the US Bureau of Mines' statistics, 44.3 million tonnes (48.8 million st) of phosphate rock were produced in the United States, 1 which is 40.6% of the world's production.2 The major phosphate producing areas of the United States are located in Fig. 1 and the production for 1975 is listed as follows:

Jan 6, 1979

By T. M. Gurr

The United States is the world's leading producer of phosphate rock. In 1975 according to the US Bureau of Mines' statistics, 44.3 million tonnes (48.8 million st) of phosphate rock were produced in the United States, l which is 40.6% of the world's production.2 The major phosphate producing areas of the United States are located in [Fig. 1] and the production for 1975 is listed as follows: [ ] All of these areas produce phosphate from deposits which are of marine sedimentary origin. Occurrences of phosphate exist throughout the United States in numerous locations that are of both igneous and sedimentary origins. However, these other phosphate occurrences vary greatly in extent and economic significance. Georgia, South Carolina, California, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Alabama, Kentucky, and Virginia are but a few of the states in which phosphate is thought or known to exist. The near future expansion will probably continue to be in, or near, existing producing areas, (i.e., Florida and North Carolina).

Jan 1, 1980

The main iron ore deposits of Western Australia fall into three very different geological classes, which are, in order of importance: hematite enrichment ore, pisolitic limonite ore, and sedimentary ore. These are presently (1973) being mined in the approximate proportions 20 : 2 : 1, while the equivalent proportions for reserves are, very approximately, 200 : 70 : 1. Two minor categories which mar- ginally qualify as ore are detrital material variously referred to as scree ore or canga, and potentially beneficiable iron formation. These two latter types are dealt with very briefly, and the three main categories are dis- cussed in order of economic significance. Hematite enrichment ore results from the selective replacement of a pre-existing host rock by hematite. Almost without exception, this host is cherty banded iron formation (BIF); but certain exceptions have great genetic inter- est. Ore bodies of this kind occur both in the Archaean BIFs of the Pilbara and Yilgarn Blocks and in the Proterozoic BIFs of'the Hamersley Basin. It follows from their virtual restriction to a single kind of sedimentary host that there is strong stratigraphic control over the shape of ore bodies: these may be almost flat, of dyke-like form, or of complex configuration, according to the pre-enrichment structure of the host bed. This structure was an important control over the position in which ore formed:

Jan 1, 1973

Western Australian tin deposits are similar to those of other Precam- brian terrains in that they are mainly associated with rare-metal pegmatites, in which cassiterite is found with minerals containing any or all of the elements Ta, Nb, Be, Li, Cs, Rb and the rare earths.. They differ from Phanerozoic deposits where cassiterite occurs in quartz veins, greisens, dis- seminations in granite or sulphide lodes, and is associated with minerals containing W, Mo, Bi, Sb, As, Ag, or Cu. The main tin production in Western Australia has come from the Pilbara Block where the more important tin- bearing pegmatites are related to a younger granite phase, and from Green- bushes where large albite pegmatites intrude ?Proterozoic metamorphic rocks. The more important tin deposits in the Pilbara Block, and those in the Halls Creek and Murchison Provinces, are related to granites which are richer in Si and K and poorer in Ca, Mg, Fe and Ti than 'average granite'. The tin granites tend to have higher than average contents of Sn, Rb and Li.

Jan 1, 1973