Browns Canyon District

Site Name

Primary: Browns Canyon District
Secondary: Mines and deposits include: Colorado-American, Delay Adit, Lloyd Shaft, Chimney Hill, Manganese Hill
Secondary: Browns Canyon Fluorspar Area

---

Commodity

Primary: Fluorine-Fluorite
Tertiary: Manganese

---

Location

State: Colorado
County: Chaffee
District: Browns Canyon District

---

Land Status

Land ownership: Private
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.

---

Holdings

Not available

---

Workings

Type: Surface/Underground

---

Ownership

Owner Name: Allied Chemical Corp., General Chemical Division
Years: 1969 -

---

Production

Year: 1949
Time Period: 1927-1949
Mined: 127946.000 mt
Material type: FLUORSPAR CONCENTRATES

---

Deposit

Record Type: District
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1927
Year Last Production: 1949
Discovery Year: 1923
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: M

---

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Southern Rocky Mountains

---

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Fluorspar deposits (fluorite veins)

---

Orebody

Form: TABULAR, LENTICULAR

---

Structure

Type: R
Description: Southern Mosquito Range, Arkansas Valley Graben

Type: L
Description: Folds, Faults; N-Trending Fault Bounding Arkansas Valley

---

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Silicification, Fluoritization

---

Rocks

Name: Gneiss
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

Name: Gneiss
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

---

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: ORE AVERAGES: 21.1-67.8% CAF2, 20.4-50.2% SIO2, 0.09-1.1% CACO3, 0.7-2.0% FE, 0.3% MGO, 1.95-11.0% AL2O3.
Analytical Data: DISTRICT PRODUCED CONCENTRATES AVERAGING 59% METALLURGICAL GRADE (85%) CAF2, 39% CERAMIC GRADE (92-97%) CAF2 AND 2% ACID GRADE (98%) CAF2

---

Materials

Ore: Fluorite
Gangue: Manganite
Gangue: Goethite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Kaolinite
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Barite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Psilomelane
Gangue: Pyrolusite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Opal
Gangue: Montmorillonite

---

Comments

Comment (Location): THE DISTRICT LIES ABOUT 8 MILES NW OF SALIDA, EAST OF US HWY 285 IN THE VICINITY OF HECLA JUNCTION, AND WEST OF THE ARKANSAS RIVER; MOSTLY IN SECS. 22, 27-28, AND 34, T 51 N, R 8 E.

Comment (Production): ABOUT 260,000 TONS OF ORE YIELDED 130,000 TONS OF COMMERCIAL-GRADE FLUORSPAR, VALUED AT ABOUT $5,000,000, BETWEEN 1927 AND 1949. ABOUT 90% OF FLUORSPAR CONCENTRATES FROM THIS DISTRICT CAME FROM THE COLORADO-AMERICAN MINE. ALMOST 60% OF THE CONCENTRATES WERE METALLURGICAL-GRADE (85% CAF2), 40% WERE CERAMIC-GRADE (92-97% CAF2), AND 2% WERE ACID-GRADE (98% CAF2).

Comment (Reserve-Resource): VAN ALSTINE, R.E. (1969)

Comment (Commodity): FLUORITE MOSTLY MICROGRANULAR TO FINE GRAINED AND LAYERED; WELL FORMED CRYSTALS SMALL (<1 MM), NOT COMMON; CHOCOLATE-BROWN, PURPLE, RED, PINK, GREEN, YELLOW, GRAY, WHITE, COLORLESS; NON FLUORESCENT. MICROCRYSTALLINE TO CHALCEDONIC QUARTZ IS THE OTHER MAJOR VEIN MINERAL AND IS INTIMATELY MIXED WITH THE FLUORITE. MANGANESE-OXIDE MINERALS ARE WIDESPREAD IN THE FLUORSPAR ORES, BUT NO MINEABLE MANGANESE ORE HAS BEEN FOUND.

Comment (Deposit): VUGS AS LARGE AS 4 X 8 X 30 FT HIGH ALONG VEIN/FAULT

Comment (Deposit): THIS IS ONE OF THE MAJOR FLUORSPAR DISTRICTS IN THE UNITED STATES BECAUSE OF SUBSTANTIAL PRODUCTION AND RESOURCES ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Comment (Development): MILLS OPERATING IN DISTRICT (FLOTATION): COLORADO FLUORSPAR CORP.; KRAMER MINES, INC.; FLUORSPAR PROCESSING CORP; UNITED STATES FLUORSPAR & MANGANESE, INC. (NONE OPERABLE IN 1969)

Comment (Geology): Epithermal (hot spring) fluorspar veins occur along a NW-trending fault zone over a distance of 3000 feet.

---

References

Reference (Development): COLORADO MINING ASSOCIATION, 1944 MINING YEAR BOOK: DENVER, PP. 28-31; 1946 MINING YEAR BOOK.PP. 43-47.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): VAN ALSTINE, R.E. (1969)

Reference (Deposit): VAN ALSTINE, R.E. AND COX, D.C., 1969, FLUORSPAR MINES AND PROSPECTS, IN, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE PONCHA SPRINGS NE QUADRANGLE, CHAFFEE COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 626, P. 38-43

Reference (Deposit): BRADY, B.T., 1975, MAP SHOWING FLUORSPAR DEPOSITS IN COLORADO: USGS MAP MR. 70, 1:500,000, TEXT

Reference (Deposit): Vanderwilt, J.W., 1947, Mineral resources of Colorado: State of Colorado Mineral Resources Board, 547 p.

Reference (Deposit): Argall, G. O., Jr., 1949, Industrial minerals of Colorado: Colorado School of Mines Quarterly, v. 44, no. 2, 477 p.

Reference (Deposit): U.S. BUREAU OF MINES. IN-HOUSE MINERAL PROPERTY FILES (NOS.25.8-25.13, 25.15, AND 25.35) CONTAINING PROPRIETARY AND UNPUBLISHED INFORMATION RELATING TO MINING PROPERTIES WITHIN THE BROWNS CANYON FLUORSPAR DISTRICT.

Reference (Deposit): Sunshine Mining Co. Colorado exploration files, unpublished data, Colorado Geological Survey.

Reference (Production): VAN ALSTINE, R.E., (1969)

Reference (Deposit): VAN ALSTINE, R.E., 1969, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE PONCHA SPRINGS NE QUADRANGLE, CHAFFEE COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 626, 52 P.

---

Colorado Mining Photos

Check out this collection of Colorado's best historic mining photos: Incredible Photos of Colorado Mining Scenes.