The Copper King Mine is a zinc and uranium mine located in Larimer county, Colorado at an elevation of 7,949 feet.
About the MRDS Data:
All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.
Mine Info
Elevation: 7,949 Feet (2,423 Meters)
Commodity: Zinc, Uranium
Lat, Long: 40.85028, -105.49528
Map: View on Google Maps
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Copper King Mine MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Copper King Mine
Secondary: Claims: Black Hawk No. 1
Secondary: Black Hawk No. 2
Commodity
Primary: Zinc
Primary: Uranium
Secondary: Vanadium
Tertiary: Copper
Tertiary: Iron
Tertiary: Molybdenum
Location
State: Colorado
County: Larimer
District: Prairie Divide (St. Cloud) District
Land Status
Land ownership: National Forest
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: Cherokee Mines
Home Office: Fort Collins, Co.
Years: 1956 -
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1920
Year Last Production: 1953
Discovery Year: 1925
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S
Physiography
General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Southern Rocky Mountains
Mineral Deposit Model
Not available
Orebody
Form: WEDGE
Form: WEDGE
Structure
Type: R
Description: Front Range Uplift, Sherman Batholith
Type: L
Description: Virginia Dale Ring Dike Complex, Copper King Fault, B Fault, A Fau Lt
Alterations
Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Saussuritic(?) Alteration Of Granite Wallrock; Amphibole And Mica Replacement In Skarn; Chloritization Of Skarn And Mica; Partial Oxidat Ion And Hydration Of Pitchblende; Fe Oxidation
Rocks
Name: Pegmatite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic
Name: Pegmatite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic
Analytical Data
Analytical Data: SELECTED SEMIQUANTITATIVE SPECTROGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF SULFIDE-MAGNE TITE ORE FROM SIMS AND OTHERS GIVE 0.00X TO 0.0X% TI, 0.0X% MN, 0.00X TO TRACE % AG, UP TO 0.X% CD, 0.00X TO 0.0X% CO, TRACE IN, 0.00X% MO, 0.000X TO 0.00X% NI, 0.00X% SN, 0.00X% V, 0.X% U, 0.00X% Y, 0.002 TO 0 .27 TO 0.27% EQUIV U. ANALYSES FROM VEIN FAULTS GIVE SIMILAR TRACE VAL UES PLUS 0.034% EQUIV U ON B FAULT TO 3.6% EQUIV U ON COPPER KING VEIN (RADIOMETRIC ANALYSES). FOR ABOVE VALUES, THEORETICAL RANGE OF % FOR 0.X IS 0.215 TO 0.46%.
Materials
Ore: Pyrrhotite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Molybdenite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Coffinite
Ore: Pitchblende
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Marcasite
Ore: Magnetite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Siderite
Gangue: Apatite
Gangue: Actinolite
Gangue: Anthophyllite
Gangue: Phlogopite
Gangue: Fluorite
Gangue: Goethite
Comments
Comment (Deposit): MASSIVE SULFIDE-MAGNETITE ORE OCCURS IN TABULAR TO WEDGE-SHAPED A NTHOPHYLLITE-CUMMINGTONITE-ACTINOLITE SKARN IN GRANITE, STEEPLY PLUNGI NG, COMPLEXLY FOLDED, AT LEAST 100 FT LONG, 20 TO 50 FT WIDE, 6 FT THI CK, PROBABLY THINNING OUT AT DEPTH OF ABOUT 170 FT. BODY CONTAINS ACCE SSORY PHLOGOPITE, APATITE, QUARTZ. SIMS AND OTHERS BELIEVE SKARN FORME D BY PRECAMBRIAN PYROMETASOMATISM OF LIMY OR CARBONATE ROCKS. ORIGINAL ANTHOPHYLLITE AND PHLOGOPITE REPLACED BY CUMMINGTONITE AND BIOTITE; F E INTRODUCED TO FORM MAGNETITE, FOLLOWED BY SULFIDE AND QUARTZ DEPOSIT ION BY MAGMA-DERIVED ORE SOLUTIONS. ORES FORM STREAKS, KNOTS, OR MASSI VE LENTICULAR LAYERS ELONGATED IN DIRECTION OF LINEATION. GENERAL PARA GENESIS: MAGNETITE (REPLACING CUMMINGTONITE), MINOR QUARTZ, PYRRHOTITE , PYRITE, SPHALERITE, EXSOLUTION CHALCOPYRITE, CHALCOPYRITE, LATE PYRR HOTITE (BLEBS IN SPHALERITE). PITCHBLENDE ORE OCCURS IN COPPER KING AN D SUBSIDIARY, SMALL-DISPLACEMENT, LARAMIDE FAULTS (A & B) THAT CUT GRA NITE AND
Comment (Deposit): SKARNIN EAST-TRENDING ZONE. COPPER KING IS VERTICAL FAULT TR ENDING N60W AND CHARACTERIZED BY BRANCHING HORSETAIL FRACTURES. B FAUL T TRENDS N80 TO 85E, 65 TO 85SE AND FILLED WITH HEMATITE, GOETHITE, OT THER FE OXIDES, VUGGY QUARTZ. A FAULT TRENDS N55 TO 70W, 80SW AND CONT AINS SOFT GOUGE AND BRECCIA, FE OXIDES, QUARTZ VEINLETS, DISCONTINUOUS PYRITE SEAMS. NEAR INTERSECTION OF VEIN AND SKARN, U OCCURS IN PYRITE -MARCASITE BOXWORK WITH ABUNDANT SIDERITE, QUARTZ, SPHALERTIE, MINOR C HALCOPYRITE AND FLUORITE, ABUNDANT GOETHITE.
Comment (Production): SIMS AND OTHERS AND NELSON-MOORE AND OTHERS REPORT CUMULATIVE U OR E PRODUCTION OF 633 TO 652+ ST, BUT COLO. DIV. MINES REPORTS TOTAL OF 682+ ST FOR SAME PERIOD. ESTIMATED CUMULATIVE TOTALS FOR U308 AND V205 FROM NELSON-MOORE AND OTHERS ARE BASED ON TOTAL ORE PRODUCTION OF 633 ST AT GRADE OF 0.3% U308.
Comment (Development): MINE AND NEARBY PROPERTY OPENED IN WW I IN SEARCH FOR CU AND ZN. NO ORE PRODUCED UNTIL 1920 WHEN ONE CARLOAD ZN ORE WAS SHIPPED; BRIEF ACTIVITY IN 1936 BUT NO PRODUCTION. RADIOACTIVITY DISCOVERED ON DUMP I N 1949, AFTER WHICH BLACK HAWK CLAIMS FILED BY A.H. BROWN AND H.G. ISM ERT. FOLLOWING DEWATERING OF SHAFT, ZN AND U ORE PRODUCED IN 1950-51. UNDER DMEA CONTRACT IN 1951, CHEROKEE MINES COMPLETED MAIN SHAFT BY RA ISING TO SURFACE FROM 70 LEVEL OF OLD (WEST) SHAFT. MINE PRODUCED U OR E FROM 1951 TO 1953 BEFORE CLOSING.
Comment (Workings): MAIN (EAST) VERTICAL SHAFT IS 170 FT DEEP WITH LEVELS AT 70 FT (1 18 FT LONG CONNECTING WITH BOTTOM OF 64-FT WEST SHAFT), 110 FT (70 FT LONG), 140 FT (55 FT LONG), 160 FT (35 FT LONG). RAISE NO. 1 CONNECTS LEVELS 110 AND 140; RAISE NO. 2 CONNECTS LEVELS 140 AND 160 EAST OF MA IN SHAFT. PRINCIPAL STOPES WORKED ABOVE 110 LEVEL ON BOTH SIDES OF MAI N SHAFT AND BETWEEN LEVELS 110 AND 140 EAST OF MAIN SHAFT. OTHER SHORT SHAFTS AND PROSPECT PITS FOUND IN MINE AREA.
Comment (Location): ON SOUTH SIDE OF PRAIRIE DIVIDE 6 MILES NE OF RED FEATHERS LAKES. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1980
Comment (Deposit): Discovery Year: EARLY 1900S
References
Reference (Deposit): COLORADO DIV. MINES ANN. OPERATOR REPTS. AND INF. REPTS.
Reference (Production): SIMS AND OTHERS (1920 ZN PROD.); ORIGINAL CRIB RECORD (1951 ZN AND U ORE PROD.); COLO. DIV. MINES (1952-53 U ORE PROD.); NELSON-MOORE AND OTHERS (CUMUL. U308/V205 PROD.)
Reference (Deposit): PHAIR, GEORGE, AND SIMS, P.K., 1954, PARAGENESIS AND AGE OF THE URA NIUM MINERALS IN THE COPPER KING MINE, LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO (ABS.) : GSA BULL., V. 65, NO. 12, PT. 2, P. 1385.
Reference (Deposit): SIMS, P.K., AND OTHERS, 1958, GEOLOGY OF THE COPPER KING URANIUM MI NE, LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS BULL. 1032-D, 50 P.
Reference (Deposit): SIMS, P.K., AND TOULMIN, PRIESTLY, 1961, TEMPERATURE OF FORMATION O F A PRECAMBRIAN MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSIT, COPPER KING MINE, FRONT RANGE , COLORADO: USGS PROF. PAPER 424-B, P. B1-B2.
Reference (Deposit): NELSON-MOORE, J.L., AND OTHERS, 1978, RADIOACTIVE MINERAL OCCURRENC ES OF COLORADO AND BIBLIOGRAPHY: CGS BULL. 40, P. 208.
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