Bakers Ridge Placer

The Bakers Ridge Placer is a gold mine located in La Plata county, Colorado at an elevation of 6,729 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

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Site Name

Primary: Bakers Ridge Placer
Secondary: Animas River Placer?

Commodity

Primary: Gold

Location

State: Colorado
County: La Plata
District: Durango Area

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.
Administrative Organization: San Juan N. F.

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Type: Surface

Ownership

Owner Name: H. W. C. Prommel
Years: 1938 -

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Placer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1933
Year Last Production: 1938
Discovery Year: 1933
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Colorado Plateaus
Physiographic Section: Navajo Section

Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Type: R
Description: San Juan Uplift, San Juan Basin

Type: L
Description: San Juan Uplift

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Name: Granite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age in Years: 1711.000000+-80.000000
Dating Method: Rb-Sr
Age Young: Precambrian

Name: Granite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age in Years: 1720.000000+-20.000000
Dating Method: U-Pb (zircon)
Material Analyzed: Zircon
Age Young: Precambrian

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: 6-YD RUN YIELDED $3/YD AND 22-YD RUN YIELDED $2.73/YD PLUS 10 ?/LB FINER AU IN BLACK-SAND CONCENTRATES FOR TOTAL $3.20/YD.
Analytical Data: AVERAGE AU SAMPLE FROM PROMMEL'S SAMPLING WAS 817 FINE, ALTHOUGH COARSE AU AND NUGGETS HAD BEEN REPORTED FROM PREVIOUS PROSPECTING. VALUES RANGED FROM 1.59 TO 121.59 ?/YD ($35/OZ AU). VALUES FROM PITS REACHING BEDROCK RANGED FROM 2.9 TO 37 ?/YD. HIGH-GRADE GRAVEL FROM BARS AND BANKS ABOVE BAKERS RIDGE CONTAINED 47.56 TO 121.59 ?/YD. MCCAUSLAND (1934) REPORTS HUNDREDS OF TEST PANNINGS YIELDING 30 TO 150 ?/YD ON LOWER BENCHES

Materials

Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Location): (LAND STATUS AND ADMINISTRATIVE AREA LOCATIONS CALCULATED USING GIS OVERLAY ANALYSIS FOR SAN JUAN N. F.). ALONG ANIMAS RIVER AT BAKERS RIDGE 1.5 TO 3.5 MILES SOUTH OR ROCKWOOD AND 2 TO 4 MILES NE OF HERMOSA. ELEV AND LAT-LONG GIVEN ARE FOR COMMON SECTION CORNER 0.4 MILE SOUTH OF BAKERS RIDGE. MCCAUSLAND'S DESCRIPTION OF ANIMAS RIVER PLACER APPEARS TO BE SAME AREA AS BAKERS RIDGE ("15 MILES ABOVE DURANGO AND WITHIN ONE MILE OF BIG CANYON"). ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1974

Comment (Production): ONLY SMALL PRODUCTION REPORTED FROM 1933-38.

Comment (Development): MCCAUSLAND AND OTHERS STARTED SEARCH IN 1933 AND FINALLY PROFITABLE GROUND DESCRIBED ABOVE. AFTER HUNDREDS OF TEST PANNINGS, THEY RAN 10-YPD MECHANICAL AU PAN THAT WINTER AND MADE 6-YD AND 22-YD RUNS YIELDING AU AND BLACK-SAND CONCENTRATES CONTAINING FINER GRAINED AU. PARKER (CITING PROMMEL) REPORTS UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO DIVERT RIVER AT BAKERS RIDGE AND MINE STREAMBED GRAVELS; ALSO STATES THAT HUMPHREY'S GOLD CORP. FILES CITE UNSUCCESSFUL PLACERING ATTEMPTS IN LATE 1930S. PROMMEL, WHOSE TESTING PROBABLY WAS DONE IN 1938, ESTIMATED SUBSTANTIAL WORKABLE GROUND (200 AC) IN HIGH TERRACE AND COMPARABLY PAYING GROUND IN LOWER TERRACES AND FLOOD PLAIN, BUT NOTED POSSIBLE CONFLICT WITH GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT IN VALLEY.

Comment (Deposit): UPPER LEVEL GRAVELS ASSOCIATED WITH 30- TO 50-FT-DEEP ANCIENT CHANNELS CUT INTO GRANITE BASEMENT ROCK 180 FT ABOVE PRESENT STREAM LEVEL. LOWER LEVEL GRAVELS IN THREE TERRACES UP TO 60 FT ABOVE PRESENT STREAM LEVEL. AU FOUND IN LOAMY OVERBURDEN AND DISTRIBUTED THROUGH GRAVEL BUT DISTINCTLY CONCENTRATED ON BEDROCK CONTACT. PARKER (1974) CONCLUDED THAT AU AT BAKERS RIDGE WAS DERIVED FROM TWO SOURCES. FIRST, AU WAS TRANSPORTED DOWN ANIMAS RIVER FROM MINERALIZED AREAS TO NORTH AFTER RETREAT OF GLACIERS AND DEPOSITED AU AND ALLUVIUM AT CHANGE IN GRADIENT WHERE RIVER LEAVES STEEPER NARROW CANYON ABOVE CARSON CREEK. SECOND SOURCE WAS REWORKING AND CONCENTRATION OF LARGE MASS OF RECESSIONAL MORAINE MATERIAL THAT DAMMED VALLEY FOLLOWING LAST GLACIAL RETREAT (LATE WISCONSIN ORPINEDALE).

Comment (Workings): SURFACE TEST PITS

References

Reference (Deposit): PARKER, B.H., JR., 1974, GOLD PLACERS OF COLORADO: COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES QUART., V. 69, NO. 4, P. 197-202.

Reference (Deposit): PARKER, B.H., JR., 1968, PLACER GOLD IN SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO, IN SHOEMAKER, JOHN, ED., GUIDEBOOK OF SAN JUAN-SAN MIGUEL-LA PLATA REGION, NEW MEXICO AND COLORADO: NEW MEXICO GEOL. SOC. 19TH FIELD CONF. GUIDEBOOK, P. 168-184.

Reference (Deposit): ATWOOD, W.W., AND MATHER, K.F., 1932, PHYSIOGRAPHY AND QUATERNARY GEOLOGY OF THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, COLORADO: USGS PROF. PAPER 166.

Reference (Deposit): MCCAUSLAND, R.D., 1934, REPORT ON THE ANIMAS RIVER PLACER, LA PLATA COUNTY, WITH ADDITIONAL BY W. E. BUCHANAN: COLORAD. DIV. MINES FILES, UNPUB. ENG. REPT., 5 P.

Reference (Production): MCCAUSLAND, 1934; USBM MINERAL YEARBOOKS FOR 1937 AND 1938

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