Valeo Mine

Mine Description

The Valeo mine is situated on the southeastern slope of Bald Mountain near the head of Cottonwood Canyon, about 4 miles southeast of the Ontario mine and 3 miles south of the Hawkeye-McHenry. This is the principal property on the Eastern Slope. After the depression of 1893 the outlook for silver-lead mines began in 1895 to seem more promising and encouraged new work. The years immediately following were the most active epoch in the history of this mine. In 1896 excellent ore Was found on this property, and in August of that year some of the ore was shipped and surface improvements were made. A month later a new Vein of high-grade ore was cut which on opening further was found to improve steadily in quality. The year closed with new ore developments of much value and in january, 1897, it was stated that a, body of high-grade ore 5 to 10 feet Wide in a fracture had been exposed for a length of 135 feet.

In the fall of 1898 the property, comprising some 16 claims, Was taken over by prominent mine owners to be opened systematically and operated on a large scale. After working out the main ore body they did some development Work, but the results were deemed insufficient to warrant much outlay at that time. Since then only desultory work has been carried on, and at the time of visit, late in 1904, the property was inactive.

This ground has been opened by three tunnels, which enter the south Wall of the Canyon one above another and extend in a, westerly direction, the upper for 200 feet, the middle (or 400-foot level) for 1000 feet, with 1,500 feet of north-south workings, and the bottom V(or 600-foot level) for 1,200 feet. The upper tunnel is connected with the middle one by inclined winzes on the ore shoot, with short intermediate levels. From the lower tunnel a little raising and sinking was done.

The property lies in an area of Weber quartzite which is much broken and interrupted by an extensive mass of diorite porphyry. At this point the quartzite contained intercalated lentils of limestone and in the course of intrusion portions of this limestone, as Well as small horses of the quartzite were broken off from the main mass and engulfed by the porphyry. A large mass of this limestone, highly metamorphosed and mineralized, outcropping for half a mile in length northwest to southeast and one-fifth of a mile in width, then succeeded by porphyry, forms the base of mining operations.

Underground the tunnels out metamorphosed mineralized limestone and coarse diorite porphyry. In general the main body of porphyry, which is west and north of the limestone and apparently underlies it on the northwest, is entered by the tunnels after traversing the metamorphic marble. The main body of the limestone strikes about N. 75° E. and dips 60°NE. Offshoots from the main porphyry mass, in the form of irregular dikes and sills are found cutting the marble on all levels. The porphyry is of the coarse dioritic variety and the limestone is mostly marmarized or otherwise altered.

This country rook is out by many fissures, which, though complex and irregular, seem to fall into two main systems-those trending N. 40° E. and dipping northwesterly and those trending northwest and dipping northeast with the beds. Intersections of these fissures tend to show that the former, those trending northeast, are later than the strike fissures, and as both systems cut the porphyry, they are later than it.

Ore has been found on every level, but it has been so cleanly stoped and ís so highly oxidized that observations Were necessarily based the chambers remaining and the limonitic residue. On the upper tunnel (100-foot level), which is understood to have been the chief source of ore, the chambers seem to show that the main ore body occurred roughly along beds in the metamorphic limestones that were much disturbed by fracturing and on either side of a. Wedge of porphyry. Uniting with this main ore zone are transverse breccia zones lying roughly along porphyry contacts. Ore has been stoped from these zones. The main stope observed on this level Was 3 to 6 feet high and 30 by 3() feet in section and according to authentic statement, the ore body was followed 300 feet down to the level of the middle tunnel. The prevailing Walls are highly limonitic, hematitic, and manganiferous metamorphic limestone. In general the shoots lie along zones of breccia in limestone adjacent to porphyry.

On the middle tunnel the beds are highly ferruginous and oxidized. The only ore found Was reported to have been taken from a fracture trending east and west along a contact under metamorphic limestones and over porphyry. The lower tunnel opened much oxidized limonitic material adjacent to decomposed porphyry and at one point a strongly shattered zone roughly coincident With the bedding, from which, it is said, a large body of limonite was taken. No other metals Were seen on this level.

The ore, which thus appears to have been taken chiefly from a shoot between the upper and middle tunnels, was an oxidized silver-lead ore. Around the Walls of the stopes at the time of visit the most striking and abundant feature was limonite of many Varieties, particularly the light ocherous dusty variety and the darker porous spongelike variety. Mr. Woolsey found ore replacing the cement or matrix of a limestone breccia. The only occurrences of ore observed, however, were of malachite as a, thin coating upon Walls of cavities in porous oxidized limonitic and manganiferous decomposed limestone.

The metallic contents of the ore reported during the period of active mining Were high. Thus from a new vein cut in 1896, 29 per cent of copper, 10 to 14 ounces of silver, and $6 to $8 in gold to the t0n Were obtained, and a little later practically these same figures were given as the average tenor of the ore.

The isolation of this mine and its distance from smelters were doubtless the reasons for erecting the small smelter at the mouth of the middle tunnel. A plentiful supply of suitable iron and limestone favored the undertaking. Some slag still remains as a Witness to its operation, but nothing authentic was learned about the results obtained.

Site Name

Primary: Valeo Mine

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Commodity

Primary: Silver
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Lead
Tertiary: Manganese

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Location

State: Utah
County: Wasatch
District: Park City District

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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.

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Type: Surface

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Vein
Operation Type: Unknown
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

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Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Middle Rocky Mountains
Physiographic Detail: Wasatch Mountains

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Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

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Orebody

Form: IRREGULAR

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Uinta Arch

Type: L
Description: Dutch Hollow Thrust

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Marmorization

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Rocks

Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age Young: Pliocene

Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Mississippian

Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Pliocene

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Malachite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Marble
Gangue: Limonite

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Comments

Comment (Workings): WORKINGS CONSIST OF 7 ADITS, ONE PROSPECT TRENCH AND ONE ICLINED SHAFT: COLLAPSED ADIT A IS ABOUT 50 FT. LONG: COLLAPSED ADIT 3 IS ABOUT 200 FT. LONG; ADIT C (MAIN ADIT OF BOUTWELL, 1912) WAS ABOUT 1200 FEET LONG BUT IS NOW COLLAPSED; ADIT D IS A SMALL ADIT; ADIT E IS A SMALL ADIT; ADIT F (MIDDLE ADIT OF BOUTWELL, 1912) IS NOW COLLAPSED BUT HAD 2,500 FT. OF WORKINGS; ADIT G (UPPER ADIT OF BOUTWELL, 1912) IS CAVED BUT WAS APPROXIMATELY 200 FT. LONG, THIS ADIT IS CONNECTED WITH THE MIDDLE ADIT BY INCLINED WINZES ON THE ORE SHOOT, WITH SHORT INTERMEDIATE LEVELS; PROSPECT H IS A SMALL PROSPECT TRENCH; SHAFT I IS AN INCLINE THAT EXPLORES A SHEAR ZONE (N85W, 49 NE).

Comment (Deposit): HAD 15,000 TONS OF ORE ON DUMP IN 1900, WERE CONSIDERING ORDERING 50 TON MATTING PLANT, SHIPPED ORE IN 1906, 1907, 1914 ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 3 FIELD OBSERV

Comment (Location): LOCATION IS TO MAIN ADIT ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1973

Comment (Commodity): OXIDIZED SILVER-LEAD ORE

Comment (Deposit): SEVERAL IRREGULAR FISSURES

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References

Reference (Deposit): BOUTWELL, J.W., 1912, GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE PARK CITY DISTRICT, UTAH: USGS PROF. PA. 77, 230 P.

Reference (Deposit): BROMFIELD, C.S. AND OTHERS, 1970, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE HEBER QUADRANGLE, WASATCH AND SUMMIT COUNTIES, UTAH: USGS MAP GQ-864.

Reference (Deposit): TRIPP, B.T., 1983, ON SITE INVESTIGATION: UGMS

Reference (Deposit): HIGGINS, W.C. (ED.), 1899, THE SALT LAKE MINING REVIEW, VOL. 2, OCT. 15, 1900, P. 16.

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