White Cloud Mine

Site Name

Primary: White Cloud Mine
Secondary: Claim: White Cloud

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Commodity

Primary: Feldspar
Primary: Quartz
Tertiary: Niobium (Columbium)
Tertiary: Tantalum
Tertiary: Thorium
Tertiary: REE

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Location

State: Colorado
County: Jefferson
District: South Platte Pegmatite District

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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.

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Type: Unknown

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Ownership

Owner Name: Don Clements
Home Office: Denver, Co.
Years: 1968 -

Owner Name: Oscar Linstrom
Home Office: Denver, Co.
Years: 1968 -

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year Last Production: 1968
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: Southern Rocky Mountains

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Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

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Orebody

Form: ELLIPTICAL

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Front Range Uplift, Pikes Peak Batholith

Type: L
Description: Kennedy Gulch Fault Zone

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Feldspar And Biotite Alteration, Fluorite Replacement, Sericitization, Deuterogenic Alteration

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Rocks

Name: Pegmatite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

Name: Pegmatite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

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Analytical Data

Analytical Data: LI2B4O7 FUSION ANALYSIS OF YTTROFLUORITE YIELDED 12.9 WT % Y2O3, 2.0% ND2O3, 3.2% CE2O3, 1.9% LA2O3, 1.3% GD2O3, 1.2% DY2O3, 1.0% EACH OF SM2O3 AND ER2O3, 0.9% YB2O3, 0.5% PR2O3, 0.4% EU2O3, 0.3% TB2O3, 0.2% HO2O3, 0.1% TM2O3, LT 0.1% LU2O3 (ADAMS AND SHARP, 1972)
Analytical Data: PARTIAL X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF ALLANITE YIELDED 10.0% CE2O3, 7.5% ND2O3, 4.7% LA2O3, 2.0% Y2O3, 1.6% PR2O3, 1.3% SM2O3, 0.9% GD2O3, 0.4% DY2O3, 0.1% SC2O3, LT 0.2% EACH OF EU2O3, TB2O3, AND HO2O3, LT 0.9% LU2O3, LT 0.7% TM2O3, LT 0.4% ER2O3, LT 0.3% YB2O3, 8.9% CAO, 15.0% AL2O3, 14.0% FE2O3.
Analytical Data: 5.7% YB2O3, 4.3% DY2O3, 3.5% ER2O3, 1.7% GD2O3, 1.2% HO2O3, 1.1% ND2O3, 0.8% SM2O3, 0.5% CE2O3, 0.3% LA2O3, 0.2% PR2O3, LT 0.9% LU2O3, LT 0.7% TM2O3, LT 0.2% EACH OF EU2O3 AND TB2O3, LT 0.1% EACH OF SC2O3 AND K2O, LT 0.8% U3O8, LT 0.7% THO2, LT 0.05% TI2O3, 0.2% FE2O3, 2.0% CAO, 2.0% AL2O3.
Analytical Data: SPECTROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF YTTRIAN FLUORITE YIELDED 3.00 WT % Y, 1.50% CE, 1.5% ND, 1.00% LA, 0.70% GD, 0.30% EACH OF PR, SM, AND YB, 0.50% DY, 0.15% ER, LT 0.1% EACH OF EU, TB, HO, TM, AND LU.
Analytical Data: X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF THALENITE YIELDED 44% Y2O3.

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Materials

Ore: Gadolinite
Ore: Quartz
Gangue: Fergusonite
Gangue: Fluorite
Gangue: Sericite
Gangue: Prochlorite
Gangue: Cleavelandite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Biotite
Gangue: Thalenite
Gangue: Bastnaesite
Gangue: Xenotime
Gangue: Zircon
Gangue: Topaz
Gangue: Thorite
Gangue: Microlite
Gangue: Albite
Gangue: Monazite
Gangue: Kaolinite

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Comments

Comment (Location): NORTH OF SPRING CREEK 0.9 MILE SW OF SOUTH PLATTE ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1975)

Comment (Development): FIRST MINED FOR FELDSPAR, LATER FOR QUARTZ AND SOME RARE EARTHS

Comment (Deposit): ELLIPTICAL TO IRREGULAR LENS- OR POD-SHAPED PEGMATITE IS DESCRIBED BY HAYNES AS ESSENTIALLY A KALIALASKITE OF GIANT QUARTZ AND PERTHITE. WALL ZONE IS GRAPHIC GRANITE WITH BIOTITE LATHS. OUTER INTERMEDIATE ZONE IS LARGE BIOTITE AGGREGATES IN PERTHITE WITH EUHEDRAL FERGUSONITE, FLUORITE, AND LESS ABUNDANT CYRTOLITE. FLUORITE CONTAINS MICROSCOPIC XENOTIME AND MONAZITE. MIDDLE INTERMEDIATE ZONE IS GIANT PERTHITE WITH SOME QUARTZ, FLUORITE, AND PROCHLORITE. IRREGULAR AND DISCONTINUOUS CORE-MARGIN ZONE IS FLUORITE, LARGELY REPLACED, AROUND CORE OF MASSIVE QUARTZ. PROGRESSING INWARD, REPLACEMENT SEQUENCE DETERMINED BY HAYNES (1965): 1) SELECTIVE REPLACEMENT OF PERTHITE BY ALBITE IN WALL ZONE; 2) IN OUTER INTERMEDIATE ZONE, BIOTITE REPLACED BY HEMATITE, FLUORITE BY YTTROFLUORITE, PERTHITE BY CLEAVELANDITE (ALSO IN MIDDLE INT. ZONE); 4) IN INNER INTERMEDIATE ZONE, FLUORITE REPLACED BY YTTROFLUORITE AND CERIAN FLUORITE. YTTROFLUORITE FURTHER REPLACED BY DOVERITE AND THALENITE ASSOCIATED WITH

Comment (Deposit): HEMATITE AND SERICITE, WITH LATER FLUORITE IN YTTROFLUORITE AND IN FRACTURES. ADAMS AND SHARP (1972) BELIEVED THALENITE AND ALLANITE FORMED BY METASOMATISM RESULTING FROM INVASION OF YTTROFLUORITE BY

Comment (Workings): OPEN CUTS

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References

Reference (Deposit): SIMMONS, W.B., AND HEINRICH, E.W., 1980, RARE-EARTH PEGMATITES OF THE SOUTH PLATTE DISTRICT, COLORADO: CGS RESOURCE SER. 11, 131 P.

Reference (Deposit): PETERSON, W.L., 1964, GEOLOGY OF THE PLATTE CANYON QUADRANGLE, COLORADO: USGS BULL. 1181-C, 23 P., 1 PL.

Reference (Deposit): ADAMS, J.W., AND SHARP, W.N., 1971, THALENITE IN THE WHITE CLOUD PEGMATITE, SOUTH PLATTE DISTRICT, JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO (ABS.): CANADIAN MINERALOGIST, V. 10, P. 907.

Reference (Deposit): ADAMS, J.W., AND SHARP, W.N., 1972, THALENITE AND ALLANITE DERIVED FROM YTTROFLUORITE IN THE WHITE CLOUD PEGMATITE, SOUTH PLATTE AREA, COLORADO: USGS PROF. PAPER 800-C, P. C63-C69.

Reference (Deposit): HAYNES, C.V., JR., 1958, RARE-EARTH MINERALIZATION IN THE WHITE CLOUD MINE NEAR SOUTH PLATTE, JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO (ABS.): GSA BULL., V. 69, NO. 12, PT. 2, P. 1729-1730.

Reference (Deposit): HAYNES, C.V., JR., 1965, GENESIS OF THE WHITE CLOUD AND RELATED PEGMATITES, SOUTH PLATTE AREA, JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO: GSA BULL., V. 76, NO. 4, P. 441-461.

Reference (Production): COLORADO DIV. MINES ANN. OPERATORS REPTS.

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