The Silver Cliff Mine is a radium, gold, copper, uranium, and silver mine located in Niobrara county, Wyoming.
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:
Commodity: Radium, Gold, Copper, Uranium, Silver
Lat, Long: 42.76167, -104.46889
Map: View on Google Maps
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Silver Cliff Mine MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Silver Cliff Mine
Secondary: Rochelle Mine
Commodity
Primary: Radium
Primary: Gold
Primary: Copper
Primary: Uranium
Primary: Silver
Location
State: Wyoming
County: Niobrara
Land Status
Not available
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Not available
Ownership
Owner Name: Wyoming Uranium Co.
Info Year: 1955
Years: 1950 -
Owner Name: Joel L. Starnes
Home Office: Lusk, WY
Info Year: 1955
Owner Name: E.D. Lorimer
Info Year: 1955
Years: 1918 - 1922
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1880
Year Last Production: 1953
Discovery Year: 1879
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Physiography
General Physiographic Area: Interior Plains
Physiographic Province: Great Plains Province
Physiographic Section: High Plains
Mineral Deposit Model
Not available
Orebody
Not available
Structure
Not available
Alterations
Not available
Rocks
Not available
Analytical Data
Analytical Data: several samples yielded <0.02 to 10.88% cu, 0.16 to 15.04 opt Ag, and 0.001 to 3.39% U3O8.
Analytical Data: select samples contained 0.5 opt Au.
Materials
Ore: Clinozoisite
Ore: Uranophane
Ore: Metatorbernite
Ore: Chrysocolla
Ore: Cuprite
Ore: Azurite
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Silver
Ore: Copper
Ore: Pitchblende
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Limonite
Gangue: Clinozoisite
Comments
Comment (Geology): GEOL.DESC: CALCITE VEINS, U IN SANDSTONE 0.001-3.39 AND 0.001 TO 0.12 IN FAULT ZONE
Comment (Deposit): $34,000 RADIUM (1922) 4 LARGE PITS, 285 FT SHAFT, 5 LEVELS 1600 FT OF DRIFTS: REF. WYO. GEOL. SURVEY BULL. 45, 1952, P. 167; RME 1002 TEPCO FILES USGS; DMEA REPORTS
Comment (Reference): Deleted Record 10081149 (W032882) cited only USAEC ANNUAL REPORT (RME-3148), 1956-1957, P. 4. Deleted record 10232428 (0560270062) cited "WY GS FOR MAS" and "J.L. STARNES". It is not clear if Starnes is a reference, a verbal communication, or an owner.
Comment (Geology): Ore mineral gummite listed in Hausel, but is not a choice on the MRDS drop down materials pick list.
Comment (Production): "Produced uranium in the 1920s and again in the early 1950s. Some copper, silver, and gold also were recovered from this area in 1879 and early 1880s." (Hausel, 1997, p. 72)
Comment (Geology): "Most of the hill consists of Precambrian metamorphic rocks (muscovite schist interbedded with thin lenses of limy schist) unconformably overlain by calcareous Flathead(?) Sandstone or possibly Guernsey(?) Formation sandstone. The sandstone dips southeast." (Hausel, 1997, p. 72)
Comment (Workings): "Following the discovery of silver-copper-gold mineralization in 1879, a 285-foot-deep shaft was sunk, and a 1200-foot inclined adit was driven to the bottom of the shaft. Five levels were established with at least 1600 feet of drifts." (Hausel, 1997, p. 72)
Comment (Orebody): The mineralization lies within and adjacent to a high-angle reverse fault that strikes N15E. It also occurs as a blanket deposit in iron-stained sandstone at the base of the Paleozoic rocks adjacent to the mineralized fault." (Hausel, 1997, p. 72-73).
Comment (Production): "The mine was opened in 1880 and worked on a small scale for copper and silver until 1884. Later, uranium was discovered. Beteween 1918 and 1922, six carloads containing more than 3% U3O8 were shipped to the Radium Company of Denver, Colorado. Following a period of inactivity, minor amounts of uranium were recovered from 1951-1953. " (Hausel, 1997, p. 73)
Comment (Deposit): Shaw, J.F., Wilson, S.R., Storms, W.R., Baroch, C.T., and Bauerle, L.C., 1956, Quarterly report on reconnaissance, exploration, and extraction of selenium (GSA Contract DMP-97), Reserach Report No. 36.8, 13 p. is an unpublished report found in the former U.S. Bureau of Mines file room, now housed in Building 20 at the Denver Federal Center (as of 8/2010).(unpublished).
Comment (Commodity): "Only two of the nine localities examined in the Lusk area showed the presence of selenium in field tests, and the area does not appear to have deposits that contain commercial quantities of selenium. One out of twenty samples from the Silver Cliff mine gave a positive reaction, but the quantity of material was insignificant. The Russel Thompson ranch is well known for poisonous selenium-bearing plants. In spite of this, only one of the nine smaples taken contained a detectable amount of selenium, and it assayed only 0.004 percent." (Shaw and others, 1956, p. 5).
Comment (Reference): REF. WYO. GEOL. SURVEY BULL. 45, 1952, P. 167; RME 1002 TEPCO FILES USGS; DMEA REPORTS (clipped from Deposit Comment 1.)
References
Reference (Deposit): AMER. MINERALOGIST V. II, P. 155-164
Reference (Deposit): USGS OIL & GAS PRELIM. MAP 102. 1949
Reference (Deposit): USGS BULL. 1009-A. 1954
Reference (Deposit): USAEC ANNUAL REPORT (RME-3148), 1956-1957, P. 4
Pages: p. 4.
Reference (Deposit): Hausel, 1997, Copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and associated metal deposits of Wyoming: WGS Bull. 70, p. 72-73.
Pages: p. 72-73.
Reference (Deposit): Shaw, J.F., Wilson, S.R., Storms, W.R., Baroch, C.T., and Bauerle, L.C., 1956, Quarterly report on reconnaissance, exploration, and extraction of selenium (GSA Contract DMP-97), Reserach Report No. 36.8, 13 p. (unpublished report in File Room, Bldg. 20, Denver Federal Center as of 8/2010)
Pages: p. 5
Reference (Deposit): CONSV. DIV. COMP. DATE, 04-16-1959
Reference (Deposit): DMEA Docket No. 4704, 1957, 95 p., http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/4704_DMEA.pdf
URL: http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/4704_DMEA.pdf
Reference (Deposit): DMEA Docket No. 3735, 65 p., http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/3735_DMEA.pdf
URL: http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/3735_DMEA.pdf
Reference (Deposit): WYO GS FOR MAS
Reference (Deposit): WYO. GEOL. SURVEY BULL. 45, 1952, P. 167.
Reference (Deposit): RME 1002 TEPCO FILES USGS (unverified)
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