Conda Mine

The Conda Mine is a phosphorus-phosphates mine located in Caribou county, Idaho at an elevation of 6,299 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

Satelite View

MRDS mine locations are often very general, and in some cases are incorrect. Some mine remains have been covered or removed by modern industrial activity or by development of things like housing. The satellite view offers a quick glimpse as to whether the MRDS location corresponds to visible mine remains.

Site Name

Primary: Conda Mine
Secondary: Soda Springs NE, Area A
Secondary: Woodal Mountain
Secondary: N. Trail Canyon

Commodity

Primary: Phosphorus-Phosphates
Tertiary: Fluorine-Fluorite
Tertiary: REE
Tertiary: Uranium
Tertiary: Vanadium

Location

State: Idaho
County: Caribou
District: SE Idaho Phosphate District

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.

Holdings

Type: Federal Lease
Type: Patented

Workings

Type: Surface/Underground

Ownership

Owner Name: U.S. Bureau Of Land Management
Percent: 26.00
Home Office: Idaho
Info Year: 1975

Owner Name: J. R. Simplot Co.
Company ID: 1000094
Percent: 74.00
Home Office: Idaho
Info Year: 1975

Production

Year: 1982
Description: Phosphate Rock 29.9% P205 846000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1980
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.0% P205 1623000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1981
Description: Phosphate Rock 31.2% P205 784000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1978
Description: Phosphate Rock 24.0 % P205 820000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1976
Description: Phosphate Rock 24.7 % P205 670000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1973
Description: Phosphate Rock 26.1 % P205 530000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1970
Description: Phosphate Rock 26.0 % P205 460000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1967
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.5 % P205 420000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1964
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.6 % P205 310000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1961
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.5 % P205 260000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1959
Description: Phosphate Rock 26.1 % P205 150000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1960
Description: Phosphate Rock 27.1 % P205 290000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1979
Description: Phosphate Rock 23.2% P205 1260000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1977
Description: Phosphate Rock 26.5 % P205 1050000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1975
Description: Phosphate Rock 24.5 % P205 690000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1974
Description: Phosphate Rock 26.1 % P205 610000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1972
Description: Phosphate Rock 26.0 % P205 540000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1971
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.7 % P205 570000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1969
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.5 % P205 400000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1965
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.2 % P205 460000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1963
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.6 % P205 470000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1962
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.6 % P205 300000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1968
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.2 % P205 570000 Mt Ore Per Year
Year: 1966
Description: Phosphate Rock 25.6 % P205 500000 Mt Ore Per Year

Deposit

Record Type: Deposit
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Mining Method: Open Pit
Milling Method: Washing
Year First Production: 1922
Discovery Year: 1906
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Basin And Range Province
Physiographic Section: Great Basin

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Phosphate, upwelling type

Orebody

Form: IRREGULAR

Not available

Structure

Type: L
Structure: Fault

Type: L
Structure: Syncline

Type: L
Structure: Small Anticlines

Type: R
Structure: Thrust And Block Faults Of Bannock Thrust Zone

Type: R
Structure: Trail Creek Syncline

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Late Permian

Name: Sandstone
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Permian

Name: Chert
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Permian

Name: Shale
Role: Host
Description: Phosphatic
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Permian

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Permian

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: 142 SAMPLES OF STRATIGRAPHIC SECTION IN 300 LEVEL E CROSSCUT GAVE 34.2 % P2O5 MAX
Analytical Data: RANDOM SAMPLES RANGED FROM 18 - 34 % P2O5, OTHERS AVG. 34 % P2O5

Materials

Unknown: Calcite
Unknown: Collophane
Unknown: Dolomite
Unknown: Limonite
Unknown: Muscovite
Unknown: Quartz
Unknown: Sericite
Unknown: Feldspar

Comments

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Resources Remaining On Woodall Mountain Can Be Extracted By Surface Methods At A Stripping Ratio Which Exceeds 12.6:1 (T Of Waste To T Of Ore); A Ratio Which Exceeds The Economic Limit. Exploration Has Revealed That The Remaining Resources Lying At Depth Have A High Magnesium Oxide (Mgo) Content And Are Throughly Indurated. Costly Beneficiation Techniques Would Be Required To Upgrade The Phosphate Rock, Requiring A Redesigned Beneficiation Plant. Mining Activity On Woodall Mountain Will Crease Within The Year (1984), Although The Processing And Shipping Facilities Will Continue To Process Other Ores. Other Resource Areas In The Trail Creek District Which Could Feed The Conda Mill Are The Conda Anticline, Middle Sulfur Canyon, And The N. Trail Canyon Area.

Comment (Production): Mined Out 1982. In Reclamation. The Present Access Road Is Adequate. Water And Electrial Power Are Available At The Site.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Matrix 1, Column 2, Rows 1 And 2 Represent The Resources Remaining On Woodall Mountain. Matrix 1 Column 2, Row 3 Represents The Resources Remaining On Woodall Mountain And The Resources, Lying In The Area Between The Existing Simplot Leases And The Leases Belonging To Monsanto In The Blackfoot Bridge Area To The North. Matrix 3, Row 3,Represents Conda Resources Exclusive Of Woodall Mountain, Assuming A Bed Continuity To 250 M Downdip. Matrix 3, Row 4, Represents Conda Resources Exclusive Of Woodall Mountain, Based Upon The Area Underlain By The Phosphoria Formation And Adjusted For Bedding Dip.

Comment (Deposit): This Record Was Compiled For The International Strategic Minerals Inventory. The Data Were Used In Preparation Of The USGS Circular 930 Series Of Reports. Mineral Resource Categories And Codes Herein Are From The International Classification System Recommended By The United Nations Group Of Experts On Definitions And Terminology For Mineral Resources. (See National Resources Forum, V. 4, No. 3, P. 307-313.). Surface Ore Is Transported By Rail (160 Km) To The Mill At Leefe Wyo. Or (560 Km) To The Mill At Silver Bow, Mont.

Comment (Development): Non-Geologic Constraints On Development Or Expansion In 1-5 Yrs. (Environment; Govt. Regulations;). Development(Yes); Exploration(Yes); Byproduct Uranium, Fluorine, And Vanadium Can Be Produced

Comment (Geology): Tectonism & Weathering; Cret & Holo; Carbonate Fluorapatite, Quartz, Illite, Gypsum, Organic; Deposition By Upwelling Nutrient Laden Waters On Stable Shelf. Geology Complicated By Tectonism (Complicated Folding And Faulting). Weathering In Holocene Removed Some Carbonate, Thus Enriching The Material In P2o5

Comment (Deposit): 8320 Acre Area Regarded As Phosphate Land Within Township ( 1927 ); 199.15 Ft Thickness Phosphatic Shale Member In 300 Level E Crosscut

Comment (Development): 3400 Acres Of Patented Placer Claims (1976).

Comment (Production): 1919 - 1957 : Underground, 1952 - Present: Open Pit, Production 1919 - 1959 By Anaconda Co., 1959 - Present By J. R. Simplot Co.

References

Reference (Deposit): British Sulphur Corp. Ltd., 1980: World Survey Of Phosphate Deposits, 4th Ed., London

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Russel, T. C. Mining Of Phosphate Rock At Conda, Idaho. Min. Eng., V. 1, No. 8, 1949, Pp. 279-282.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Schwarz, D A. History Of The Conda Operation Underground To Strip Mining. Anatomy Of The Western Phosphate Field, Fifteenth Annu. Field Conf., Intermountain Assoc. Of Geol., 1967.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Service, . L. An Evaluation Of The Western Phosphate Industry And Its Resources (In Five Parts); Part 3, Idaho. Bumines Ri 6801, 1966, 201 Pp.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Service, A. L. And N. S. Petersen. An Evaluation Of The Western Phosphate Industry And Its Resources (In Five Parts); Part 5, Trends And Outlook. Bumines Ri 6935, 1967, 131 Pp.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Service, A. L. And C. C. Popoff. An Evaluation Of The (In Five Parts); Part 1, Introductory Review. Bumines Ri 6485, 1964, 86pp

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Thompson, M.E. Distribution Of Uranium In Rich Phosphate Beds Of The Phosphoria Formation. U.S. Geol. Surv. Bul. 988-D, 1953, Pp. 45-65.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Thompson, M. E. Further Studies Of The Distribution Of Uranium In Rich Phosphate Beds Of The Phosphoria Formation. U.S. Geol. Surv. Bulletin 1009-D, 1954, Pp. 107-122.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Bureau Of Land Management, And U.S. Forest Service. Final Environmental Impact Statement/Development Of Phosphate Resources In Southeastern Idaho, Four V., 1978.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Day, R. L. Trends In The Phosphate Industry Of Idaho And The Western Phosphate Field. Id Bureau Of Mines And Geol. Pamphlet 155, 1973, 63, Pp.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Mansfield, G. R. Geography, Geology, And Mineral Resources Of Southeastern Idaho. U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper 152, 1927.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Powell, J. D. Evaluation Of Phosphate Resources In Southeastern Idaho. Id Bureau Of Mines And Geol. Ic No. 25, 1974, 33 Pp

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Rule, A. R., D. E. Kirby, And D. C. Dahlin. Recent Advances In Benefication Of Western Phosphates. Min. Eng., V. 30, No. 1, 1978, Pp. 36-40.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Emigh, G. D. Petrography, Mineralogy, And Origin Of Phosphate Pellets In The Phosphoria Formation. Id Bureau Of Mines And Geol. Pamphlet No. 114, 1958, 60 Pp.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Garrand, L.J., 1975: Phosphate Study Southeast Idaho, For U.S. Department Of Agriculture, Caribou National Forest, U.S. Department Of Agriculture Contract No.50-820, Garrand Corp.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Gulbrandsen, R. A., K. P. Mclaughlin, F. S. Hunkala, And S. E. Clabaugh. Geology Of The Johnson Creek Quadrangle, Caribou County, Idaho. U.S. Geol Surv Bulletin 1042-A, 1956, 23 Pp.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Li, T. M. Southeastern Idaho Phosphate During Mining: How An Environmental Impact Statement Distorts Growth Plans Min. Eng., V. 30, No. 1, 1978, Pp. 25-28.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Martin, G. W. Mineralogy Of Phosphate Oolites. Econ. Geol., V. 53, No. 8, 1958, Pp. 1046-1048.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Mcdivitt, J. F. Economic Evaluation Of Phosphate And Other Minerals In Southern Idaho. Id Bureau Of Mines And Geol. Pamphlet No. 111, 1956.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Carter, R. A. An Integrated Industry-Phosphate Mining And Milling In Idaho. Min Eng., V. 30, No. 1, 1978, Pp. 29-36.

Reference (Deposit): Mckelvey, V. E., And Others, 1953 , Stratigraphic Sections Of The Phosphoria Formation In Idaho, 1947 - 1948 , Part 1 : USGS Circ. 208 , 49 P.

Idaho Gold

"Where to Find Gold in Idaho" looks at the density of modern placer mining claims along with historical gold mining locations and mining district descriptions to determine areas of high gold discovery potential in Idaho. Read more: Where to Find Gold in Idaho.