Blackfoot Bridge Proposed Mine

Site Name

Primary: Blackfoot Bridge Proposed Mine
Secondary: Blackfoot Bridge
Secondary: Blackfoot Bridge Site
Secondary: Aspen Range North Property 1966

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Commodity

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

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Location

State: Idaho
County: Caribou
District: Trail Creek

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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

Type: Federal Lease

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Workings

Type: Surface

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Ownership

Owner Name: Monsanto
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Missouri
Info Year: 1984

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Deposit
Operation Category: Prospect
Operation Type: Surface
Mining Method: Open Pit
Milling Method: Washing
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: M

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Physiography

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

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Phosphate, upwelling type

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Orebody

Form: TABULAR

Form: IRREGULAR

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Structure

Type: L
Structure: Minor Faults

Type: R
Structure: Trail Creek Syncline

Type: L
Structure: Sedimentary

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Analytical Data: 92 SAMPLES OF STRATIGRAPHIC SECTION GAVE 35.6 % P2O5 MAX ( SECTION 26)

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Materials

Gangue: Travertine
Unknown: Calcite
Unknown: Orthoclase
Unknown: Montmorillonite
Unknown: Kaolinite
Unknown: Sericite
Unknown: Quartz
Unknown: Pyrite
Unknown: Dolomite
Unknown: Collophane
Unknown: Chalcedony
Unknown: Limonite

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Comments

Comment (Deposit): THE PROPERTY IS TRAVERSED BY AN ACCESS ROAD; WATER AT THE SITE IS ADEQUATE FOR A MINING OPERATION. POWER WOULD BE GENERATED AT THE SITE OR TRANSMITTED FROM THE POWERLINE THAT TRAVERSES THE PROPERTY. THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT REPORTS A LENGTH FOR THE TWO PITS OF 3,230 M, AN AVERAGE PIT WIDTH OF 150 M, AND AN AVERAGE DEPTH OF 60 M. AN AVERAGE PIT WIDTH OF 170 M WAS CALCULATED AND A DOWNDIP WIDTH OF 86 M, AND A TOTAL ORE THICKNESS OF 14.1 M. APPROVED & NOT DEVELOPED. ON HOLD FOR 20+ YEARS. OPTION IF BRIDGE CLOSES. UNLIKELY.

Comment (Ownership): OWNERS: PART OWNED BY MONSANTO CHEMICAL INTERMEDIATES

Comment (Reserve-Resource): MATRIX 1 REPRESENTS RECOVERABLE RESERVES. THE TONNAGE WAS OBTAINED FROM MONSANTO THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT. THE GRADE IS AN ESTIMATE BASED ON DATA FROM THE DEVELOPED LOCAL STRATIGRAPHIC SECTION. MATRIX 2 IS A RESOURCE ESTIMATE MADE BY TED LOWE. THE FIGURES ARE THE RESULT OF CALCULATIONS BASED ON COMPANY REPORTED PIT DIMENSIONS, AND ON APPROXIMATIONS WHERE COMPANY DATA WERE ABSENT. MATRIX 3 STATES IDENTIFIED RESOURCES. COLUMN 1 REPRESENTS LOW, MEDIUM, AND HIGH GRADE RESOURCES. COLUMN 2 REPRESENTS MEDIUM, AND HIGH GRADE RESOURCES, COLUMN 3 REPRESENTS HIGH GRADE RESOURCES. ROW 3 CONTAINS A RESOURCE ESTIMATE DERIVED BY EXTENDING THE DOWN DIP WIDTH DIMENSION TO 250 M AND MULTIPLYING BY THE APPROPRIATE LENGTH, THICKNESS, AND TONNAGE FACTOR. ROW 4 IS AN ESTIMATE OF RESOURCE TONNAGE IN THE MEAD PEAK MEMBER LYING BETWEEN THE OUTCROP AND A VERTICAL PROJECTION OF LEASE BOUNDARIES.

Comment (Geology): 120.73 FT THICKNESS OF PHOSPHATIC SHALE MEMBER ( SECTION 26 ); THICKNESS ABOVE FOR 2 ORE ZONES

Comment (Development): 600 ACRE LEASE FOR PROPOSED MINE ( 1975 ) ; ECON.COM: STRIPPING RATIO WOULD BE 3 : 1 (CY WASTE : TONS ORE)

Comment (Production): PRODUCTION PROJECTED TO BEGIN 1999 AND END IN 2001 ( USGS, 1975 )

Comment (Workings): 2 OPEN PITS PROPOSED WILL BE 10600 FT LONG, 500 FT WIDE, AND ABOUT 200 FT DEEP

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References

Reference (Deposit): 1953 COMPILE F. W. O'MALLEY AND OTHERS, CIRC. 262

Reference (Deposit): 1927 RECON G. R. MANSFIELD, PROF. PAPER 152

Reference (Deposit): 1966 RECON USBM REPT. INV. 6801

Reference (Deposit): 1974 RECON IDAHO BUREAU OF MINES AND GEOLOGY INF. CIRC. 25

Reference (Deposit): 1975 RECON DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT, V. 2 , PT. 9.4

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): THOMPSON, M. E. DISTRIBUTION OF URANIUM IN RICH PHOSPHATE BEDS OF THE PHOSPHORIA FORMATION. U.S. GEOL. SURV. BULL. 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. BULL. 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 VOLUMES, 1978.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): CARTER, R. A. AN INTEGRATED INDUSTRY - PHOSPHATE MINING AND MILING IN IDAHO. MIN. ENG., V. 30, NO. 1, 1978, PP. 29-36.

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): GARRAND, L. J. PHOSPHATE STUDY SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO. U.S. FOREST SERVICE CONTRACT NO. 50-820, GARRAND CORP., 1975.

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): 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): SERVICE, A. 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): RULE, A. R., D. E. KIRBY, AND D. C. DAHLIN. RECENT ADVANCES IN BENEFICIATION OF WESTERN PHOSPHATES. MIN. ENG., V. 30, NO. 1, 1978, PP. 36-40.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): SERVICE, A. L. AND C. C. POPOFF. AN EVALUATION OF THE WESTERN PHOSPHATE INDUSTRY AND ITS RESOUCES (IN FIVE PARTS); PART 1, INTRODUCTORY REVIEW. BUMINES RI 6485, 1964, 86 PP.

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): 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): O'MALLEY, F. W., D. F. DAVIDSON, R. A. HOPPIN, AND R. P. SHELDON. STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS OF THE PHOSPHORIA FORMATION IN IDAHO, 1947-48, PART III. U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRC. 262, 1953, PP. 24-26.

Reference (Deposit): MANSFIELD, G. R., 1927 , GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF PART OF SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO: USGS PROF. PAPER 152 , 453 P.

Reference (Deposit): SERVICE, A. L., 1966 , AN EVALUATION OF THE WESTERN PHOSPHATE INDUSTRY AND ITS RESOURCES, PART 3 , IDAHO: USBM REPT. INV. 6801 , 201 P.

Reference (Deposit): USGS, 1975 , DEVELOPMENT OF PHOSPHATE RESOURCES IN SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO: DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT, V. 2 , PT. 9.4 , P. 81 - 109

Reference (Deposit): POWELL, J. D., 1974 , EVALUATION OF PHOSPHATE RESOURCES IN SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO: IDAHO BUREAU OF MINES AND GEOLOGY INF. CIRC. 25 , 33 P.

Reference (Deposit): O'MALLEY, F. W., AND OTHERS, 1953 , STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS OF THE PHOSPHORIA FORMATION IN IDAHO, 1947 - 1948 , PART 3 : USGS CIRC. 262 , 43 P.

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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.