The Rock Creek Valley is a copper mine located in Lincoln county, Wyoming at an elevation of 7,021 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
Elevation: 7,021 Feet (2,140 Meters)
Commodity: Copper
Lat, Long: 41.91778, -110.82361
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Rock Creek Valley MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Rock Creek Valley
Secondary: Rock Creek
Secondary: Unidentified Occurrence
Secondary: Unknown
Commodity
Primary: Copper
Location
State: Wyoming
County: Lincoln
Land Status
Land ownership: BLM Administrative Area
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: Unknown
Workings
Not available
Ownership
Not available
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Prospect
Operation Type: Underground
Mining Method: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Physiography
General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Middle Rocky Mountains
Mineral Deposit Model
Not available
Orebody
Not available
Structure
Type: L
Structure: Rock Creek Anticline
Alterations
Not available
Rocks
Not available
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Not available
Comments
Comment (General): Definitely classified as "abandoned". According to Veatch, 1907, there were a number of tunnels along the fault line.
Comment (Identification): Two entries in Osterwald (1966, p. 56) appear to be duplicates. Citations and page numbers to Veatch, 1907, p. 50a and p. 163 confirm that, especially when compared with plates XXIII and III. Note that there is no such page 50a in Veatch. Perhaps Osterwald meant the facing page inserted in the PP, "Geologic column in that part of southwestern Wyoming shown on pl. III", under the oldest unit, Weber quartzite.
Comment (Development): "The main group of openings here are horizontal tunnels in the slightly dipping beds. The same amount of labor in shafts along the probably fault line would be more likely to yield results." (Veatch, 1907, p. 163)
Comment (Location): Wilson and Heran (USGS) went looking for this "deposit" 6-aug-2010. We Were unable to locate anything matching these descriptions from Rock Creek and Watercress Canyons, but we did not climb the hill to the NE, as we were unaware at the time (due to vague location and high inaccuracy of the points in the database) that that was the most likely to have found any trace of these old reported workings.
Comment (Geology): Brecciated sandstone just below the "Permo-carboniferous" redbeds contain copper-carbonates. (Osterwald, 1966, p. 56) "These beds here form a rather flat-topped anticline with very steeply dipping flanks. The western flank appears to be somewhat faulted at the point of the change in dip from the slightly inclined beds of the crest of the anticline to the highly dipping beds of the flank. The copper carbonates have been found along and just east of this structural break." (Veatch, 1907, p. 163)
Comment (Location): In NW quarter of Sec. 4. 3 prospects with copper carbonate showings are plotted on pl. XXIII of PP-56.
References
Reference (Deposit): Veatch, 1907, Geography and geology of a portion of southwestern Wyoming with a special reference to coal and oil: USGS PP-56, p. 163, pls. XXIII, XXVI.
Reference (Deposit): Osterwald and others, 1966, Mineral Resources of Wyoming: Geological Survey of Wyoming Bull. 50 [revised ed.], p. 56.
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