Sedalia Mine

The Sedalia Mine is a zinc and copper mine located in Chaffee county, Colorado at an elevation of 7,999 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

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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: Sedalia Mine
Secondary: Sedalia Copper Mine
Secondary: Dewey Adit
Secondary: Jackpot Adit
Secondary: Adits Nos. 1-3

Commodity

Primary: Zinc
Primary: Copper
Secondary: Gold
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Lead

Location

State: Colorado
County: Chaffee
District: Salida Area ("Sedalia 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

Not available

Workings

Type: Surface/Underground

Ownership

Owner Name: Joseph V. Dodge (note as of 2022 we have been notified that Charles Lindsey is the current owner)
Home Office: Colorado Springs, Co.
Years: 1981 -

Production

Year: 1897
Time Period: 1888-1918
Mined: 90000.000 mt
Material type: Oxidized Cu-Zn ore
Description: Cp_Grade: ^At Least 5% Cu, 10% Zn, $1-2.50/Ton Au And Ag

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1883
Year Last Production: 1923
Discovery Year: 1878
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Southern Rocky Mountains

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Stratabound Precambrian sulfide, Colorado and Wyoming

Orebody

Form: LENS

Structure

Type: R
Description: Southern Mosquito Range, Arkansas Valley Graben

Type: L
Description: 2 Major Faults: N-Trending, Ne-Trending; On Se Limb Of Faulted Anticline On West Side Of Pleasant Valley Syncline; Upper Arkansas Valley Graben

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Oxidation; Gassan Cap (100 Ft Thick); Retrograde Metamorphism-Sillimanite Facies

Rocks

Name: Quartz Monzonite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

Name: Quartz Monzonite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

Name: Quartz Monzonite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: AVERAGE OF 5 SAMPLES (1978): 4% CU, 6% ZN, 0.5% PB, 30 GRAMS/METRIC TON AG, 0.24 GRAMS/METRIC TON AU
Analytical Data: 5 PPM BE

Materials

Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Cuprite
Ore: Tenorite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Gahnite
Ore: Smithsonite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Silver
Ore: Anglesite
Ore: Willemite
Ore: Hydrozincite
Ore: Aurichalcite
Ore: Chalcanthite
Ore: Covellite
Ore: Chrysocolla
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Malachite
Gangue: Staurolite
Gangue: Tremolite
Gangue: Tourmaline
Gangue: Sphene
Gangue: Rutile
Gangue: Muscovite
Gangue: Labradorite
Gangue: Kyanite
Gangue: Barite
Gangue: Psilomelane
Gangue: Melanterite
Gangue: Anthophyllite
Gangue: Clinozoisite
Gangue: Cummingtonite
Gangue: Microcline
Gangue: Serpentine
Gangue: Zircon
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Andalusite
Gangue: Hornblende
Gangue: Corundum
Gangue: Cordierite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Phlogopite
Gangue: Apatite
Gangue: Biotite
Gangue: Sillimanite
Gangue: Gypsum
Gangue: Beryl
Gangue: Bytownite
Gangue: Opal
Gangue: Hemimorphite
Gangue: Magnetite
Gangue: Chlorite
Gangue: Asbestos
Gangue: Actinolite
Gangue: Diopside
Gangue: Idocrase
Gangue: Pyrrhotite
Gangue: Marcasite
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Limonite
Gangue: Epidote
Gangue: Talc

Comments

Comment (Commodity): ORE IS DIFFICULT FOR PRESENT-DAY SMELTERS TO PROCESS

Comment (Geology): Sheridan and Raymond (1984) describe the Sedalia mine as a metamorphosed Proterozoic exhalative base-metal sulfide deposit. The deposit it hosted in a sequence of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks that trend generally northeast and dip southeast. Gahnite, the zinc spinel, is present at the Sedalia mine and at other metamorphosed sulfide deposits in Colorado. Gahnite serves as a prospecting guide.

Comment (Deposit): CENTRAL CORE CONTAINS COPPER OXIDES AND CARBONATES; GOLD AND SILVER IN UPPER PORTIONS, ZINC IN LOWER PORTIONS; PRODUCTION PRIMARILY FROM BLOCKS OF SECONDARILY ENRICHED ORE; LARGE PEGMATITE DIKE TRENDS E-W, DIPS 70 DEG N; ALL GOOD ORE PRODUCED FROM ABOVE DIKE; ORE BODY GENERALLY ALINED WITH GNEISSIC LAYERS; WITHIN ORE ZONE ORE BODY COMPLEX IN SHAPE AND MAY ACTUALLY CONSIST OF SEVERAL SEPARATE BODIES

Comment (Deposit): IN THE LATE 1800'S AND EARLY 1900'S THIS WAS THE LARGEST COPPER MINE IN COLORADO. IT HAS ALSO BEEN A FAVORED GEM COLLECTING LOCALITY FOR EXCEPTIONALLY LARGE, PERFECTLY DODECAHEDRAL ALMANDITE GARNETS AS WELL AS MAGNETITE, ACTINOLITE, ASBESTOS, TALC, AND QUARTZ CRYSTALS. SPECIMENS OF THE ORE MINERALS HAVE BEEN COLLECTED FROM THE DUMPS. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Comment (Development): IN 1906 LEACHING PLANT NEAR MINE REPLACED BY 50-TPD CONCENTRATING MILL.

Comment (Location): ON NE SIDE OF ARKANSAS RIVER VALLEY ABOUT 4 MILES NW OF SALIDA, AT EDGE OF FOOTHILLS BORDERING VALLEY ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1976)

Comment (Production): INITIALLY, HAND COBBING OF ORE PROVIDED SHIPPING ORE CONTAINING 15-37% CU; PRICE OF COPPER DROPPED IN 1918, AND MINE OPERATED INTERMITTENTLY UNTIL 1923; HEYL (1964) ESTIMATES TOTAL PRODUCTION AT AROUND 100,000 TONS (1888-1919); MOST ORE SHIPPED TO U.S. SMELTING COMPANY'S LEAD-ZINC PAINT PLANT AT CANON CITY, CO. ZN USED FOR PAINT AND RESIDUE SMELTED FOR COPPER MATTE; SOME ORE TREATED AT SALIDA.

Comment (Production): Sheridan and Raymond (1984) estimated total production at 90,000 tons.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): IN SPITE OF LARGE RESERVE ESTIMATES BY EARLIER CONSULTANTS, DETAILED EVALUATIONS IN 1960'S AND EARLY 1970'S BY NEW JERSEY ZINC CO. AND NOBLE AMERICAN MINERALS, INC. DID NOT LEAD TO REOPENING OF MINE, PARTLY, AT LEAST, BECAUSE THE ABUNDANT ZINC IS DETRIMENTAL TO COPPER SMELTING AND THE ABUNDANT COPPER WITH INCOMPLETE OXIDATION OF THE ZINC MINERALS IS DETRIMENTAL TO ZINC SMELTING

Comment (Workings): WORKINGS FROM 7475-8200 FT ALTITUDE; 5 MAIN. ADITS, SEVERAL SHORT ADITS, 6 SHAFTS, NUMEROUS PROSPECT PITS; DRIFTS, CROSSCUTS, STOPES, RAISES; LESS THAN HALF OF OLD WORKING WERE SAFELY ACCESSIBLE IN 1978; UNDERGROUND WORKINGS ON AT LEAST 3 LEVELS

References

Reference (Geology): Sheridan, D.M., and Raymond, W.H., 1984. Preliminary report on the geology of the Sedalia mine are and its Proterozoic deposits of base-metal sulfides and gahnite, Chaffee County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-0800, 27 p., 1 plate.

Reference (Deposit): HEINRICH, E.W., 1981, PRECAMBRIAN TUNGSTEN AND COPPER-ZINC SKARN DEPOSITS OF SOUTH-CENTRAL COLORADO: CGS RESOURCE SERIES 21, P. 93-99

Reference (Deposit): HEYL, A.V., 1964, OXIDIZED ZINC DEPOSITS OF THE UNITED STATES, PART 3. COLORADO: USGS BULLETIN 1135-C, P. C83.

Reference (Deposit): LINDGREN, WALDEMAR, 1908, NOTES ON COPPER DEPOSITS IN CHAFFEE, FREMONT, AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, COLORADO: USGS BULLETIN 340, P. 157-174. & &

Reference (Deposit): BOARDMAN, S.J., 1976, GEOLOGY OF THE PRECAMBRIAN METAMORPHIC ROCKS OF THE SALIDA AREA, CHAFFEE COUNTY, COLORADO: THE MOUNTAIN GEOLOGIST, V. 13, NO. 3, P. 89-100. & &

Reference (Production): HEINRICH, E.W., 1981, Precambrian tungsten and copper-zinc skarn deposits in Colorado: Colorado Geological Survey Resource Series 21, 115p.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): HEINRICH, E.W., 1981, Precambrian tungsten and copper-zinc skarn deposits in Colorado: Colorado Geological Survey Resource Series 21, 115p.

Reference (Deposit): BOARDMAN, S.J., 1971, PRECAMBRIAN GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE SALIDA AREA, CHAFFEE COUNTY, COLORDADO: PH.D. THESIS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 131 P. &&

Reference (Deposit): VAN ALSTINE, R.E., 1974, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THE PONCHA SPRINGS SE QUADRANGLE, CHAFFEE COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 829, 19 P., MAPS. &&

Reference (Deposit): VANDERWILT, J.W., 1947, MINERAL RESOURCES OF COLORADO: COLORADO MINERAL RESOURCES BOARD, P. 48-49 &&

Reference (Deposit): TWETO, O.L., STEVEN, T.A., HAIL, W.J., JR., MOENCH, R.H., 1976, PRELIMINARY GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE MONTROSE 1 DEG X 2 DEG QUADRANGLE, SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO: USGS MAP MF-761, 1:250,000 &&

Reference (Deposit): PEARL, R.M., 1958, COLORADO GEM TRAILS AND MINERAL GUIDE: SAGE BOOKS, P. 82-86?F11) BHUTTA, M.A., 1954, GEOLOGY OF THE SALIDA AREA, CHAFF EE AND FREMONT COUNTIES, COLORADO: COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES PHD THESIS, 173 P.

Reference (Deposit): Sheridan, D.M., and Raymond, W.H., 1984. Preliminary report on the geology of the Sedalia mine are and its Proterozoic deposits of base-metal sulfides and gahnite, Chaffee County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-0800, 27 p., 1 plate.

Reference (Deposit): Sheridan, D.M., Raymond, W.H., Taylor, R.B., and Hasler, J.W., 1990, Metallogenic map of stratabound exhalative and related occurrences in Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1971, scale 1:1,000,000

Reference (Deposit): SHERIDAN, D.M., RAYMOND, W.H., 1978, STRATABOUND PRECAMBRIAN ZINC-COPPER DEPOSIT AT THE SEDALIA MINE, CHAFFEE COUNTY, COLORADO: COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS NO. 9, P. 146-150.

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