Copper King Mine

The Copper King Mine is a zinc and uranium mine located in Larimer county, Colorado at an elevation of 7,949 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: Copper King Mine
Secondary: Claims: Black Hawk No. 1
Secondary: Black Hawk No. 2

Commodity

Primary: Zinc
Primary: Uranium
Secondary: Vanadium
Tertiary: Copper
Tertiary: Iron
Tertiary: Molybdenum

Location

State: Colorado
County: Larimer
District: Prairie Divide (St. Cloud) District

Land Status

Land ownership: National Forest
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: Cherokee Mines
Home Office: Fort Collins, Co.
Years: 1956 -

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1920
Year Last Production: 1953
Discovery Year: 1925
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

Not available

Orebody

Form: WEDGE

Form: WEDGE

Structure

Type: R
Description: Front Range Uplift, Sherman Batholith

Type: L
Description: Virginia Dale Ring Dike Complex, Copper King Fault, B Fault, A Fau Lt

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Saussuritic(?) Alteration Of Granite Wallrock; Amphibole And Mica Replacement In Skarn; Chloritization Of Skarn And Mica; Partial Oxidat Ion And Hydration Of Pitchblende; Fe Oxidation

Rocks

Name: Pegmatite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

Name: Pegmatite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: SELECTED SEMIQUANTITATIVE SPECTROGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF SULFIDE-MAGNE TITE ORE FROM SIMS AND OTHERS GIVE 0.00X TO 0.0X% TI, 0.0X% MN, 0.00X TO TRACE % AG, UP TO 0.X% CD, 0.00X TO 0.0X% CO, TRACE IN, 0.00X% MO, 0.000X TO 0.00X% NI, 0.00X% SN, 0.00X% V, 0.X% U, 0.00X% Y, 0.002 TO 0 .27 TO 0.27% EQUIV U. ANALYSES FROM VEIN FAULTS GIVE SIMILAR TRACE VAL UES PLUS 0.034% EQUIV U ON B FAULT TO 3.6% EQUIV U ON COPPER KING VEIN (RADIOMETRIC ANALYSES). FOR ABOVE VALUES, THEORETICAL RANGE OF % FOR 0.X IS 0.215 TO 0.46%.

Materials

Ore: Pyrrhotite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Molybdenite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Coffinite
Ore: Pitchblende
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Marcasite
Ore: Magnetite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Siderite
Gangue: Apatite
Gangue: Actinolite
Gangue: Anthophyllite
Gangue: Phlogopite
Gangue: Fluorite
Gangue: Goethite

Comments

Comment (Deposit): MASSIVE SULFIDE-MAGNETITE ORE OCCURS IN TABULAR TO WEDGE-SHAPED A NTHOPHYLLITE-CUMMINGTONITE-ACTINOLITE SKARN IN GRANITE, STEEPLY PLUNGI NG, COMPLEXLY FOLDED, AT LEAST 100 FT LONG, 20 TO 50 FT WIDE, 6 FT THI CK, PROBABLY THINNING OUT AT DEPTH OF ABOUT 170 FT. BODY CONTAINS ACCE SSORY PHLOGOPITE, APATITE, QUARTZ. SIMS AND OTHERS BELIEVE SKARN FORME D BY PRECAMBRIAN PYROMETASOMATISM OF LIMY OR CARBONATE ROCKS. ORIGINAL ANTHOPHYLLITE AND PHLOGOPITE REPLACED BY CUMMINGTONITE AND BIOTITE; F E INTRODUCED TO FORM MAGNETITE, FOLLOWED BY SULFIDE AND QUARTZ DEPOSIT ION BY MAGMA-DERIVED ORE SOLUTIONS. ORES FORM STREAKS, KNOTS, OR MASSI VE LENTICULAR LAYERS ELONGATED IN DIRECTION OF LINEATION. GENERAL PARA GENESIS: MAGNETITE (REPLACING CUMMINGTONITE), MINOR QUARTZ, PYRRHOTITE , PYRITE, SPHALERITE, EXSOLUTION CHALCOPYRITE, CHALCOPYRITE, LATE PYRR HOTITE (BLEBS IN SPHALERITE). PITCHBLENDE ORE OCCURS IN COPPER KING AN D SUBSIDIARY, SMALL-DISPLACEMENT, LARAMIDE FAULTS (A & B) THAT CUT GRA NITE AND

Comment (Deposit): SKARNIN EAST-TRENDING ZONE. COPPER KING IS VERTICAL FAULT TR ENDING N60W AND CHARACTERIZED BY BRANCHING HORSETAIL FRACTURES. B FAUL T TRENDS N80 TO 85E, 65 TO 85SE AND FILLED WITH HEMATITE, GOETHITE, OT THER FE OXIDES, VUGGY QUARTZ. A FAULT TRENDS N55 TO 70W, 80SW AND CONT AINS SOFT GOUGE AND BRECCIA, FE OXIDES, QUARTZ VEINLETS, DISCONTINUOUS PYRITE SEAMS. NEAR INTERSECTION OF VEIN AND SKARN, U OCCURS IN PYRITE -MARCASITE BOXWORK WITH ABUNDANT SIDERITE, QUARTZ, SPHALERTIE, MINOR C HALCOPYRITE AND FLUORITE, ABUNDANT GOETHITE.

Comment (Production): SIMS AND OTHERS AND NELSON-MOORE AND OTHERS REPORT CUMULATIVE U OR E PRODUCTION OF 633 TO 652+ ST, BUT COLO. DIV. MINES REPORTS TOTAL OF 682+ ST FOR SAME PERIOD. ESTIMATED CUMULATIVE TOTALS FOR U308 AND V205 FROM NELSON-MOORE AND OTHERS ARE BASED ON TOTAL ORE PRODUCTION OF 633 ST AT GRADE OF 0.3% U308.

Comment (Development): MINE AND NEARBY PROPERTY OPENED IN WW I IN SEARCH FOR CU AND ZN. NO ORE PRODUCED UNTIL 1920 WHEN ONE CARLOAD ZN ORE WAS SHIPPED; BRIEF ACTIVITY IN 1936 BUT NO PRODUCTION. RADIOACTIVITY DISCOVERED ON DUMP I N 1949, AFTER WHICH BLACK HAWK CLAIMS FILED BY A.H. BROWN AND H.G. ISM ERT. FOLLOWING DEWATERING OF SHAFT, ZN AND U ORE PRODUCED IN 1950-51. UNDER DMEA CONTRACT IN 1951, CHEROKEE MINES COMPLETED MAIN SHAFT BY RA ISING TO SURFACE FROM 70 LEVEL OF OLD (WEST) SHAFT. MINE PRODUCED U OR E FROM 1951 TO 1953 BEFORE CLOSING.

Comment (Workings): MAIN (EAST) VERTICAL SHAFT IS 170 FT DEEP WITH LEVELS AT 70 FT (1 18 FT LONG CONNECTING WITH BOTTOM OF 64-FT WEST SHAFT), 110 FT (70 FT LONG), 140 FT (55 FT LONG), 160 FT (35 FT LONG). RAISE NO. 1 CONNECTS LEVELS 110 AND 140; RAISE NO. 2 CONNECTS LEVELS 140 AND 160 EAST OF MA IN SHAFT. PRINCIPAL STOPES WORKED ABOVE 110 LEVEL ON BOTH SIDES OF MAI N SHAFT AND BETWEEN LEVELS 110 AND 140 EAST OF MAIN SHAFT. OTHER SHORT SHAFTS AND PROSPECT PITS FOUND IN MINE AREA.

Comment (Location): ON SOUTH SIDE OF PRAIRIE DIVIDE 6 MILES NE OF RED FEATHERS LAKES. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1980

Comment (Deposit): Discovery Year: EARLY 1900S

References

Reference (Deposit): COLORADO DIV. MINES ANN. OPERATOR REPTS. AND INF. REPTS.

Reference (Production): SIMS AND OTHERS (1920 ZN PROD.); ORIGINAL CRIB RECORD (1951 ZN AND U ORE PROD.); COLO. DIV. MINES (1952-53 U ORE PROD.); NELSON-MOORE AND OTHERS (CUMUL. U308/V205 PROD.)

Reference (Deposit): PHAIR, GEORGE, AND SIMS, P.K., 1954, PARAGENESIS AND AGE OF THE URA NIUM MINERALS IN THE COPPER KING MINE, LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO (ABS.) : GSA BULL., V. 65, NO. 12, PT. 2, P. 1385.

Reference (Deposit): SIMS, P.K., AND OTHERS, 1958, GEOLOGY OF THE COPPER KING URANIUM MI NE, LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS BULL. 1032-D, 50 P.

Reference (Deposit): SIMS, P.K., AND TOULMIN, PRIESTLY, 1961, TEMPERATURE OF FORMATION O F A PRECAMBRIAN MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSIT, COPPER KING MINE, FRONT RANGE , COLORADO: USGS PROF. PAPER 424-B, P. B1-B2.

Reference (Deposit): NELSON-MOORE, J.L., AND OTHERS, 1978, RADIOACTIVE MINERAL OCCURRENC ES OF COLORADO AND BIBLIOGRAPHY: CGS BULL. 40, P. 208.

Colorado Mining Photos

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