Cashin Mine

The Cashin Mine is a silver and copper mine located in Montrose county, Colorado at an elevation of 5,361 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

Name: Cashin Mine  

State:  Colorado

County:  Montrose

Elevation: 5,361 Feet (1,634 Meters)

Commodity: Silver, Copper

Lat, Long: 38.31083, -108.94889

Map: View on Google Maps

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.


Satelite image of the Cashin Mine

Cashin Mine MRDS details

Site Name

Primary: Cashin Mine
Secondary: Patented Claims: Red Chief, MS 13029a
Secondary: Red Chief Mill Site, MS 13029b
Secondary: Red Chief, MS 13029a
Secondary: Cashin, MS 1303a
Secondary: Titon, MS 13030a
Secondary: Titon Mill Site, MS 13030b
Secondary: Angell, MS 13031a
Secondary: Bennie, MS 13031a
Secondary: Humboldt, MS 13031a
Secondary: Maud, MS 13031a
Secondary: Maud Mill Site, MS 13031b
Secondary: Horse Shoe, MS 19163
Secondary: Michigan, MS 19163
Secondary: Red Rock, MS 19163
Secondary: Malachite, MS 19164


Commodity

Primary: Silver
Primary: Copper
Secondary: Gold
Secondary: Lead
Tertiary: Arsenic
Tertiary: Antimony
Tertiary: Uranium
Tertiary: Zinc


Location

State: Colorado
County: Montrose
District: La Sal (Paradox Valley) 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

Not available


Ownership

Owner Name: Austin B. Smith
Info Year: 1972

Owner Name: Sumito Minerals Corp.
Home Office: Canada

Owner Name: New Star Corp.
Home Office: Provo, Ut.
Years: 1981 -


Production

Not available


Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1898
Year Last Production: 1972
Discovery Year: 1896
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S


Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Colorado Plateaus
Physiographic Section: Canyon Lands


Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sediment-hosted Cu


Orebody

Not available


Structure

Type: R
Description: Paradox Basin Fold And Fault Belt

Type: L
Description: Paradox Anticline, Paradox Valley Graben, Unnamed Faults


Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Oxidation Of Cu Sulfides To Carbonates And Oxide


Rocks

Name: Shale
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Jurassic


Analytical Data

Analytical Data: ORE MINED IN 1937 AND 1939 CONTAINED 7 TO 8% CU, 8 OZ/TON AG, TRACE AU. HIGH-GRADE CRUDE ORE SHIPPED IN 1922 CONTAINED 12% CU AND 68 OZ/TON AG. OTHER HIGH-GRADE ORE AVERAGED 12.5% CU AND 134 OZ/TON AG. FORMER LEACHING OPERATION AT MINE YIELDED AVERAGE 3.5% CU AND 28 OZ/TON AG. ONE SHIPMENT OF NATIVE CU ORE CONTAINED 89% CU AND 77 OZ/TON AG.


Materials

Ore: Cuprite
Ore: Copper
Ore: Silver
Ore: Amalgam
Ore: Bornite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Argentite
Ore: Tennantite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Dolomite
Gangue: Barite
Gangue: Kaolinite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Pyrite


Comments

Comment (Location): CLAIMS LIE ACROSS LA SAL CREEK AND ONTO NYSWONGER MESA ABOUT 2.5 MILES ABOVE CONFLUENCE WITH DOLORES RIVER 4 MILES SSE OF PARADOX AND 3.2 MILES WNW OF BEDROCK. ELEV AND LAT-LONG GIVEN ARE FOR PRINCIPAL TUNNEL IN SE NW SE SEC. 22. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1975

Comment (Development): DEPOSIT DISCOVERED IN 1896 BUT NO ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT TOOK PLACE UNTIL 1898. FIRST OPERATOR APPARENTLY WAS LA SAL COPPER MINING COMPANY WHO SOLD PROPERTY IN 1918-1919 TO MICHIGAN-COLORADO COPPER COMPANY. DUE TO HIGH TRANSPORTATION COSTS IN EARLY YEARS, ONLY HIGH-GRADE SULFIDE AND NATIVE CU ORE COULD BE MINED. SMALL LEACH PLANT AND SMELTER PRODUCED MATTE IN EARLY 1900S, USING PYRITE FROM OPHIR AND COAL FROM OVENS WEST OF NATURITA. INTERMITTENT PRODUCTION TOOK PLACE BY VARIOUS OPERATORS FROM 1922-1946. FURTHER EXPLORATION/DEVELOPMENT AND REHABILITATION CONDUCTED BY CASHIN COPPER CORP IN 1955, INTERSTATE OIL AND GAS IN 1962, GOLD BAR RESOURCES IN 1963-1965, AND AUSTIN SMITH IN 1972 WHO SHIPPED 50 TONS OF DUMP ORE TO LEACH PLANT IN LISBON VALLEY, UTAH, BUT NO VALUES WERE RECOVERED. IN 1981, NEW STAR CORP ACQUIRED PROPERTY (MINING RECORD, 12/2/81), DID EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT, AND SHIPPED TRIAL LOT OF 500 TONS OF ORE THAT WERE SUCCESSFULLY MILLED.

Comment (Workings): MINE DEVELOPED BY MAIN TUNNEL 2900 FT LONG WITH 600-FT-LONG OVERHEAD STOPE AND TWO 300-FT RAISES. THREE LEVELS DEVELOPED OFF 260-FT INCLINED WINZE: 100 LEVEL WITH 300-FT NORTH AND 180-FT SOUTH DRIFTS, 160 LEVEL WITH 100-FT NORTH AND 100-FT SOUTH DRIFTS, 260 LEVEL WITH 30-FT NORTH AND 30-FT SOUTH DRIFTS. MAUD TUNNEL IS 380 FT LONG WITH 80-FT SHAFT AT PORTAL. TWO LEACH PONDS CONSTRUCTED NEAR MAIN TUNNEL TO TREAT DUMP MATERIAL.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): NEW STAR CORP. (IN MINING RECORD, 120281)

Comment (Production): PARTIAL PRODUCTION RECORD. ANNUAL TOTALS UNAVAILABLE FOR 1899-1918. CUMULATIVE TOTALS FOR 1899-1905 FROM EMMONS, 1906. NO PRODUCTION CITED IN CDM RECORDS FOR 1919-1921, 1923-1936, 1938, 1940-1971, AND AFTER 1972. ANNUAL FIGURES FOR 1938-1955 FROM USBM MINERAL YEARBOOKS. FIGURE FOR 1939 INCLUDES SMALL PRODUCTION FROM INDEPENDENCE NO. 7 CLAIM; FIGURE FOR 1940 INCLUDES SMALL PRODUCTION FROM TALBERT CLAIM. CU PRODUCTION IN 1955 WAS COVELLITE SPECIMENS FOR ROCK SHOP. PRODUCTION FIGURES RECORDED FOR DISTRICT ALSO IN 1957-1958, 1960, AND 1964, BUT MINERAL YEARBOOKS DID NOT STATE WHETHER OR NOT ALL OR BULK OF THIS PRODUCTION WAS CREDITED TO CASHIN MINE.

Comment (General): Incorporate info from 10231935 (MRDS D010953, MAS 0080850671) with this record. The only additional info was Sumito Minerals as the owner, IFOC as reporter, Austin Smith as Operator in 1972, and several vague references.

Comment (Deposit): DEPOSIT OCCURS IN WINGATE SANDSTONE ON SW LIMB PARADOX VALLEY ANTICLINE. ALTHOUGH FLANK OF FOLD IS CHARACTERIZED BY NUMEROUS GRABEN-TYPE NORMAL FAULTS TRENDING NW-SE AND DOWNTHROWN ON NE, CASHIN-CLIFFDWELLER DEPOSITS LOCALIZED IN VEINS ALONG TWO FAULTS TRENDING GENERALLY N 20 E (CLIFFDWELLER) AND N 45 E (CASHIN), POSSIBLY REPRESENTING EXTENSIONS OF SALT INTRUSIVE BULGES FROM INTERIOR OF PARADOX VALLEY (SIMILAR TO FAULT AT SUNRISE MINE ON NORTH SIDE OF VALLEY). ORES CHARACTERIZED BY ARGENTIFEROUS CU SULFIDES, CU ARSENIDES, NATIVE CU AND NATIVE AG. REPLACEMENT ORE CONSISTS OF SHORT BLADED AGGREGATES OF CHALCOPYRITE REPLACING SAND GRAINS, IN TURN REPLACED BY COVELLITE; MINOR ASSOCIATED SPHALERITE. VEIN ORE CONSISTS OF DOLOMITE FILLING VEIN AND CEMENTING BRECCIA OF SPHALERITE, GALENA, CHALCOPYRITE, AND FINE-GRAINED INTERGROWTH OF CHALCOPYRITE AND UNKNOWN SULFIDE; SOME ORE CARRIES BORNITE AND CHALCOCITE. LATER LUZONITE AND COVELLITE CUT AND REPLACE GANGUE AND EARLY SULFIDES. ARBOREAL

Comment (Deposit): MASSES OF ARGENTIFEROUS NATIVE CU WEIGHED 400 TO 500 LB AND REPORTEDLY OCCURED IN RED BEDS (CHINLE FM) UNDERLYING WINGATE. ALTHOUGH SOME AGE RELATIONS WERE INCONCLUSIVE, FISCHER (1936) PROPOSED GENERAL PARAGENESIS: EARLY BARITE(?); PYRITE, EARLY CHALCOPYRITE, SPHALERITE, GALENA , CHALCOPYRITE INTERGROWTH; BORNITE, CHALCOCITE, TENNANTITE(?), UNKNOWN SILVERY WHITE MINERAL; (BRECCIATION OF ORE BY POSSIBLE FAULT MOVEMENT); DOLOMITE (CEMENTING); LUZONITE, COVELLITE. FISCHER (1936) BELIEVED NATIVE CU AND CU ARSENIDES TO BE OF HYPOGENE ORIGIN. LINES OF EVIDENCE FOR HYPOGENE ORIGIN FOR FINE-GRAINED CHALCOCITE: (1) REPLACEMENT OF SPHALERITE SIMULTANEOUSLY BY GALENA, BORNITE, CHALCOCITE, AND OTHER MINERALS; (2) REPLACEMENT INDEPENDENT OF FRACTURING; (3) GRANULAR TEXTURE AND INTERLOCKING GRAINS; (4) UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION OF SCATTERED MINERALS IN HOST SULFIDES; (5) ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE OF SUPERGENE ENRICHMENT.


References

Reference (Deposit): 7.5 QUAD

Reference (Deposit): COLO DIV OF MINES 1972 SUMMARY.

Reference (Deposit): BLM SUR MNGT QUAD

Reference (Production): COLORADO DIV. MINES ANNUAL OPERATOR REPTS.; USBM MINERAL YEARBOOKS 1939-1955; EMMONS, 1906

Reference (Deposit): CARTER, W.D., AND GUALTIERI, J.L., 1957, LA SAL CREEK AREA, COLORADO AND UTAH, IN GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS OF RADIOACTIVE DEPOSITS--SEMIANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT, DECEMBER 1, 1956 TO MAY 31, 1957: AEC TEI-690, P. 94.

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

Reference (Deposit): GOTT, G.B., AND ERICKSON, R.L., 1952, RECONNAISSANCE OF URANIUM AND COPPER DEPOSITS IN PARTS OF NEW MEXICO, COLORADO, UTAH, IDAHO, AND WYOMING: USGS CIRC. 219, P.4-5.

Reference (Deposit): FISCHER, R.P., 1936, PECULIAR HYDROTHERMAL COPPER-BEARING VEINS OF THE NORTHEASTERN COLORADO PLATEAU; ECON. GEOLOGY, V. 31, NO. 6, P. 571-599.

Reference (Deposit): COFFIN, R.C., 1921, RADIUM, URANIUM, AND VANADIUM DEPOSITS OF SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO: CGS BULL. 16, P. 219-220.

Reference (Deposit): WITHINGTON, C.F., 1955, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE PARADOX QUADRANGLE, COLORADO: USGS MAP GQ-72.

Reference (Deposit): EMMONS, W.H., 1906, THE CASHIN MINE, MONTROSE COUNTY, COLORADO: USGS BULL. 285, P. 125-128.

Reference (Deposit): HALL, R.G., 1903, SECONDARY ENRICHMENT IN COPPER VIENS: ENG. MINING JOUR., V. 75, NO. 8, P. 288.

Reference (Deposit): BLM MINERAL SURVEYS MS 13029A&B, 13030A&B, 13031A&B, 19163, 19164

Reference (Deposit): COLO BU OF MINES 1937 ANNUAL RPT


Colorado Mining Photos

Placer mines at Cripple Creek, Colorado ca. 1892

Check out this collection of Colorado's best historic mining photos: Incredible Photos of Colorado Mining Scenes.