Poison Canyon Mine

The Poison Canyon Mine is a uranium and vanadium mine located in McKinley county, New Mexico at an elevation of 7,051 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: Poison Canyon Mine
Secondary: Mine: Moe No. 1
Secondary: Poison Canyon
Secondary: Poison Canyon A Adit
Secondary: Poison Canyon Westwater Adit

Commodity

Primary: Uranium
Primary: Vanadium
Tertiary: Selenium

Location

State: New Mexico
County: McKinley
District: Grants Uranium District: Ambrosia Lake Subdistrict

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: Santa Fe Railroad
Years: 1980 -

Owner Name: Haystack Mtn. Dev. Co.
Home Office: New Mexico
Info Year: 1969

Owner Name: Reserve Oil And Minerals Corp., P. O. Box 546, Grants, Nm
Home Office: NM
Info Year: 1979

Production

Year: 1970
Time Period: 1952 To 1970
Material type: ORE U
Description: Cp_Grade: ^0.23 Percent U3o8

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Stratiform
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1952
Year Last Production: 1980
Discovery Year: 1951
Discovery Method: Other
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: M

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Colorado Plateaus
Physiographic Section: Datil Section

Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

Orebody

Form: TABULAR

Structure

Type: R
Description: Poison Canyon Fault

Type: L
Description: The Poison Canyon Fault And A Series Of Smaller Faults And Fractures.

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

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

Name: Sandstone
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Late Jurassic

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Coffinite
Ore: Tyuyamunite
Ore: Carnotite

Comments

Comment (Development): THE POISON CANYON MINE WAS THE FIRST SANDSTONE URANIUM DISCOVERY IN THE GRANTS DISTRICT. A NAVAJO SHEEPHERDER, PADDY MARTINEZ, WAS DRAWN TO THIS SITE THINKING THAT RADIATION IN THE CANYON MIGHT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MYSTERIOUS DEATHS OFHUNDREDS OF SHEEP. ASSAYS OF THE URANIFEROUS ORE SHOWED APPRECIABLE QUANTITIES OF SELENIUM. SEVERAL YEARS LATER HELEN CANNON OF THE USGS GEOBOTANICAL BRANCH PROPOSED THAT THE DEATHS WERE DUE TO THE CONSUMPTION OF THE NOXIOUS PLANT, ASTRAGALUS, WHICH GROWS SELECTIVELY IN THE PRESENCE OF SELENIUM.

Comment (Deposit): THE DEPOSIT CONSISTS OF TWO TABULAR, STRINGLIKE DEPOSITS ASSOCIATED WITH FOSSIL LOGS AND ORGANIC DEBRIS. THERE ISBOTH TREND AND REDISTRIBUTED ORE PRESENT.

Comment (Workings): WORKINGS CONSIST OF SEVERAL OPEN PITS AND A 3,500-FOOT ADIT.

Comment (Geology): IN THIS DISTRICT THE OLDEST ROCKS EXPOSED ARE LIMESTONES, SHALEY SANDSTONES AND SHALES OF THE PENN. MAGDALENA GROUP WHICH ARE OVERLAIN BY RED SANDSTONES AND CONGLOMERATES OF THE PERM. ABO FM.. OUTCROPS OF THESE SEDIMENTARY ROCKS APPEAR ALONG THE LOWER PORTIONS OF SOME FAULT BLOCKS AND IN GENERAL THE BEDS DIP TO THE EAST. TERT. TO LATE CRET. PROPYLITIC ANDESITES ARE MORE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE REGION AND FORM EXTENSIVE FLOWS, TUFFS AND BRECCIAS ALONG THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE BLACK RANGE. RHYOLITE FLOWS AND TUFFS OVERLIE THE ANDESITES BUT ARE LESS EXTENSIVE. TECTONIC SETTING IS CONTINENTAL PLATFORM DISRUPTED BY EXTENSIVE CENOZOIC VULCANISM AND BASIN AND RANGE DEFORMATION.

Comment (Deposit): CRIB SITES AND RECORD NUMBERS FOR THIS DISTRICT ARE ALASKA GROUP(D002800) ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Comment (Location): LOCATION IS ACCURATE FOR BUILDINGS AT THE MINE SITE. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1979)

Comment (Production): PRODUCTION TOTALLED 217,066 TONS OF ORE.

Comment (Location): LATITUDE-LONGITUDE LOCATION IS APPROXIMATELY THE CENTER OF THE BLACK RANGE DISTRICT. THE WINSTON AND IRON MOUNTAIN 7.5 MINUTE TOPOGRAPHIC QUADRANGLES COVER THE EASTERN PART OF THE DISTRICT, THE WESTERN PART IS COVERED BY THE LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN 15 MINUTE TOPOGRAPHIC QUADRANGLE. THIS DISTRICT IS ABOUT 24 MILES LONG EXTENDING FROM JUST NORTH OF THE SIERRA COUNTY LINE SOUTHWARD TO MONUMENT CREEK, AND IS 6 TO 12 MILES WIDE WITH THE CREST OF THE BLACK RANGE FORMING THE WESTERN BOUNDARY OF THE DISTRICT. ELEVATIONS RANGE FROM 6000 FT. TO 8500 FT.

Comment (Geology): THE DEPOSIT OCCURS IN THE POISON CANYON SANDSTONE OF THE BRUSHY BASIN MEMBER OF THE MORRISON FORMATION.

Comment (Deposit): THE ORE DEPOSITS OF THIS DISTRICT ARE CHIEFLY FILLED FISSURE VEINS WITH OR WITHOUT SOME REPLACEMENT OF THE WALLROCK. THEY ARE USUALLY SINGLE FISSURES RANGING IN WIDTH FROM 2 FT. TO 8 FT. AND ARE FILLED WITH BANDED AND CRUSTIFIED VEIN MATERIAL. VEIN SYSTEMS TRENDING NORTH-SOUTH ARE VALUABLE FOR GOLD AND SILVER WITH COPPER OCCURRING SPARINGLY IN PLACES. VEIN SYSTEMS TRENDING EAST-WEST OR ROUGHLY RADIAL TRENDS ARE VALUABLE CHIEFLY FOR SILVER AND COPPER. IN THE EXTREME SOUTHERN END OF THE DISTRICT ARE VEINS CONTAINING GALENA, SPHALERITE AND SOME ASSOCIATED GOLD, SILVER AND CHALCOPYRITE.

References

Reference (Deposit): NMBMMR MAP FILE

Reference (Deposit): NMBMMR RESOURCE MAP 9, 1979.

Reference (Deposit): HOLMQUIST, R.J., 1970, USAEC RME-172, P. 36.

Reference (Deposit): HILPERT, L.S., 1969, USGS PP 603, P. 34

Reference (Deposit): RAPAPORT, I., 1963, NMBMMR MEM 15, P. 121-135

Reference (Deposit): TESSENDORF, T.N., 1980, NMBMMR MEM 38, P. 226-229

Reference (Deposit): NMBMMR GENERAL FILE DATA

Reference (Deposit): MCLEMORE, V.T., 1983, NMBMMR OFR-183, APPENDIX 1

Reference (Deposit): ANDERSON, E.C., 1955, OCCURENCES OF URAN ORE IN N.M., NMBMMR CIRC 29

Reference (Deposit): NMBMMR MINE FILES

Reference (Deposit): NMSMIR, 1953

Reference (Deposit): FILE, 1965, NMBM CIRC 77

Reference (Deposit): GEOLOGIC MAP OF GRANTS URAN REGION, 1979, NMBMMR GEOLOGIC MAP 31

The Top Ten Gold Producing States

These ten states contributed the most to the gold production that built the West from 1848 through the 1930s. The Top Ten Gold Producing States.