Platt Mine

The Platt Mine is a ree, tantalum, niobium (columbium), and uranium mine located in Carbon county, Wyoming.

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: Platt Mine
Secondary: R. Platte Property
Secondary: Uranium King Claim
Secondary: Platte Mine
Secondary: Ralph Platte
Secondary: Big Creek Pegmatite Area
Secondary: Cox

Commodity

Primary: REE
Primary: Tantalum
Primary: Niobium (Columbium)
Primary: Uranium

Location

State: Wyoming
County: Carbon

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Owner Name: RALPH PLATTE 9-73
Info Year: 1973

Owner Name: R.E. and R.H. Platt (or Platte)
Info Year: 1973

Production

Year: 1957
Material type: Produced 3,115 lbs Euxenite valued at $5,297 in 1957.
Year: 2010
Mined: 12.000 mt
Material type: 13 st X .9071847 = 12 mt Uranium ore.

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Pegmatite
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Wyoming Basin

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Pegmatites

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Allanite
Ore: Monazite
Ore: Euxenite
Ore: Columbite

Comments

Comment (Deposit): Location by GPS within 16 feet. Ground littered with muscovite. Mostly coarse grained pegmatite with abundant plagioclase, quartz, smoky quartz, biotite, and muscovite. Very small dense chonchoidal fractured chips, but unable to locate any in the rock matrix. Is this the monazite or euxenite? Old shaft has been completly encased/capped in concrete with a steel cage. Scintellometer reading at 1K = 15-18 cps (off-scale at 0.1 k).

Comment (Deposit): "Niobium, yttrium, and uranium oxides occur in a pegmatite that has been mined since 1956. In addition to the ordinary pegmatite minerals, the following are known to occur: euxenite, monazite, columbite, and allanite. Euxenite is the most abundant rare earth mineral. The pegmatite, which is 160 ft. long by 70 ft. wide has been mined to a depth of 75 ft. In 1957, 3,115 pounds of euxenite valued at $5,297 were produced from this deposit." (Osterwald and others, 1966, p. 221)

Comment (Identification): The mine labeled Platt Mine on Trent Creek topo, about 1 mile to the west, is NOT the Platt Mine. That mine is the Big Creek Copper mine. The real Platt Mine is shown as a shaft, simply labeled "Mine" on the Elkhorn Point topo in the S2 of the SE4 of the SW4 of sec. 3. The NNW trending road junction in the NE4 of the NW4 of sec. 10 is very faint and easy to miss.

Comment (Production): MINING PART - TIME ONLY

Comment (Deposit): The euxite pegmatite at the Platt mine east of the Big Creek copper mine in SW section 3, T13N, R81W, produced some of the best prismatic, orthorhombic, euxenite specimens in the world. According to Raiph Platt, this pegmatite was at one time the best source of euxenite in the world. The euxenite is black, vitreous, opaque, and weakly radioactive." (Hausel and Sutherland, 2000, p. 223)

Comment (Geology): PEGMATITE IN PRECAMBRIAM ROCKS W/ ASSOCIATED RA

Comment (Identification): Identification of Cox Mine is questionable. The Cox is described in DMEA Docket 2584 as being about a mile SE of the Express Lode (also known as Wagoner or Gibraltar). A brief mention of the Cox mine near Encampment is on p. 46 of Bull. 50 (1966 edition). Cox mine supposedly assayed 2.3% to 74.5% Cu, plus a little Au and Ag.

References

Reference (Deposit): AEC PRELIM. FIELD INV., AIRBORNE RA ANOMALIES

Reference (Deposit): WYO.G.S.FOR MAS

Reference (Deposit): Hausel, W.D., 1993, Guide to the geology, mining districts, and ghost towns of the Medicine Bow Mountains and Snowy Range Scenic Byway: Geological Survey of Wyoming Public Information Circular No. 32, 53 p.
Pages: p. 33.

Reference (Deposit): HOUSTON, R. S., 1961, THE BIG CREEK PEGMATITE AREA, CARBON COUNTY, WYOMING, GEOL. SURV. OF WYOMING PRELIM. REPORT NO. 1, 11 p.
Pages: p. 10.

Reference (Deposit): Gregory, R.W., Jones, R.W., and Cottingham, K.D., 2010, Uranium map of Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Map Series 94, scale 1:500,000.

Reference (Deposit): DMEA Docket No. 2584, 31 p., http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/2584_DMEA.pdf
Pages: p. 28 of 31.
URL: http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/2584_DMEA.pdf

Reference (Production): HOUSTON, R. S., 1961, THE BIG CREEK PEGMATITE AREA, CARBON COUNTY, WYOMING, GEOL. SURV. OF WYOMING PRELIM. REPORT (unnumbered), 11 p.
Pages: p. 10

Reference (Production): Osterwald and others, 1966, Mineral Resources of Wyoming: Geological Survey of Wyoming Bulletin 50, 287 p.
Pages: p. 221.

Reference (Deposit): Hausel and Sutherland, 2000, WSGS Bull. 71, p. 223.
Pages: p. 223.

Reference (Deposit): Osterwald and others, 1966, Mineral Resources of Wyoming: Geological Survey of Wyoming Bulletin 50, p. 221.

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