Silver Cliff Mine

The Silver Cliff Mine is a radium, gold, copper, uranium, and silver mine located in Niobrara 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: Silver Cliff Mine
Secondary: Rochelle Mine

Commodity

Primary: Radium
Primary: Gold
Primary: Copper
Primary: Uranium
Primary: Silver

Location

State: Wyoming
County: Niobrara

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Owner Name: Wyoming Uranium Co.
Info Year: 1955
Years: 1950 -

Owner Name: Joel L. Starnes
Home Office: Lusk, WY
Info Year: 1955

Owner Name: E.D. Lorimer
Info Year: 1955
Years: 1918 - 1922

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1880
Year Last Production: 1953
Discovery Year: 1879
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Interior Plains
Physiographic Province: Great Plains Province
Physiographic Section: High Plains

Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: several samples yielded <0.02 to 10.88% cu, 0.16 to 15.04 opt Ag, and 0.001 to 3.39% U3O8.
Analytical Data: select samples contained 0.5 opt Au.

Materials

Ore: Clinozoisite
Ore: Uranophane
Ore: Metatorbernite
Ore: Chrysocolla
Ore: Cuprite
Ore: Azurite
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Silver
Ore: Copper
Ore: Pitchblende
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Limonite
Gangue: Clinozoisite

Comments

Comment (Geology): GEOL.DESC: CALCITE VEINS, U IN SANDSTONE 0.001-3.39 AND 0.001 TO 0.12 IN FAULT ZONE

Comment (Deposit): $34,000 RADIUM (1922) 4 LARGE PITS, 285 FT SHAFT, 5 LEVELS 1600 FT OF DRIFTS: REF. WYO. GEOL. SURVEY BULL. 45, 1952, P. 167; RME 1002 TEPCO FILES USGS; DMEA REPORTS

Comment (Reference): Deleted Record 10081149 (W032882) cited only USAEC ANNUAL REPORT (RME-3148), 1956-1957, P. 4. Deleted record 10232428 (0560270062) cited "WY GS FOR MAS" and "J.L. STARNES". It is not clear if Starnes is a reference, a verbal communication, or an owner.

Comment (Geology): Ore mineral gummite listed in Hausel, but is not a choice on the MRDS drop down materials pick list.

Comment (Production): "Produced uranium in the 1920s and again in the early 1950s. Some copper, silver, and gold also were recovered from this area in 1879 and early 1880s." (Hausel, 1997, p. 72)

Comment (Geology): "Most of the hill consists of Precambrian metamorphic rocks (muscovite schist interbedded with thin lenses of limy schist) unconformably overlain by calcareous Flathead(?) Sandstone or possibly Guernsey(?) Formation sandstone. The sandstone dips southeast." (Hausel, 1997, p. 72)

Comment (Workings): "Following the discovery of silver-copper-gold mineralization in 1879, a 285-foot-deep shaft was sunk, and a 1200-foot inclined adit was driven to the bottom of the shaft. Five levels were established with at least 1600 feet of drifts." (Hausel, 1997, p. 72)

Comment (Orebody): The mineralization lies within and adjacent to a high-angle reverse fault that strikes N15E. It also occurs as a blanket deposit in iron-stained sandstone at the base of the Paleozoic rocks adjacent to the mineralized fault." (Hausel, 1997, p. 72-73).

Comment (Production): "The mine was opened in 1880 and worked on a small scale for copper and silver until 1884. Later, uranium was discovered. Beteween 1918 and 1922, six carloads containing more than 3% U3O8 were shipped to the Radium Company of Denver, Colorado. Following a period of inactivity, minor amounts of uranium were recovered from 1951-1953. " (Hausel, 1997, p. 73)

Comment (Deposit): Shaw, J.F., Wilson, S.R., Storms, W.R., Baroch, C.T., and Bauerle, L.C., 1956, Quarterly report on reconnaissance, exploration, and extraction of selenium (GSA Contract DMP-97), Reserach Report No. 36.8, 13 p. is an unpublished report found in the former U.S. Bureau of Mines file room, now housed in Building 20 at the Denver Federal Center (as of 8/2010).(unpublished).

Comment (Commodity): "Only two of the nine localities examined in the Lusk area showed the presence of selenium in field tests, and the area does not appear to have deposits that contain commercial quantities of selenium. One out of twenty samples from the Silver Cliff mine gave a positive reaction, but the quantity of material was insignificant. The Russel Thompson ranch is well known for poisonous selenium-bearing plants. In spite of this, only one of the nine smaples taken contained a detectable amount of selenium, and it assayed only 0.004 percent." (Shaw and others, 1956, p. 5).

Comment (Reference): REF. WYO. GEOL. SURVEY BULL. 45, 1952, P. 167; RME 1002 TEPCO FILES USGS; DMEA REPORTS (clipped from Deposit Comment 1.)

References

Reference (Deposit): AMER. MINERALOGIST V. II, P. 155-164

Reference (Deposit): USGS OIL & GAS PRELIM. MAP 102. 1949

Reference (Deposit): USGS BULL. 1009-A. 1954

Reference (Deposit): USAEC ANNUAL REPORT (RME-3148), 1956-1957, P. 4
Pages: p. 4.

Reference (Deposit): Hausel, 1997, Copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and associated metal deposits of Wyoming: WGS Bull. 70, p. 72-73.
Pages: p. 72-73.

Reference (Deposit): Shaw, J.F., Wilson, S.R., Storms, W.R., Baroch, C.T., and Bauerle, L.C., 1956, Quarterly report on reconnaissance, exploration, and extraction of selenium (GSA Contract DMP-97), Reserach Report No. 36.8, 13 p. (unpublished report in File Room, Bldg. 20, Denver Federal Center as of 8/2010)
Pages: p. 5

Reference (Deposit): CONSV. DIV. COMP. DATE, 04-16-1959

Reference (Deposit): DMEA Docket No. 4704, 1957, 95 p., http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/4704_DMEA.pdf
URL: http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/4704_DMEA.pdf

Reference (Deposit): DMEA Docket No. 3735, 65 p., http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/3735_DMEA.pdf
URL: http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/scans/wy/dmea/3735_DMEA.pdf

Reference (Deposit): WYO GS FOR MAS

Reference (Deposit): WYO. GEOL. SURVEY BULL. 45, 1952, P. 167.

Reference (Deposit): RME 1002 TEPCO FILES USGS (unverified)

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.