Lisbon Valley Copper

The Lisbon Valley Copper is a copper mine located in San Juan county, Utah at an elevation of 6,791 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: Lisbon Valley Copper
Secondary: Lisbon Valley Potash Area
Secondary: St Mary
Secondary: St Mary's Copper Mine
Secondary: Lisbon Valley Project
Secondary: Centinnial
Secondary: Sentinel
Secondary: GTO

Commodity

Primary: Copper

Location

State: Utah
County: San Juan
District: Moab District

Land Status

Land ownership: BLM Administrative Area
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

Type: Located Claim

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Owner Name: Constellation Copper
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Lakewood CO 80235 United States
Info Year: 2010
Years: 2002 -

Owner Name: U.S. Bureau Of Land Management
Percent: 100.0
Info Year: 1977

Owner Name: St. Mary Land And Exploration
Percent: 55.00
Info Year: 1997
Years: 1997 -

Owner Name: Summo Minerals Corp.
Percent: 45.00
Home Office: Canada
Info Year: 1996

Production

Year: 2007
Material type: High Country News, February 18, 2008 http://www.hcn.org/issues/364/17521
Year: 2006
Material type: High Country News, February 18, 2008 http://www.hcn.org/issues/364/17521

Deposit

Record Type: Deposit
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: Sediment-hosted Cu, red-bed
Plant Type: Leach
Plant Subtype: Solvent Extraction-Electrowin
Operation Type: Surface
Mining Method: Open Pit
Milling Method: Leach-Solvent-Extract-Electrowin
Year First Production: 1970
Year Last Production: 2007
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: L

Physiography

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

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sediment-hosted Cu, red-bed

Orebody

Form: strata-bound

Structure

Type: L
Structure: salt anticlines

Type: L
Structure: Lisbon Valley fault

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration: oxidation

Rocks

Name: Sandstone
Role: Host
Description: crossbedded stream-laid pebble conglomerate and coarse-grained conglomeratic sandstone, but it also contains finer grained sandstone layers and shale.
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Early Cretaceous

Name: Sandstone
Role: Host
Description: crossbedded sandstone, also contains pebbly conglomerate, shale, mudstone, and locally coal
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Late Cretaceous

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Azurite
Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Bornite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Covellite
Ore: Digenite
Ore: Brochantite
Ore: Malachite
Gangue: Marcasite
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Jarosite
Gangue: Goethite
Gangue: Calcite

Comments

Comment (Geology): Burro Canyon Formation: The Burro Canyon Formation overlies the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation. It consists chiefly of crossbedded stream-laid pebble conglomerate and coarse-grained conglomeratic sandstone, but it also contains finer grained sandstone layers and shale. The pebbles in the conglomerate are mostly light- to dark-gray chert and light-gray to cream-colored quartzite, mostly less than half an inch across but rarely several inches. Maximum measured thickness of the formation is about 110 feet. Lithologic character suggests that the Burro Canyon Formation was deposited by meandering streams shifting their channels across a broad alluvial plain. Dakota Sandstone: The Dakota consists mostly of crossbedded sandstone in beds a few inches to several feet thick. Beds are thinner and more uniform than in the underlying Burro Canyon. The Dakota also contains pebbly conglomerate, shale, mudstone, and locally coal. Fossil ripple marks, worm burrows, petrified wood, impressions of twigs, and carbonized plant matter?all common in the Dakota?indicate deposition in shallow water. The coal accumulated in a swamp. The upper part of the Dakota interfingers with the lower part of the overlying Mancos Shale. Deposition of the Dakota, therefore, presaged the readvance of a seaway across the western interior of the continent.

Comment (Deposit): MINE IS APPROX. 44 MILES SOUTH OF MOAB, NEAR MONTICELLO, SAN JUAN CT, UTAH. THE PROJECT IS LOCATED IN LISBON VALLEY, UTAH ABOUT 45 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MOAB. IT IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE 40 MILLION LBS OF CATHODE COPPER ANNUALLY AT A CASH OPERATING COST OF US$0.47/LB. OVER A MINIMUM EIGHT YEAR MINE LIFE. FINANCING TO BE COMPLETED & COMMENCE CONSTRUCTION, EARLY 97. WHICH IS EXPECTED TO TAKE 12 MONTHS TO COMPLETE, INITIAL CATHODE COPPERPRODUCTION BY 1998.

Comment (Deposit): The following is summarized from Morrison and Parry, (1986) Copper-silver and uranium deposits are widely distributed in the Mesozoic red-bed sequence of clastic sediments. The copper-silver deposits are post-laramide faulting (Middle Cretaceous), whereas uranium deposits occur in sandstones of the Chinle (Triassic) and Morrison (Jurassic) Formations. Copper deposits at Lisbon Valley occur along the Lisbon Valley fault in coal-bearing horizons of the Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone and Burro Canyon Formation. Copper mineralization is found as vein fillings, sandstone pore fillings, and replacements of coalified plant fossils. The primary copper mineral is chalcocite (sulfide), which is thought to have been deposited from upwelling Cu-rich basin brine solutions ascending through the Lisbon Valley Fault. Minor amounts of bornite, chalcopyrite, covellite, digenite, and brochantite as listed as ore minerals. Above the water table, chalcocite has been oxidized to malachite, azurite, tenorite, and cuprite. district. Gangue minerals include calcite, Ba-Sr sulfates, goethite, jarosite, pyrite, marcasite and, Mn oxide.

References

Reference (Deposit): WOOD HB, 1968 GEOLOGY AND EXPLOITATION OF URANIUM DEPOSITS IN LISBON VALLEY AREA UTAH, IN RIDGE ed ORE DEPOSITS OF US, GRATON SALES VOL 1, AIME P 771-789

Reference (Deposit): ISACHSEN YW 1954 ORE DEPOSITS BIG INDIAN WASH AREA GUIDEBOOK TO THE GEOLOGY OF UTAH NO 9 UGA

Reference (Deposit): DIX GP JR 1954 URANIUM DEPOSITS BIG INDIAN WASH SAN JUAN CO UTAH USAEC RME 4022 REV

Reference (Deposit): PAY DIRT, #693, MARCH, 1997, P14.

Reference (Deposit): THE MINING RECORD, VOL., 108, #6, FEB. 5, 1997, P1.

Reference (Deposit): THE MINING RECORD, VOL., 108, #15, APR. 9, 1997, P1.

Reference (Deposit): THE MINING RECORD, VOL., 108, #1, JAN. 1, 1997, P1.

Reference (Deposit): THE MINING RECORD, VOL., 107, #46, NOV., 13, 1996, P3.

Reference (Deposit): THE MINING RECORD, VOL., 107, #45, NOV., 6, 1996, P1.

Reference (Deposit): THE MINING RECORD, VOL., 107, #42, OCT., 16, 1996, P1.

Reference (Deposit): "SUMMO MINERALS FINANCING COMMITMENT FOR LISBON VALLEY." FROM POINT CAST BUSINESS WIRE, 3-5-97.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): RANDOL, MINING DIRECTORY, 1996/97, U.S. MINES & MINING COMPANIES, P315.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): MINING RECORD. V106/N28. JULY 12, 1995. P.5.

Reference (Deposit): Weir, G. W., and Puffett, W. P., 1960, Similarities of uranium-vanadium and copper deposits in the Lisbon Valley area, Utah- Colorado,USA: Internat. Geol. Cong., 21st, Copenhagen 1960, Proc., p. 133-148.

Reference (Deposit): Buffington, Darrel L., P.E., King, Nelson D., Stevens, Mark G., C.P.G., Tschabrun, Donald B., 2005, Technical Report of the Lisbon Valley Copper Project, San Juan County, Utah; Prepared for Constellation Copper Corporation by Pincock, Allen & Holt, Mining Consultants, September 22, 2005, 108 pages.
URL: http://www.pitecreative.com/staging/CCU/art/lisbon/PAH_REVISED_Final_9_27.pdf

Reference (Deposit): NEW YORK AIME

Reference (Deposit): THE DENVER POST, THURSDAY, AUG. 10, 1995.

Reference (Deposit): SUMMO MINERALS PRESS RELEASE, 5-27-96.

Reference (Deposit): THE NORTHERN MINER, 6-2-97, P.14.

Reference (Geology): Morrison, S. J., and Parry, W. T. 1986, Formation of Carbonate-Sulfate Veins Associated with Copper Ore Deposits from Saline Basin Brines, Lisbon Valley, Utah: Fluid Inclusion and Isotopic Evidence: Econ Geol Vol., 81 pp. 1853-1866

Reference (Deposit): High Country News, February 18, 2008.
URL: http://www.hcn.org/issues/364/17521

Reference (Deposit): RANDOL, MINING DIRECTORY, 1994/95, U.S. MINES & MINING COMPANIES, P399.

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.