Cherokee Mine

The Cherokee Mine is a gold mine located in Butte county, California.

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: Cherokee Mine  

State:  California

County:  Butte

Elevation:

Commodity: Gold

Lat, Long: 39.64028, -121.54607

Map: View on Google Maps

Satelite View

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Satelite image of the Cherokee Mine

Cherokee Mine MRDS details

Site Name

Primary: Cherokee Mine
Secondary: Spring Valley


Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Platinum
Secondary: Diamond


Location

State: California
County: Butte
District: Cherokee District


Land Status

Not available


Holdings

Not available


Workings

Not available


Ownership

Not available


Production

Not available


Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Stream placer
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Discovery Year: 1854
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: M


Physiography

Not available


Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE


Orebody

Form: Irregular


Structure

Not available


Alterations

Not available


Rocks

Name: Sand and Gravel
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Tertiary


Analytical Data

Not available


Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Diamond
Ore: Platinum
Gangue: Quartz


Comments

Comment (Geology): REGIONAL GEOLOGY The Cherokee Mine is situated at the western edge of the Sierra Nevada geologic province. This province is characterized by extremely complex lithologies and structures that were assembled through various plate-tectonic processes. Paleozoic-Mesozoic metamorphic complexes intruded by various Mesozoic plutons compose the basement of the province. This basement is overlain locally by erosional remnants of Cenozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, including gravels. Most of these various lithologies contain gold in places. Structurally, the metamorphic rocks and some of the plutonic rocks have been deformed by folding and faulting. The major fault zones typically trend northerly or northwesterly, although in places intrusion of the younger plutons has deformed some of the zones so as to assume other trends as well. In contrast, the overlying Cenozoic rocks are relatively undeformed. LOCAL GEOLOGY The Cherokee Mine was developed within Tertiary gold-bearing gravels deposited along a west-trending channel that underlies the basalt of Table Mountain. At its bottom, the channel is about 700 feet wide and characterized by a very irregular bedrock surface. The materials in these deposits have been derived by erosion of the various basement and older Cenozoic rocks at higher elevations. In places, the basement rocks contain gold within quartz veins and altered rock. Erosion of the gold-bearing basement rocks provided the gold that was eventually deposited in the channel at the Cherokee Mine. Lindgren (1911) reported the following stratigraphic section, from bottom to top, at the Cherokee Mine: 5-10? Hard, cemented greenstone gravel with local streaks of black clay; very poor in gold; no gold on greenstone bedrock; diamonds and platinum also recovered 20-30? Partly cemented, very coarse blue gravel with large blocks of greenstone; rich in gold, which is concentrated mostly on the surface with the underlying greenstone gravel 2-3? Decomposed gravels of the blue gravel 50? White sand and quartzose gravel; some fine gold 200? Sandy clay 50-75? Massive basalt Lindgren (1911) interpreted the clay hoizon to be part of the Ione Formation. Creely (1965) presented another stratigraphic section measured at the Cherokee Mine.

Comment (Commodity): Commodity Info: Much of the gold in the blue-gravel horizon is coarse, but there is also much fine gold. Some of the gold has a fineness of 945 (Lindgren, 1911). About 400-500 small diamonds were recovered from the gravels of this mine. Several of the stones were more than two carats in weight and of good quality, but most were small and had a pale yellow tinge. This site is the best-known diamond-bearing locality in California.

Comment (Workings): The channel was orginally developed by hydraulicking, with the highwall reaching 500 feet. About 150 acres were hydraulicked to bedrock and nearly as much was worked to within 15 feet of bedrock. The lowest material was cemented. Later, the channel was worked by minor drifting, some of which was developed in a coarse, blue gravel. This layer carries coarse gold and was considered the principal productive stratum in the original hydraulic mine.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: Native gold, diamond, native platinum

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: Quartz, metamorphic rock, igneous rock

Comment (Deposit): This deposit consists of gold-bearing alluvial gravels of Tertiary age deposited along a stream channel estimated by Lindgren (1911) to be about 700 feet wide at its bottom. Gold, diamonds, and platinum are present in specific horizons within the channel deposits that alternate with horizons that are lean or barren of these commodities. The most productive horizon is a 20-30-thick blue gravel near the bottom of the channel. An overlying 50-foot horizon of white sand and quartzose gravel yields lower concentrations of gold.

Comment (Identification): The Cherokee Mine was a highly productive hydraulic mine that was also notable for its production of diamonds.

Comment (Location): Location selected for latitude and longitude is the Cherokee Placer Mine shaft symbol on the USGS 7.5-minute Cherokee quadrangle.

Comment (Development): Most of the output of the Cherokee Mining District came from the Cherokee Mine. First developed in 1854, this deposit was hydraulicked exclusively from 1858 to 1890, when anti-debris laws reportedly forced closure. Mine tailings were dumped into Sawmill Ravine, from which they were conveyed to Dry Creek. Mining of this deposit resumed in 1900 by means of various drifting techniques and continued sporadically at least up to 1930. Exploratory work was conducted at this mine around 1980-1981. The mine has been a source of mercury in nearby Dry Creek (Brown and Murphy, 2005).

Comment (Economic Factors): The Cherokee Mine is estimated to have yielded about $15 million in gold and about 400-500 diamonds.


References

Reference (Deposit): Brown, D.L. and Murphy, W.M, 2005, Transport of total and dissolved mercury from the Cherokee watershed, Sacramento River basin, northern California: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, no. 4, p. 104-105.

Reference (Deposit): Clark, W.B., 1970, Gold districts of California: California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193, p. 36-37.

Reference (Deposit): Creely, R.S., Geology of the Oroville Quadrangle, California: California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 184, 86 p.

Reference (Deposit): Helley, E.J. and Harwood, DS., 1985, Geologic map of the late Cenozoic deposits of the Sacramento Valley and northern Sierra foothills, California: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1790, scale 1:62,500.

Reference (Deposit): Lindgren, W., 1911, Tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 73, p. 86-87.

Reference (Deposit): Logan, C.A., 1930, Butte County: California State Mining Bureau, 26th Report of the State Mineralogist, p. 387-389.

Reference (Deposit): Saucedo, G.J. and Wagner, D.L., 1992, Geologic map of the Chico Quadrangle, California: California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology Regional Geologic Map Series, Map No. 7A, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Waring, C.A., 1919, Butte County: California State Mining Bureau, 15th Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, p. 209-210.


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