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USGS · ofr70374

Gold occurrences near Jefferson, South Carolina

James P. Minard
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Abstract

Gold, possibly in economic amounts, is present in the Jefferson area, South Carolina. It occurs in Slate Belt rocks of Paleozoic age, in Coastal Plain sediments of Cretaceous age, and in alluvial deposits of Quaternary age. The area is near the inner edge of the Coastal Plain province and includes the Brewer Gold Mine, which was intermittently active until 1935 and had a total gold production valued at about $450,000. Slate Belt rocks underlie the entire area and crop out mainly in valley slopes and upper drainage ways; auriferous Coastal Plain sediments underlie a small upland, and Quaternary alluvium lies in and along streams draining the upland and adjacent areas. Gold in the bedrock at the Brewer Mine occurs chiefly in vein lodes in siliceous volcanic and metavolcanic rocks of Paleozoic age. Gold in Coastal Plain sediments is mainly in placer deposits in the lower gravel layers. Gold in Quaternary alluvial deposits is in placers in the present stream channels and in flood plain and abandoned channel deposits. A lode deposit may exist in the rocks beneath the Coastal Plain sediments.

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James P. Minard. 1970. Gold occurrences near Jefferson, South Carolina. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr70374

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