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At least 1,729 records · Page 96Linked to original sources
USGS2012

Arc-related porphyry molybdenum deposit model

This report provides a descriptive model for arc-related porphyry molybdenum deposits. Presented within are geological, geochemical, and mineralogical characteristics that differentiate this deposit type from porphyry copper and alkali-feldspar rhyolite-granite porphyry molybdenum deposits. The U.S. Geological Survey's effort to update existing mineral deposit models spurred this research, which is intended to supplement previously published models for this deposit type that help guide mineral-resource and mineral-environmental assessments. Arc-related porphyry molybdenum deposits are a substantial resource for molybdenum metal and may have anomalous concentrations of tungsten. The deposits contain low-grade ore (0.03-0.22 percent molybdenum) as molybdenite, but are large-tonnage, making them amenable to bulk mining open-pit techniques. The mineralizing system usually has fluorine contents of less than 0.1 percent. The cogenetic intrusion is a differentiated calc-alkaline granitoid, typically granodiorite to quartz monzonite in composition, with low rubidium and niobium, and moderate to high strontium concentrations. Metals and hydrothermal fluids are sourced from these intrusions, with an additional meteoric fluid component contributing to peripheral alteration but not adding more metal. The lithology of the surrounding country rocks is not important to the formation of these deposits, but a surrounding carbonate unit may be altered to skarn that contains economic mineralization. The creation of contact-metamorphosed hornfels adjacent to the intrusion is common. Formation of arc-related porphyry molybdenum deposits typically occurs within a continental arc environment related to arc-continent or continent-continent collision and subduction. Few deposits are found in an island arc setting. Most classified arc-related porphyry molybdenum deposits are located in the western cordillera of North America, notably in British Columbia and Alaska. Hydrothermal alteration provides a key component to the identification of a deposit. Alteration usually is zoned from a core of potassic plus/minus silicic alteration outwards through phyllic to propylitic alteration. Argillic alteration may be irregular in shape and will overprint earlier hydrothermal alteration. Exploration should be limited to magmatic arc belts that have been unroofed and eroded to levels of a few kilometers depth. Important geological vectors toward areas of higher grade mineralization include intensity of hydrothermal alteration, veining, and faulting. Anomalous levels of molybdenum, tungsten, copper, lead, or zinc in soils, tills, stream sediments, and drainage waters may indicate the presence of an arc-related porphyry molybdenum deposit. Geophysical exploration techniques have been met with minimal success because of the overall low concentration of associated sulfide and oxide minerals. Geoenvironmental concerns are generally low because of low volumes of sulfide minerals. Most deposits are marginally acid-generating to non-acid-generating with drainage waters being near-neutral pH because of the acid generating potential of pyrite being partially buffered by late-stage calcite-bearing veins. The low ore content results in a waste:ore ratio of nearly 1:1 and large tailings piles from the open-pit method of mining.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS1957

Bedrock geology at the south-central part of the North Range, Cuyuna district, Minnesota

The Cuyuna iron-ore district is in central Minnesota in Morrison, Crow Wing, and Aitkin Counties. The length of the district is about 68 miles, extending from near Randall in Morrison County ot a point 11 miles east of the community of Hassmann in Aitkin County, and the maximum know width is about 25 miles near the center of the district. Current mining activity is confined to a much smaller area about 10 miles longs and 3 miles wide near Crosby and Ironton in Crow Wing County. This investigation has been restricted to the active area plus a marginal strip in which much exploratory drilling has been done. The average annual production of iron ore and manganiferous iron ore from the district during 1940-50 was slightly more than 3 million tons.

Minnesota↗
USGS1999

Geologic datasets for weights-of-evidence analysis in northeast Washington: 2. Mineral databases

Digital mineral databases are necessary to carry out weights-of-evidence modeling of mineral resources for epithermal gold and carbonate-hosted lead-zinc deposits in northeast Washington. This report describes spreadsheet tables consisting of: 1) training sites for epithermal gold, 2) placer gold sites, 3) training sites for carbonate-hosted lead-zinc, and 4) small lead-zinc mines and prospects. A fifth table provides location data about sites in the four tables.

Washington↗
USGS1988

Geology and mineral resources of the Port Moller region, western Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian arc: A section in USGS research on mineral resources - 1989: Program and abstracts

Geologic mapping of the Port Moller, Stepovak Bay, and Simeonof Island quadrangles was begun under the auspices of the Alaska Mineral Resource Assessment Program (AMRAP) in 1983 . Two important mineral deposits are located in the Port Moller quadrangle; the Pyramid prospect is the largest copper porphyry system in the Aleutian Arc, and the Apollo Mine is the only gold mine to reach production status in the Aleutian Arc.

Alaska↗
USGS1951

Water resources of southeastern Bucks County, Pennsylvania

This report has been prepared as a contribution to the development of southeastern Bucks County, Pa. It summarizes available information on the water resources of this 90-square mile area and evaluates current supplies. Future development of the area may change both the available quantity and the quality of the water supply. The effective development of the area demands a continuing knowledge of the water used and the potential quantity and quality of water available from both underground and surface sources. The area is strategically important to a great industrial section of the Bast. Its eastern boundary is a 26-mile segment of the Delaware River along the extreme southeastern border of Bucks County, Pa. (fig. 1). The present.population of the area is about 40,000, including 24,800 in Bristol Borough and Township and 6,770 in Morrisville. The area is traversed by both the Pennsylvania and the Reading Railroads and also by U.S. Highways 1 and 13. These are main transportation routes connecting the great market outlets of Philadelphia and New York. The Delaware River'is navigable from Morrisville to the sea. The area is only a short distance upstream from the Port of Philadelphia, which ranks second only to New York as the most important seaport in the United States. The area is mostly flat, open land 10 to 60 feet above mean sea level. It contains several large Industries, concentrated chiefly in the Bristol area (pi. 1). There are also scattered industries in the Morrisville, Langhorne, and Bensalem areas. However, Bucks County retains some of the characteristics of a farming region. Truck farming and gardening are still carried on to a considerable extent. Along Delaware River below Morrisville the mining of sand and gravel is an Important industry. The facts summarized in this report have been accumulated over a period of 25 years or more by Federal, State, and local agencies in connection with Investigations for other purposes. Most of the data used in this report have been obtained by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters, the Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs, the Pennsylvania Department of Commerce, and State Planning Board, the City of Philadelphia, the Corps of Engineers, and the Interstate Commission on the Delaware River Basin. This report was prepared in the Water Resources Division of the U.S.Geological Survey by Jack B. Qraham, District Geologist; John W. Mangan, District Engineer; and Walter F. White, Jr., District Chemist, under the general direction of C. G. Paulsen, Chief Hydraulic Engineer.

Pennsylvania↗
USGS1993

Maps showing mineral resource assessment for porphyry and stockwork deposits of copper, molybdenum, and tungsten and for stockwork and disseminated deposits of gold and silver in the Butte 1° x 2° quadrangle, Montana

This report documents the assessment for potential occurrences of undiscovered porphyry and stockwork deposits of copper, molybdenum, and tungsten (porphyry Cu-Mo-W) and stockwork and disseminated deposits of gold and silver (disseminated Au-Ag) in the Butte 1 °X2° quadrangle. The Butte quadrangle, in west-central Montana, is one of the best known mineral producing regions in the U.S. Mining districts in the quadrangle, including the world famous Butte or Summit Valley district, have produced a variety of metallic and nonmetallic mineral commodities valued at more than $6.4 billion (at the time of production). Because of its importance as a mineral producing region, the Butte quadrangle was selected for study by the U.S. Geological Survey under the Conterminous United States Mineral Assessment Program (CUSMAP). Under this program, new data on geology, geochemistry, geophysics, geochronology, mineral resources, and remote sensing were collected and synthesized. The field and laboratory studies were supported, in part, by funding from the Geologic Framework and Synthesis Program and the Wilderness Program. The methods used in this resource assessment for porphyry Cu-Mo-W and disseminated Au-Ag deposits in the quadrangle include a compilation of all data, the development of descriptive occurrence models, and the analysis of data using techniques provided by a Geographic Information System (GIS). This map is one of several maps on the Butte 1 °X2° quadrangle. Other deposit types have been assessed for the Butte quadrangle, and maps (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Miscellaneous Investigation Series Maps) for each of the following have been prepared: Vein and replacement deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, manganese, and tungsten (Elliott, Wallace, and others, 1992a) and skarn deposits of gold, silver, copper, tungsten, and iron (Elliott and others, 1992b ). Other publications resulting from this study include linear features map (Rowan and others, 1991 ); limonite and hydrothermal alteration map (Rowan and Segal, 1989); mineral occurrence maps (Elliott and others, 1986; Elliott, Loen, and others, 1992); and geologic maps (Wallace, 1987; Wallace and others, 1987).

Montana↗
USGS1991

Maps showing industrial mineral resources of the Joplin 1° x 2° quadrangle, Kansas and Missouri

This map is part of a folio of maps of the Joplin 1° X 2° quadrangle, Kansas and Missouri prepared under the Conterminuous United States Mineral Assessment Program (CUSMAP). Other publications in this folio to date include U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2125-A (Erickson and others, 1990). Additional maps showing various geologic aspects of the Joplin quadrangle will be published as U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Maps bearing this same serial number with different letter suffixes (MF-2125-C, -D, and so on). The industrial mineral resources of the Joplin 1° X 2° quadrangle are crushed stone, dimension stone, clay and shale, construction sand and gravel (including chat, or chert-rich tailings from metal mines), and asphaltic sandstone. At present only crushed stone, clay and shale, and construction sand and gravel are of economic importance; the remainder are considered hypothetical resources. The value of industrial mineral production during 1987, the most recent year of complete data as supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, was nearly $25,600,000. In terms of finished products such as cement and brick, the value is several times that amount. Figure 1 shows the annual value of industrial mineral production within the quadrangle from 1960 through 1987.

Kansas;Missouri↗
USGS2010

Spatial Databases of Geological, Geophysical, and Mineral Resource Data Relevant to Sandstone-Hosted Copper Deposits in Central Kazakhstan

Central Kazakhstan is host to one of the world's giant sandstone-hosted copper deposits, the Dzhezkazgan deposit, and several similar, smaller deposits. The United Stated Geological Survey (USGS) is assessing the potential for other, undiscovered deposits of this type in the surrounding region of central Kazakhstan. As part of this effort, Syusyura compiled and partially translated an array of mostly unpublished geologic, geophysical, and mineral resource data for this region in digital format from the archives of the former Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (of which Kazakhstan was one of the member republics until its dissolution in 1991), as well as from later archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan or of the Kazakhstan consulting firm Mining Economic Consulting (MEC). These digital data are primarily map-based displays of information that were transmitted either in ESRI ArcGIS, georeferenced format, or non-georeferenced map image files. Box and Wallis reviewed all the data, translated Cyrillic text where necessary, inspected the maps for consistency, georeferenced the unprojected map images, and reorganized the data into the filename and folder structure of this publication.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2014

Geologic map of metallic and nonmetallic mineral deposits, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, modified from the 1967 original map compilation of G.G. Semenov and others

This geologic map of central Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, is a combined, redrafted, and modified version of the Geological map of central Badakhshan, scale 1:200,000 (sheet 217), and Map of minerals of central Badakhshan, scale 1:200,000 (also sheet 217) from Semenov and others (1967) (Soviet report no. R0815). That unpublished Soviet report contains the original maps and cross sections, which were prepared in cooperation with the Ministry of Mines and Industries of the Republic of Afghanistan in 1967 under contract no. 1378 (Technoexport, USSR). This USGS publication also includes the gold metallogeny summarized in Abdullah and others (1977) and Peters and others (2007, 2011), and additional compilations from Guguev and others (1967). Badakhshan Province consists of volcanic, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks of various ages from late Proterozoic to Cenozoic. The rocks are intensively dislocated and cut by intrusions of magmatic rocks. Primary gold occurrences are distinguished in shear zones with hydrothermal alterations or in contact-metasomatic rocks near magmatic intrusions.

Badakhshan↗
USGS1984

Investigations and research in Nevada by the Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, 1982

The Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, is charged with (1) maintaining a hydrologic network in Nevada that provides information on the status of the State 's water resources and (2) engaging in technical water-resources investigations that have a high degree of transferability. To meet these broad objectives, 26 projects were active during fiscal year 1982, in cooperation with 36 Federal, State, and local agencies. Total funds were $3,319,455, of which State and local cooperative funding amounted to $741,500 and Federal funding (comprised of Geological Survey Federal and cooperative program plus funds from six other Federal agencies) amounted to $2,577,955 for the fiscal year. Projects other than continuing programs for collection of hydrologic data included the following topics of study: geothermal resources, areal ground-water resources and ground-water modeling, waste disposal , paleohydrology, acid mine drainage, the unsaturated zone, stream and reservoir sedimentation, river-quality modeling, flood hazards, and remote sensing in hydrology. In total, 26 reports and symposium abstracts were published or in press during fiscal year 1982. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1987

Surface water-quality characteristics in the upper North Fork Gunnison River basin, Colorado

Analyses of water quality data collected during 1982 and 1983 in the upper North Fork Gunnison River basin indicate that dissolved-solids concentrations are relatively small, with a mean value near 97 milligrams per liter. Most major dissolved constituents also had small measured concentrations throughout the study area. Trace-element concentrations generally were small; however, total-iron concentration generally was large in the area with a mean concentration of about 8,250 micrograms per liter. The cause of this larger iron concentration probably is related to the local geology. Paonia Reservoir, located on Muddy Creek, greatly reduced suspended-sediment and trace-element concentrations. The reservoir had only a slight effect on major dissolved-constituent concentrations. Analyses of alkalinity, sulfate, and dissolved-solids concentrations indicated that little, if any, changes in water quality occur as a result of coal mining; however, more data are needed to make more definite conclusions. Sulfate concentrations increased slightly downstream through the mined area; however, with the small concentrations measured and limited quantity of data, the source of the increased sulfate could not be determined. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1975

Ore grade, metal production, and energy

Recent resource estimates have been stimulated by national concern over present and pending shortages of energy and mineral resources. Although some believe that the resource base of a commodity is the total amount in the crust, the energy consumption for mining and milling under present technology suggests that grades of the metallic ores have a lower limit when production is assumed to be for common usages. The tonnage required to mine and mill ores to obtain one unit of metal is a hyperbolic function of the grade, and as the tonnage increases hyperbolically, so does the energy consumed. For copper, the hyperbolic relation suggests that deposits with grades below about 0.20-0.25 percent Cu will not be mined to produce metal for common electrical and construction uses. Although the energy used to mine and mill a unit of metal differs from one metal to another, all show the hyperbolic increase in energy consumption as grade decreases.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1958

Bedrock geology of the southwestern part of the North Range, Cuyuna district, Minnesota

The Cuyuna manganiferous iron-ore district is in central Minnesota in Morrison, Crow Wing, and Aitkin Counties. The length of the district is about 68 miles, extending northeastward from a point near Randall, in Morrison County, to a point 11 miles east of the community of Hassmann in Aitkin County; the maximum known width is about 25 miles near the center of the district. Current mining activity is confined to a much smaller area, commonly called the North range, about 10 miles long and 3 miles wide near Crosby and Ironton in Crow Wing County. The average annual production of iron ore and manganiferous iron ore during 1940-50 was slightly less than 3 million tons.

Minnesota↗
USGS2003

Questa baseline and pre-mining ground-water quality investigation. 2. Low-flow (2001) and snowmelt (2002) synoptic/tracer water chemistry for the Red River, New Mexico

Water analyses are reported for 259 samples collected from the Red River, New Mexico, and its tributaries during low-flow(2001) and spring snowmelt (2002) tracer studies. Water samples were collected along a 20-kilometer reach of the Red River beginning just east of the town of Red River and ending at the U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station located east of Questa, New Mexico. The study area was divided into three sections where separate injections and synoptic sampling events were performed during the low-flow tracer study. During the spring snowmelt tracer study, three tracer injections and synoptic sampling events were performed bracketing the areas with the greatest metal loading into the Red River as determined from the low-flow tracer study. The lowflow tracer synoptic sampling events were August 17, 20, and 24, 2001. The synoptic sampling events for the spring snowmelt tracer were March 30, 31, and April 1, 2002. Stream and large inflow water samples were sampled using equal-width and depth-integrated sampling methods and composited into half-gallon bottles. Grab water samples were collected from smaller inflows. Stream temperatures were measured at the time of sample collection. Samples were transported to a nearby central processing location where pH and specific conductance were measured and the samples processed for chemical analyses. Cations, trace metals, iron redox species, and fluoride were analyzed at the U.S. Geological Survey laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Cations and trace metal concentrations were determined using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Arsenic concentrations were determined using hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry, iron redox species were measured using ultraviolet-visible spectrometry, and fluoride concentrations were determined using an ion-selective electrode. Alkalinity was measured by automated titration, and sulfate, chloride, and bromide were analyzed by ion chromatography at the U.S. Geological Survey laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah.

New Mexico↗
USGS2004

A geologic framework for mineralization in the western Brooks Range

The Brooks Range is a 950-km-long north-vergent fold and thrust belt, which was formed during Mesozoic convergence of the continental Arctic Alaska terrane and the oceanic Angayucham terrane and was further shortened and uplifted in Tertiary time. The Arctic Alaska terrane consists of parautochthonous rocks and the Endicott Mountains and De Long Mountains subterranes. The Endicott Mountains allochthon of the western Brooks Range is the setting for many sulfide and barite occurrences, such as the supergiant Red Dog zinc-lead mine. Mineralization is sediment hosted and most commonly is present in black shale and carbonate turbidites of the Mississippian Kuna Formation. The reconstructed Kuna basin is a 200 by +600 km feature that represents the culmination of a remarkable chain of events that includes three fluvial-deltaic and two or more orogenic cycles, Middle Devonian to Mississippian episodes of extension and igneous activity, and the emergence of a seaward Lower Proterozoic landmass that may have constituted a barrier to marine circulation. Mississippian extension and related horst-and-graben architecture in the western Brooks Range is manifested in part by strong facies variability between coeval units of allochthons and structural plates. Shallow marine to possibly nonmarine arkose, platform to shelf carbonate, slope-to-basin shale, chert and carbonate turbidites, and submarine volcanic rocks are all represented in Mississippian time. The structural setting of Mississippian sedimentation, volcanism, and mineralization in the Kuna basin may be comparable to documented Devono-Mississippian extensional sags or half-grabens in the subsurface north of the Brooks Range. Climate, terrestrial ecosystems, multiple fluvial-deltaic aquifers, and structural architecture affected the liberation, movement, and redeposition of metals in ways that are incompletely understood.

Alaska↗
USGS2017

Rare-earth elements

The rare-earth elements (REEs) are 15 elements that range in atomic number from 57 (lanthanum) to 71 (lutetium); they are commonly referred to as the “lanthanides.” Yttrium (atomic number 39) is also commonly regarded as an REE because it shares chemical and physical similarities and has affinities with the lanthanides. Although REEs are not rare in terms of average crustal abundance, the concentrated deposits of REEs are limited in number. Because of their unusual physical and chemical properties, the REEs have diverse defense, energy, industrial, and military technology applications. The glass industry is the leading consumer of REE raw materials, which are used for glass polishing and as additives that provide color and special optical properties to the glass. Lanthanum-based catalysts are used in petroleum refining, and cerium-based catalysts are used in automotive catalytic converters. The use of REEs in magnets is a rapidly increasing application. Neodymium-iron-boron magnets, which are the strongest known type of magnets, are used when space and weight are restrictions. Nickel-metal hydride batteries use anodes made of a lanthanum-based alloys. China, which has led the world production of REEs for decades, accounted for more than 90 percent of global production and supply, on average, during the past decade. Citing a need to retain its limited REE resources to meet domestic requirements as well as concerns about the environmental effects of mining, China began placing restrictions on the supply of REEs in 2010 through the imposition of quotas, licenses, and taxes. As a result, the global rare-earth industry has increased its stockpiling of REEs; explored for deposits outside of China; and promoted new efforts to conserve, recycle, and substitute for REEs. New mine production began at Mount Weld in Western Australia, and numerous other exploration and development projects noted in this chapter are ongoing throughout the world. The REE-bearing minerals are diverse and often complex in composition. At least 245 individual REE-bearing minerals are recognized; they are mainly carbonates, fluorocarbonates, and hydroxylcarbonates (n = 42); oxides (n = 59); silicates (n = 85); and phosphates (n = 26). Many of the world’s significant REE deposits occur in carbonatites, which are carbonate igneous rocks. The REEs also have a strong genetic association with alkaline magmatism. The systematic geologic and chemical processes that explain these observations are not well understood. Economic or potentially economic REE deposits have been found in (a) carbonatites, (b) peralkaline igneous systems, (c) magmatic magnetite-hematite bodies, (d) iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits, (e) xenotime-monazite accumulations in mafic gneiss, (f) ion-absorption clay deposits, and (g) monazite-xenotime-bearing placer deposits. Carbonatites have been the world’s main source for the light REEs since the 1960s. Ion-adsorption clay deposits in southern China are the world’s primary source of the heavy REEs. Monazite-bearing placer deposits were important sources of REEs before the mid-1960s and may be again in the future. In recent years, REEs have been produced from large carbonatite bodies mined at the Mountain Pass deposit in California and, in China, at the Bayan Obo deposit in Nei Mongol Autonomous Region, the Maoniuping deposit in Sichuan Province, the Daluxiang deposit in Sichuan Province, and the Weishan deposit in Anhui Province. Alkaline igneous complexes have recently been targeted for exploration because of their enrichments in the heavy REEs. Information relevant to the environmental aspects of REE mining is limited. Little is known about the aquatic toxicity of REEs. The United States lacks drinking water standards for REEs. The concentrations of REEs in environmental media are influenced by their low abundances in crustal rocks and their limited solubility in most groundwaters and surface waters. The scarcity of sulfide minerals, including pyrite, minimizes or eliminates concerns about acid-mine drainage for carbonatite-hosted deposits and alkaline-intrusion-related REE deposits. For now, insights into environmental responses of REE mine wastes must rely on predictive models.

Professional Paper↗
USGS1997

Trace-element concentrations and transport in the Coeur d'Alene river, Idaho, water years 1993-94

for almost a century, the U.S. Geological Survey has collected hydrologic data at a network of stream-gaging stations throughout the Coeur d'Alene Lake and River drainage basin. Since 1990, extensive water-quality data have been collected for a comprehensive study of potential eutrophication of Coeur d'Alene Lake and for assessment of the environmental effects of past mining and ore-processing activities in the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River valley. Although the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River provided only about 20 percent of the Coeur d'Alene River's annual discharge to Coeur d'Alene Lake, it contributed as much as 84 percent of the annual cadmium and 83 percent of the annual zinc loads entering the Lake. The South Fork contributed at most 14 percent of the annual lead and 21 percent of the copper loads carried by the Coeur d'Alene River to Coeur d'Alene Lake. Cadmium, copper, and zinc loads more than doubled between the upstream and downstream boundaries of the Bunker Hill (Kellogg, Idaho) Superfund site in water years 1993 and 1994; lead load increased 24 percent and 33 percent, respectively, in water years 1993 and 1994. Zinc was transported primarily in a dissolved or colloidal phase, the major source being the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River valley, downstream from the Elizabeth Park gaging station. Lead was transported primarily as particulate material, the major source being sediments eroded from the main-stem Coeur d'Alene River channel and flood plain. Annual lead and zinc loads at Rose Lake were significantly larger than at Harrison or Cataldo, indicating entrainment of trace elements in the reach between Cataldo and Rose Lake, and subsequent deposition or loss in the reach between Rose Lake and Harrison.

Idaho↗
USGS1958

Geology and ore deposits of the Monument Valley area, Apache and Navajo counties, Arizona: Part II

In 1951 and 1952, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a program of uranium investigations and geologic mapping in the Monument Valley area, Apache and Navajo Counties, Ariz. About 700 square miles were mapped on the Navajo Indian Reservation. A resource appraisal of the area was an inherent part of the program, and is detailed in this report. Production of vanadium and uranium is from two areas, the Monument No. 1 mine area in Navajo County, and the Monument No. 2 mine area in Apache County. In the period 1942-53 about 200,300 tons of ore was produced from these two areas. This ore yielded about 1,700,000 pounds of U 3 O 8 and about 6,500,000 pounds of V 2 O 5 . The grade ranged from 0.15 percent U 3 O 8 to 0.60 percent U 3 O 8 , and from 0.38 percent V 2 O 5 to 3.02 percent V 2 O 5 . The vanadium-uranium ratio is about 4:1. The ore deposits are composed principally of the hydrous calcium-uranium vanadate tyuyamunite in basal channel sediments of the Shinarump member off the Chinle formation. Four types of ore bodies are present: (1) rods, (2) tabular ore bodies, (3) corvusite-type ore bodies, and (4) rolls. The reserves of uranium- and vanadium-bearing material are classed as measured, indicated, inferred, and potential. The reserves are further divided into three grade classes for material 1 foot or more thick: (1) 0.10 percent U 3 O 8 and 1.00 percent V 2 O 5 and above; (2) 0.05 percent U 3 O 8 and 0.50 percent V 2 O 5 and less than 0.10 percent U 3 O 8 and 1.00 percent V 2 O 5 ; and (3) 0.01 percent U 3 O 8 and 0.10 percent V 2 O 5 and less than 0.05 percent U 3 O 8 and 0.05 percent V 2 O 5 . Measured reserves as of June 1953, in the Monument Valley area, Arizona, (all in the Monument No. 2 mine) total about 36,000 tons. Indicated reserves in the first grade class amount to about 62,000 tons. In this same grade class inferred reserves total about 3,000,000 tons. In the second grade class indicated and inferred reserves amount to about 2,000,000 tons. Inferred reserves in the third grade class total about 345,000 tons of mineralized material. Potential reserves in all grade classes for the Monument Valley area amount to about 13,000,000 tons. It is recommended that an extensive exploration program be carried out in the Monument Valley area, Arizona. This program would consist of two phases. The first phase would involve a geophysical survey of selected channels and would have at its principal objective the delineation of the trend, length, width, and depth of scour of the channels. The second phase would consist of a diamond-drilling program that would make use of the data secured by the geophysical survey. This drilling program would have as one of its principal objectives the determination of which channels are most likely to contain ore bodies. Once the favorable channels are discovered, the drilling program could be carried on most suitably by private operators.

Arizona↗