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Mather B. Mine

Negaunee, Michigan

46.6243°N 87.6296°W

Mine Overview

The Mather B. Mine is in Negaunee, Michigan. Historically the site has been part of the Marquette Iron Mining District. The site was first discovered in 1844. The Mather B. Mine was closed at the time of data entry with no known plans to re-open. Mine operations consist of 2 distinct underground workings. There are a total of 2 shafts. Subsurface depth reaches a maximum of 1,067 meters (3,500 feet) and extends 7,380 meters (24,213 feet) in length. The mining method is block caving. Mine capacity in 1975 was 7336 mt ore/day with a production unit cost of 8.57 $/mt ore. The ore mined is composed of hematite and goethite. The ore is stratabound of unknown dimensions. The host rock in this area is iron formation from the Paleoproterozoic era 2.50 to 1.60 billion years ago. The Superior Upland of the Canadian Shield characterize the geomorphology of the surrounding area.

Site identification and general characteristics. Learn about USGS mines.

  • Iron Primary Commodity
  • Site Record Type?
  • Mine Development Status?
  • Chemical Bedded Mine Type?
  • Underground Operation Type?
  • 1844 Year Discovered?
  • mather produced iron ore from 1941 to 1979. it was the last underground iron mine in michigan. iron ore shipments from stockpiles continued at least to 1983. crude red hematite iron oxide-pigment shipment from stockpiles continued to at least 1992 Last Year of Production
  • 1880 First Year Of Production?
  • 1979 Last Year Of Production?
  • Metallic Site Commodity Type?
Mather B. Mine In Negaunee, Michigan

Mather B. Mine In Negaunee, Michigan

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Mine Names

Notes

INCLUDES DATA FROM AMES MINE; ALSO MATHER MINE IS REFERRED TO AS MINE A OR MINE B.

  1. Name? Status?
  2. Mather B. Mine Current
  3. Mather Mine Current
  4. Pioneer Pellet Plant Previous
  5. Ore Improvement Plant Previous

Owner Name and Address

Bethlehem Steel Corporation

8th Avenue Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18016
Type
Owner
Stake
Significant

Cleveland Cliffs Mining Company

Ohio
Type
Owner-Operator
Stake
Significant

Mclouth Steel Corporation

Michigan
Stake
Significant

Negaunee Mine Company

Type
Owner

Sharon Steel Corporation

Miami, Pennsylvania
Type
Owner
Stake
Minor

Commodities

Additional textual information about a site or mine.

  1. Commodity Type Importance
  2. Iron Metallic Primary

Notes

THIS IS THE ONLY MINE IN THE MARQUETTE DISTRICT STILL MINING SOFT ORE. (SEE TRACY MINE = W001393).

Deposit

ARCHEAN ROCKS OVERLAIN BY MARQUETTE RANGE SUPERGROUP ROCKS. ARCHEAN CRYSTALLINE ROCKS BLOCK FAULTED AND DIFFERENTIALLY RAISED LOWERED; FORMING TROUGHS. MARQUETTE RANGE SUPERGROUP ROCKS AS SEMI-CONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS SLUMPED INTO THE TROUGHS. AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME ENTIRE AREA WAS REGIONALLY THERMAL METAMORPHOSED CREATING METAMORPHIC FACIES OR NODES. THE MARQUETTE DISTRICT WAS AFFECTED BY THE REPUBLIC NODE (WHICH ZONES FROM CHLORITE TO SILLIMANITE EXCLUSIVE OF KYANITE ONLY. MATHER MINE IS LOCATED IN THE CHLORITE ZONE (JAMES H. L. 1955 P. 1455-1488).

ORIGINAL EVALUATION BY MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, AD AND CORRECTIONS BY EFOC, SCHMIDT, 1976 REC 101 PAST PRODUCTION HAS AVERAGED 60. 1%IRON, BUT CURRENT I REC 111 BASED ON CURRENT PRODUCTION CONTINUED THROUGH 1983 REC 050 COL 22 FIRST MATHER B PRODUCTION IN 1951 REC 120 COL 58 BASED ON 2, 032, 000 MT PER YEAR, 277 DAYS PER REC 120 COL 69 15 MILLION CAPITAL COST IN 1963 UPDATED TO 19 BLS INDEX (REC 700) REC 150 FOR ORE IMPROVEMENT PLANT. CAPITAL COST INCLUDED WIT PIONEER PELLET PLANT REC 151 FOR PIONEER PELLET PLANT. CAPITAL COST DERIVED FROM SHIPPED CONVERTED TO ORENNAGES FROM REC 700 REC 160-166 PIONER IS PIONEER PELLET PLANT AND ORE IMPROVEME PLANT, TRENT IS TRENTON, L. E. P. IS LAKE ERIE PORT, BUFF IS B S CHI IS SOUTH CHICAGO, CLEVE IS CLEVELAND, SFL. ML IS UNSPEC STEEL MILL.

Location Info

  1. Continent Country State County
  2. North America The United States Michigan Marquette

Notes

PREVIOUS QUAD DESIGNATION = ESCANABA 1:250000. LAT/LON IS FOR SHAFT AT MATHER B (ISHPEMING ). MATHER A SHAFT IS LOCATED IN NEGAUNEE, POINT LOCATED AT THE CENTER OF THE PROPERTY INCLUDING NEARLY THE ENTIRETY OF SECTIONS 1 AND 2 T47N R27W. LOCATION_ INCLUDES FORMER MINES: CLEVELAND HEMATITE. EAST NEW YORK (1888-1905 ). IRON CENTRE. AMES (1893-94).

Meridian / Township / Range Description

  1. Meridian? Township? Section? Aliquot?
  2. Michigan Meridian T.47N R.27W Sec. 1 -
  3. Michigan Meridian T.50N R.27W Sec. 12 -

Land Status

Land status information.

  1. Land Status? Admin Area?
  2. Private -

Mining Districts

Formal or informal mining district names.

  1. District
  2. Marquette Iron Mining District

Development

THE AMES MINE WAS CONSOLIDATED IN 1943 INTO THE MATHER MINE OPERATION. CLEVELAND CLIFFS OPERATED (1888-1905, 1943-1974 ); MATHER MINE REACHED THE END OF ITS ECONOMIC LIFE IN 1979.

Workings

Workings at the site.

Underground Workings #1

  • Type: Underground
  • Sub Surface Length: 7380 Meters
  • Sub Surface Depth: 1008 Meters
  • Mining Method: Block Caving
  • Status of Mining Method: Estimate
  • Capacity: 7336 mt ore/day
  • Production Unit Cost: 8.57 $/mt ore
  • Operating Days Per Year: 277
  • Operating Shifts Per Day: 3
  • Year of Information: 1975
  • Swell Factor: 0.6
  • Rock Chars: Multiple Systems Of Weakness Planes
  • Rock Support Chars: Unsupporting No Slough
  • Mine Support Chars: Open Steel Sets
  • Number of Shafts: 2
  • Condition 1: Open

Underground Workings #2

  • Type: Underground
  • Sub Surface Depth: 1066.8 Meters

Workings

3500 FEET DEEP; INSPECTOR NOTED FENCING AROUND SUBSIDENCE AREA IN 1966, 1967, 1970.

Geology

BASAL NEGAUNEE IRON-FORMATION

Materials

Minerals or other materials present in the mine.

  1. Role? Material?
  2. Ore Goethite
  3. Ore Hematite
  4. Unknown Chert
  5. Unknown Chlorite
  6. Unknown Martite
  7. Unknown Mica

Orebody

Characteristics of the ore body.

  • Area: 24.00 hectares (59.31 acres)
  • Length:
  • Width: 1,500.00 meters (4,921.26 feet)
  • Top Depth: 300.00 meters (984.25 feet)
  • Thickness: 1,000.00 meters (3,280.84 feet)
  • Strike: east 00 west
  • Dip: 30 south
  • Wallrock Alteration: none
  • Ore Control: faulting, bedding
  • Unconsolidated Material Thickness: 300 meters average
  • Ore Record Modified: 1982-07-08

Rocks

Geological materials at the site.

  1. Class? 1st Order Name? 2nd Order Name? 3rd Order Name? 4th Order Name? Most Specific Name? Begin Time End Time Description?
  2. Host Rock Negaunee Iron-Formation Sedimentary Rock Chemical Sediment Iron Formation Iron Formation Paleoproterozoic Paleoproterozoic -

Structure

Geologic structural features affecting or characterizing the site or mine.

  1. Scale Description
  2. Regional Marquette Syncline; Regional Trends: East-West

Tectonic

Tectonic setting in which the site or deposit is situated.

  1. Setting?
  2. Canadian Shield

Physiography

Physiographic area where the resource is found.

  1. Division Province? Section
  2. Canadian Shield Laurentian Upland Superior Upland

Holdings

Mineral rights ownership information.

  1. Type?
  2. Fee Ownership; Private Lease

Model

Mineral deposit model of the site.

  1. Name? USGS Model Code? BC Model Code? Mark 3 model code?
  2. SUPERIOR IRON (BC MODEL NAME IS LAKE SUPERIOR & RAPITAN TYPES IRON-FORMATION) 34A F10 -

Production

Production information

  1. Production Year? Amount Mined? Material? Comment
  2. 1888-1979 60035080 metric tons Iron Ore -
  3. 1894 6399 metric tons Iron Ore -
  4. 1973 6768 metric tons Iron Ore -
  5. 1975 1727 metric tons Iron Ore -
  6. 1976 1727 metric tons Iron Ore -

Notes

ALL PRODUCTION GIVEN BY DISTRICT-SEE MARQUETTE IRON DISTRICT (RANGE) IN AT LEAST 1987 AND 1992, IRON OXIDE-PIGMENT SHIPMENTS WERE MADE FROM A STOCKPILE AT MATHER MINE.

PRODUCTION IS ONGOING

Nearby Deposits

Other deposits in the same region.

  1. Unnamed Copper Prospect

    • Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • 0.84 miles
    Read More

  2. Unnamed Copper Prospect

    • Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • 1.01 miles
    Read More

  3. Gordon Gold Exploration Gold Occurrence

    • Gold commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • Underground
    • 1.19 miles
    Read More

  4. Coon Gold Exploration Gold Occurrence

    • Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • Underground
    • 1.53 miles
    Read More

  5. Unnamed Gold Prospect

    • Gold commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • 1.77 miles
    Read More

  6. Unnamed Lead And Zinc Prospect

    • Lead commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • 1.84 miles
    Read More

  7. Ruppe Gold Prospect

    • Gold commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • 1.88 miles
    Read More

  8. Crescent Gold Exploration Gold Occurrence

    • Gold commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • 1.98 miles
    Read More

  9. Fire Center Prospect

    • Gold commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • Veins
    • 2.17 miles
    Read More

  10. Unnamed Zinc Prospect

    • Zinc commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Marquette, Michigan
    • 2.42 miles
    Read More

Nearby Places

Nearby Mining Districts

Footnotes

* Mine bounds on map indicate the general area that a mine occupies. For an detailed map, refer to the overseeing BLM field office.

** The mine central point is based on an average of the mine's bounding box(es) and does not necessarily fall on the claim itself.

1 World-class significance is determined by total endowment of the contained commodity. This includes all past production and remaining reserves. Each commodity is considered separately and commodities cannot be combined to arrive at a significant size. The tonnage thresholds are from the mine model grade-tonnage studies. As of June 2008, many entries were classified as significant under less strict rules.

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