Amethyst Gold Mine

Creede, Colorado

37.8850°N 106.9364°W

Mine Overview

The Amethyst Gold Mine is near Creede, Colorado. Historically the site has been associated with the Creed Mining District which is now part of the Rio Grande National Forest. The site was first discovered in 1891 by N. C. Creede, D. H. Moffatt, L. E. Campbell. The Amethyst Gold Mine is a underground mining operation. Initial production took place in 1891 and overall output was considered to be small size. The ore mined is composed of sphalerite, silver and tetrahedrite with waste material consisting primarily of quartz, amethyst and limonite. The ore body extends 3 meters (12 feet) in width. Associated rock in this area is rhyolite from the Oligocene epoch 33.90 to 23.03 million years ago. The Southern Rocky Mountains physiographic province of the Rocky Mountain System characterize the geomorphology of the surrounding area.

Site identification and general characteristics. Learn about USGS mines.

Gold, Lead, and Silver Primary Commodity
Cadmium and Copper Secondary Commodity
Antimony and Arsenic Secondary Commodity
Site Record Type^?
Mine Development Status^?
Underground Operation Type^?
1891 Year Discovered^?
Ore Mineral In Place Discovery Method^?
N C Creede D H Moffatt L E Campbell Discovered By^?
1891 to 1976 Last Year of Production
1891 First Year Of Production^?
1976 Last Year Of Production^?
Small Production Size^?
Metallic Site Commodity Type^?

Amethyst Gold Mine Near Creede, Colorado

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Mine Names

Name^? Status^?
Amethyst Current
Amethyst Mine Current

Owner Name and Address

Harrison-Western Corporation

Type: Operator

Minerals Engineering Company (Meco)

Grand Junction, Colorado

Type: Owner

Thomas Bowen

Commodities

Additional textual information about a site or mine.

Commodity Type Importance
Gold Metallic Primary
Lead Metallic Primary
Silver Metallic Primary
Zinc Metallic Primary
Cadmium Metallic Secondary
Copper Metallic Secondary
Antimony Metallic Tertiary
Arsenic Metallic Tertiary

Deposit

PRINCIPAL LODE IS AMETHYST VEIN (ATTITUDE ABOVE ). STRONGLY ZONED MINERALIZATION AND ALTERATION CONSIST OF 1) DEEP BASE-METAL SULFIDES AND TETRAHEDRITE-TENNANTITE IN CHLORITE GANGUE WITH LITTLE WALLROCK ALTERATION, 2) MORE ECONOMICAL CENTRAL ZONE WITH VEIN SULFIDES AND ACANTHITE IN QUARTZ-CLAY GANGUE AND DISSEMINATED ORE IN CLOSELY SPACED MICROVEINLETS AND INTERGRANULAR PORE FILLING, VARIABLY ALTERED BY IRON-MN OXIDES, 3) UPPER BROAD, IRREGULAR ZONE OF DISSEMINATED MINERALIZATION LOCALIZED IN ERRATIC PODS OF LOW-GRADE ORE (BASE-METAL SULFIDES, ARGENTIFEROUS COPPER AND LEAD SULFIDES, ANGLESITE, ACANTHITE, GREENOCKITE) IN QUARTZ GANGUE, WITH STRONG ILLITIC-SMECTITIC ALTERATION. PRODUCTIVE HANGING-WALL ANTITHETIC FRACTURES (MAINLY OH, WINCHESTER) BRANCH UPWARD FROM AMETHYST FAULT BUT STRIKE MORE WESTERLY, DIP MORE STEEPLY (SW TO VERTICAL TO NE) AND DIE OUT UPWARD INTO MORE ALTERED ROCK. DENSEST AND MOST INTENSE FRACTURING DEVELOPED INSIDE MAJOR WESTWARD BENDS IN AMETHYST FAULT.

Location Info

Mineral , Colorado County / State

Continent Country State County
North America The United States Colorado Mineral

Notes

S-T-R, LAT-LONG, AND ELEV DETERMINED FROM EMMONS AND LARSEN'S (1923) TOPO MAP (1:24, 000 ). MINE OR CLAIM LIES ABOVE W. WILLOW CREEK NORTH OF BACHELOR MOUNTAIN; INFO FROM LAND. ST : (1976).

Meridian / Township / Range Description

Meridian^? Township^? Section^? Aliquot^?
New Mexico Meridian T.42N R.1W Sec. 13 NE
New Mexico Meridian T.42N R.1W Sec. 13 SW

Land Status

Land status information.

Land Status^? Admin Area^?
Private -

Mining Districts

Formal or informal mining district names.

District
Creed Mining District

Development

AMETHYST WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MINES TO PRODUCE IN CREEDE DISTRICT AND EVENTUALLY BECAME ONE OF THE LARGEST, LONGEST OPERATING, AND RICHEST MINES IN DISTRICT. AS SHAFTS WERE SUNKER DEEPER ON AMETHYST VEIN, MUCH WATER ENCOUNTERED. IN EARLY 1890S, NELSON TUNNEL CO. ORGANIZED AND BEGAN DRIVING TUNNEL NORTHWARD ALONG VEIN TO PROVIDE DRAINAGE, TO INTERSECT OTHER VEINS AT DEPTH, AND ULTIMATELY TO PROVIDE ORE HAULAGE ROUTE. IN 1942 AMETHYST CONSOLIDATED WITH COMMODORE AND OTHER WORKINGS INTO EMPERIUS MINE.

Workings

AMETHYST SHAFT 1283 FEET LONG ON INCLINE, FOLLOWS AMETHYST VEIN BUT IS INCLINED 3 OR 4 DEG SOUTH OF VEIN DIP. 12 LEVELS TURNED AT 100-TO 200-FEET INTERVALS ON INCLINE. LEVEL 13 IS NELSON-WOOSTER-HUMPHREYS TUNNEL. AN 870-FEET TUNNEL WAS DRIVEN N83W TO CONNECT WITH LEVEL 5 ABOUT 350 FEET (VERT.) BELOW SHAFT COLLAR. TOTAL EXTENT OF ALL LEVELS, DRIFTS, AND CROSSCUTS UNKNOWN BUT LIKELY EXCEEDS 2. 5 MILES. PARTIAL MEASUREMENT OF MAPPED WORKINGS ON AMETHYST 5 LEVEL INCLUDES 870-FEET PORTAL TUNNEL, 3300 FEET DRIFT ON AMETHYST VEIN, 6300 FEET DRIFT ON OH VEIN, 1350 FEET DRIFT ON WINCHESTER VEIN, 4900 FEET OTHER DRIFTS, 8200 FEET CROSSCUTS.

Concentration Process

Processes that concentrated or enriched the mineralization of the mine.

Concentration Process
Pressure From Stock Beneath Bachelor Caldera Reactivated Keystone Graben And Started A North-To-South-Flowing, Freely Convecting Hydrothermal System Of Sulfate-Rich Solutions That Deposited Ore And Gangue Near Top Of Convecting Cell By Hypogene Enrichment Process. Boiling, With Loss Of Acid Constituents, And Resulting Rise In Ph Caused Precipitation Of Ores And Formation Of Intensely Altered Sericitic Cap Above Ore. Cap Is Actually Coalescence Of Alteration Fans Spreading Upward And Outward Thru Fractured And Porous Rock In Main Fault Zones And Along Parallel And Antithetic Fractures In Hanging Wall.

Materials

Minerals or other materials present in the mine.

Role^? Material^?
Gangue/Waste Amethyst
Gangue/Waste Barite
Gangue/Waste Chlorite
Gangue/Waste Goslarite
Gangue/Waste Jarosite
Gangue/Waste Limonite
Gangue/Waste Quartz
Gangue/Waste Wad
Ore Anglesite
Ore Cerargyrite
Ore Chalcocite
Ore Chalcopyrite
Ore Gold
Ore Greenockite
Ore Pyrite
Ore Silver
Ore Sphalerite
Ore Tennantite
Ore Tetrahedrite

Orebody

Characteristics of the ore body.

Width: 3.66 meters (12.01 feet)
Strike: north 15 to 30 west
Dip: ave. 55 southwest

Rocks

Geological materials at the site.

Class^? 1st Order Name^? 2nd Order Name^? 3rd Order Name^? 4th Order Name^? Most Specific Name^? Begin Time End Time Description^?
Associated Rock Campbell Mountain Member Of Bachelor Mountain Rhyolite; Willow Creek Member Of Bachelor Mountain Rhyolite Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) Felsic Volcanic Rock Rhyolite Rhyolite Oligocene Oligocene -
Host Rock Campbell Mountain Member Of Bachelor Mountain Rhyolite; Willow Creek Member Of Bachelor Mountain Rhyolite Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) Felsic Volcanic Rock Rhyolite Rhyolite - - -
Mineralization - - - - - Miocene Miocene -

Structure

Geologic structural features affecting or characterizing the site or mine.

Scale Description
Local Amethyst Fault Zone; Creede Graben
Regional La Garita, Creede, And Bachelor Calderas; San Juan Volcanic Field

Tectonic

Tectonic setting in which the site or deposit is situated.

Setting^?
Central Cordillera (Southern Rocky Mountains)

Physiography

Physiographic area where the resource is found.

Division Province^? Section
Rocky Mountain System Southern Rocky Mountains -

Alteration

Mineralogical and chemical alteration at or near the site, which may help to indicate the geographic extent of the geological processes producing the mine.

Type^? Alterations
Local Chloritization, Silicification, Argillization; Iron-Manganese Oxides

Analytical Data

Results of chemical or mineralogical analysis on materials at or near the site

Line^? Analysis Data^?
1 OXIDIZED ORE FROM LEVEL 4 CARRIED 50 TO 100 OUNCE PER TON SILVER AND SMALL % OF LEAD, LITTLE GOLD ON LOWER LEVELS (BELOW 6) ORE CARRIED 5 TO 10% LEAD, 8 TO 10 OUNCE PER TON SILVER, $1 TO $2/TON GOLD BASED ON ORE PRODUCTION RECORDS FOR 1919-1944, ORES RAN 0.026 TO 0.08 OUNCE PER TON GOLD, 15 TO 148 OUNCE PER TON SILVER, 0.9 TO 3.3% LEAD, LESS THAN 0.01% ZINC AND COPPER

Ore Control

Controls on emplacement of ore such as faults or other structural features.

Text^?
Amethyst Fault, Ancestral Amethyst Fault, Subparallel And Antithetic Fractures In Hanging Wall

Production

Production information

Production Year^? Amount Mined^? Material^? Comment
1937 2 wt-pct Lead 0.026 ounces per ton gold, 15.7 ounces per ton silver, 1.5% lead, 0.5% zinc; 18 ounces per ton silver, 1.7% lead
1937 443 grams/metric ton Silver 0.026 ounces per ton gold, 15.7 ounces per ton silver, 1.5% lead, 0.5% zinc; 18 ounces per ton silver, 1.7% lead
1937 508 grams/metric ton Silver 0.026 ounces per ton gold, 15.7 ounces per ton silver, 1.5% lead, 0.5% zinc; 18 ounces per ton silver, 1.7% lead
1938 6 wt-pct Lead 0.092 ounces per ton gold, 15.4 ounces per ton silver, 5.9% lead, 0.008% zinc, 0.001% copper
1938 435 grams/metric ton Silver 0.092 ounces per ton gold, 15.4 ounces per ton silver, 5.9% lead, 0.008% zinc, 0.001% copper

Notes

PARTIAL PRODUCTION HISTORY OF AMETHYST MINE. AMTS. OF METALS FOR 1919, 1920, 1928, 1937, 1938, AND 1944 CALCULATED FROM REPORTED ORE GRADES. IN 1942, AMETHYST PRODUCTION CONSOLIDATED WITH OTHER WORKINGS AND REPORTED AS EMPERIUS MINE.

Nearby Deposits

Other deposits in the same region.

Nearby Places

Creede (2.52 miles away)
Cathedral (15.47 miles away)

Nearby Mining Districts

Creed Mining District (0 miles away)
Bondholder Mining District (5.20 miles away)

Nearby Lands

Rio Grande National Forest (0 miles away)
La Garita Wilderness (3.45 miles away)
Gunnison National Forest (4.67 miles away)

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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Amethyst Gold Mine

Creede, Colorado

Mine Overview