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  7. Deposit #USGS10012413

Urad Molybdenum Mine

Silver Plume, Colorado

39.7561°N 105.8276°W

Mine Overview

The Urad Molybdenum Mine is near Silver Plume, Colorado. Historically the site has been associated with the Jones Pass-La Plata Mining District which is now part of the White River National Forest. The site was first discovered in 1910. The Urad Molybdenum Mine was closed at the time of data entry with no known plans to re-open. Past operations took place from 1915 to 1974. Production size when active was considered to be small. Mine operations consist of underground workings. There is one known shaft. Subsurface depth reaches a maximum of 503 meters (1,650 feet). The ore mined is composed of molybdenite with waste material consisting primarily of rhodochrosite, sphalerite and sericite. The ore body is pipe-like in shape extending 365 meters (1,200 feet) long, 152 meters (500 feet) wide, and 335 meters (1,100 feet) thick. The host rock in this area is granitoid 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.

  • Molybdenum Primary Commodity
  • Lead, Tungsten, and Uranium Secondary Commodity
  • Site Record Type?
  • Mine Development Status?
  • Climax Molybdenum Mine Type?
  • Underground Operation Type?
  • 1910 Year Discovered?
  • Ore Mineral In Place Discovery Method?
  • 1915 to 1974 Last Year of Production
  • 1915 First Year Of Production?
  • 1974 Last Year Of Production?
  • Small Production Size?
  • Significant Significance?
  • Metallic Site Commodity Type?
  • Medium Mine Size?

Mine Names

  1. Name? Status?
  2. Urad Mine Current

Owner Name and Address

Climax Molybdenum Corporation

Type
Owner-Operator

Commodities

Additional textual information about a site or mine.

  1. Commodity Type Importance
  2. Molybdenum Metallic Primary
  3. Lead Metallic Tertiary
  4. Tungsten Metallic Tertiary
  5. Uranium Metallic Tertiary
  6. Zinc Metallic Tertiary

Notes

ZINC, LEAD, W IN ORE WERE TOO LOW GRADE TO BE ECONOMICALLY RECOVERED. GRAB SAMPLES CONTAINED LOW AMOUNTS OF U3O8, UP TO 0. 037%. (CGS BULL. 40).

Deposit

DIFFERENT ORE GRADE ZONES FROM CUTOFF OF 0. 2% MOS2 TO 0. 4+ % MOS2 DEFINE CYLINDRICAL SHAPE IN PROFILE AND AN ARCUATE PLAN. OREBODY FORMED IN CONE SHEET FRACTURES ON AND AROUND CAP OF MULTIPLE-INTRUSIVE STOCK. LATER IT WAS PARTLY TRUNCATED BY INTRUSION OF YOUNGER RED MOUNTAIN PORPHYRY. MOS2 OCCURS PRIMARILY AS VEINLETS (REPLACEMENT AND OPEN-SPACE FILLING) AND SECONDARILY AS JOINT COATINGS AND LENTICULAR POCKETS.

DISCOVERY YEAR: EARLY 1900S

Location Info

  1. Continent Country State County
  2. North America The United States Colorado Clear Creek

Notes

PORTAL IS AT SOUTHEAST BASE OF RED MOUNTAIN ON WOODS CREEK 1 MILE FROM WEST FORK CLEAR CREEK CONFLUENCE, AND 8 MILES WEST OF EMPIRE, IN SECTION 30, T 3 S, R 75 W. INFO FROM LAND. ST : (1978).

Meridian / Township / Range Description

  1. Meridian? Township? Section? Aliquot?
  2. Sixth Principle Meridian T.3S R.75W Sec. 30 SE

Land Status

Land status information.

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

Mining Districts

Formal or informal mining district names.

  1. District
  2. Jones Pass-La Plata Mining District

Identification

SEE RELATED DEPOSIT HENDERSON DEPOSIT ID 10012410.

Development

SHALLOW CUTS WERE MADE IN OUTCROPPING FERRIMOLYBDENITE IN EARLY 1900S, BUT NO SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT WAS MADE UNTIL 1914. PRIMOS CHEMICAL CO. SHIPPED CONCENTRATES IN 1918-19. PROPERTY PURCHASED IN 1921 BY VANADIUM CORP. OF AMERICA. IN 1941 MINE REOPENED UNDER CONTROL OF MOLYBDENUM CORP. OF AMERICA, WHICH PRODUCED CONCENTRATES FROM 200-TPD MILL FROM 1944-46. IN 1961 AMAX SECURED LEASES, PURCHASED PROPERTY IN 1963, AND BEGAN PRODUCTION IN 1967. OREBODY DEPLETED AND MINE CLOSED IN 1974. MINE WAS SEALED, SURFACE FACILITIES REMOVED, AND TAILINGS POND RECLAIMED.

Workings

Workings at the site.

Underground Workings #1

  • Type: Underground
  • Sub Surface Depth: 502.92 Meters

Workings

MINE DEVELOPED ON 6 LEVELS AT FOLLOWING APPROX. ELEVATIONS: N (11545 ), M (11460 ), L (11350 ), K (11210 ), H (11000 ), A OR PORTAL LEVEL (10280).

Concentration Process

Processes that concentrated or enriched the mineralization of the mine.

  1. Concentration Process
  2. Hydrothermal Solutions Rising Thru Major Fault Zones And Into Hanging Wall Fracture/breccia Zones

Geology

THE URAD AND HENDERSON STOCKWORK MOLYBDENITE OREBODIES AT RED MOUNTAIN ARE TWO SEPARATE BUT RELATED DEPOSITS. THE URAD OREBODY WAS FORMED FIRST AT A SHALLOW DEPTH, THE HENDERSON FORMED DEEPER WITHIN THE IGNEOUS COMPLEX, AND IS THE LARGER. TOGETHER THEY CONSTITUTE ONE OF THE LARGEST CONCENTRATIONS OF MOLYBDENITE IN THE WORLD. THE URAD AND HENDERSON DEPOSITS AT RED MOUNTAIN ARE RELATED TO A OLIGOCENE MULTI-PHASE RHYOLITIC INTRUSIVE CENTER NAMED THE RED MOUNTAIN COMPLEX THAT INTRUDES THE PRECAMBRIAN SILVER PLUME GRANITE BATHOLITH WITHIN A NORTHEAST TRENDING PRECAMBRIAN SHEAR ZONE, NEAR THE WESTERN EDGE OF THE COLORADO MINERAL BELT. THE INTRUSION OF THE RED MOUNTAIN COMPLEX IS CLOSELY RELATED TO THE TWO MAJOR NORTHEAST-TRENDING TERTIARY FAULTS, THE BERTHOUD PASS AND THE VASQUEZ PASS. (WALLACE AND OTHERS, 1978).

THE URAD OREBODY WAS HOSTED IN OLIGOCENE AND PRECAMBRIAN GRANITIC ROCKS ON THE SW SIDE OF RED MOUNTAIN; IT WAS ARCUATE IN PLAN VIEW, WITH A LENGTH OF 1200 FEET, WIDTH OF 500 FEET, AND DEPTH OF 950 FEET

Materials

Minerals or other materials present in the mine.

  1. Role? Material?
  2. Gangue/Waste Ferrimolybdite
  3. Gangue/Waste Fluorite
  4. Gangue/Waste Galena
  5. Gangue/Waste Huebnerite
  6. Gangue/Waste Pyrite
  7. Gangue/Waste Quartz
  8. Gangue/Waste Rhodochrosite
  9. Gangue/Waste Sericite
  10. Gangue/Waste Sphalerite
  11. Ore Molybdenite

Orebody

Characteristics of the ore body.

Notes

THE URAD OREBODY AND URAD MINERALIZED ZONE ARE RELATED TO THE SQUARE QUARTZ PORPHYRY PHASE OF THE RED MOUNTAIN COMPLEX. THE OREBODY OCCURES AS A STOCKWORK LOCALIZED BY A MAIN FISSURE AND RELATED FAULTS AND FRACTURE ZONES AND IS CYLINDRICAL IN SHAPE. THE MINERALIZATION IS HOSTED EQUALLY IN THE SQUARE QUARTZ PORPHYRY, THE TUNGSTEN SLIDE UNIT AND PRECAMBRIAN SILVER PLUME GRANITE. ORE OCCURES AS THIN QUARTZ-MOLYBDENITE VEINS AND VEINLET FORMING A STOCKWORK IN BRECCIATED AND CRACKLED ZONES, IN BRECCIA DIKES AND ON JOINT SURFACES. MOLYBDENITE IS VERY FINE GRAINED AND INTERGROWN WITH VARYING AMOUNTS OF QUARTZ, SERICITE, PYRITE AND FLUORITE. INTRUSION OF THE RED MOUNTAIN PORPHYRY PHASE, THE PRINCIPAL UNIT OF THE RED MOUNTAIN COMPLEX, DESTROYED MUCH OF THE SQUARE QUARTZ PORPHYRY, A LARGE PART OF THE URAD MINERALIZED ZONE AND PART OF THE URAD OREBODY. (WALLACE AND OTHERS, 1978) HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION ZONES INCLUDE: POTASSIUM FELDSPAR, QUARTZ-SERICITE-PYRITE, ARGILLIC AND PROPYLITIC ZONES.

  • Length:
  • Width: 152.40 meters (500.00 feet)
  • Bottom Depth: 335.28 meters (1,100.00 feet)
  • Thickness: 335.28 meters (1,100.00 feet)

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. Associated Rock Red Mountain Complex-Multi-Phase Intrusive Complex Of High Silica, Alkali-Rich Rhyolite, And Granite Porphyry Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) Felsic Volcanic Rock Rhyolite Rhyolite Mesoproterozoic Mesoproterozoic 7 Units-oldest To Youngest : Tungsten Slide; East Knob; Square Quartz Porphyry; Rhyolite Porphyry Of Radial Dike Swarm; Red Mountain Porphyry; Urad Porphyry; Primos Porphyry; Henderson Granite
  3. Host Rock Silver Plume Granite Plutonic Rock Granitoid Granite Granite Oligocene Oligocene -
  4. Host Rock Square Quartz Porphyry Plutonic Rock Granitoid - Granitoid Oligocene Oligocene -
  5. Host Rock Tungsten Slide Unit Plutonic Rock Granitoid - Granitoid Oligocene Oligocene -

Structure

Geologic structural features affecting or characterizing the site or mine.

  1. Scale Description
  2. Local Straight Cr-, Vasquez Cr-, Loveland Pass-Berthoud Pass Fault Zones, Main Fissure
  3. Regional Front Range Uplift, Silver Plume Batholith, Colorado Mineral Belt

Tectonic

Tectonic setting in which the site or deposit is situated.

  1. Setting?
  2. Front Range, Colorado Mineral Belt

Physiography

Physiographic area where the resource is found.

  1. Division Province? Section
  2. 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.

  1. Type? Alterations
  2. Local Silicification, Sericitization, Potassium-Feldspathization

Analytical Data

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

  1. Line? Analysis Data?
  2. 1 AVG. GRADE FOR 1918-19 UNDER PRIMOS CHEMICAL CO. WAS 0.975 % MOS2, AVG. GRADE FOR 1944-46 UNDER MOLYBDENUM CORP. OF AMERICA WAS 0.579 % MOS2. AVG. GRADE FOR 1967-74 UNDER AMAX WAS 0.344 % MOS2. OVERALL AVG. GRADE 0.348 % MOS2. THREE GRAB SAMPLES GAVE VALUES OF 0.002 TO 0.15 % EQUIV. U3O8

Model

Mineral deposit model of the site.

  1. Name? USGS Model Code? BC Model Code? Mark 3 model code?
  2. CLIMAX MOLYBDENUM 16 - -

Ore Control

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

Notes

THE URAD OREBODY AND URAD MINERALIZED ZONE ARE RELATED TO THE SQUARE QUARTZ PORPHYRY PHASE OF THE RED MOUNTAIN COMPLEX. THE OREBODY OCCURES AS A STOCKWORK LOCALIZED BY A MAIN FISSURE AND RELATED FAULTS AND FRACTURE ZONES AND IS CYLINDRICAL IN SHAPE. THE MINERALIZATION IS HOSTED EQUALLY IN THE SQUARE QUARTZ PORPHYRY, THE TUNGSTEN SLIDE UNIT AND PRECAMBRIAN SILVER PLUME GRANITE. ORE OCCURES AS THIN QUARTZ-MOLYBDENITE VEINS AND VEINLET FORMING A STOCKWORK IN BRECCIATED AND CRACKLED ZONES, IN BRECCIA DIKES AND ON JOINT SURFACES. MOLYBDENITE IS VERY FINE GRAINED AND INTERGROWN WITH VARYING AMOUNTS OF QUARTZ, SERICITE, PYRITE AND FLUORITE. INTRUSION OF THE RED MOUNTAIN PORPHYRY PHASE, THE PRINCIPAL UNIT OF THE RED MOUNTAIN COMPLEX, DESTROYED MUCH OF THE SQUARE QUARTZ PORPHYRY, A LARGE PART OF THE URAD MINERALIZED ZONE AND PART OF THE URAD OREBODY. (WALLACE AND OTHERS, 1978) HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION ZONES INCLUDE: POTASSIUM FELDSPAR, QUARTZ-SERICITE-PYRITE, ARGILLIC AND PROPYLITIC ZONES.

  1. Text?
  2. Cone Sheet Fracture Zone In Roof Of Multiple-Stage Intrusion

Production

Production information

  1. Production Year? Amount Mined? Material? Comment
  2. 1915-1974 10000000 metric tons Ore -

Notes

ORE TONNAGE FOR 1918-19 TOTALS 71, 300 ST AS REPORTED BY WALLACE AND OTHERS (1978 ). BREAKDOWN IN TABLE IS BASED ON RELATIVE PROPORTION OF EACH YEAR'S CONCENTRATES AS REPORTED BY COLO. DIV. MINES. ESTIMATED LB MO METAL FOR 1918, 1919, 1944, 1945 CALCULATED FROM CONCENTRATE TONNAGE AND GRADE. ESTIMATED LB MO METAL FOR 1946 CALCULATED FROM ORE TONNAGE AND GRADE. CUMULATIVE ORE TONNAGE TOTAL INCLUDES APPROX. 2000 ST ORE HAND-COBBED IN 1915 (WALLACE AND OTHERS, 1978).

THE MINE PRODUCED NEARLY 50 MILLION LB. OF MOLYBDENUM FROM 14 MILLION TONS OF ORE; MOST OF IT WAS PRODUCED FROM 1967-1974. (WALLACE AND OTHERS, 1978).

Reserve-resource

THE URAD DEPOSIT IS DEPLETED (MINED OUT).

Nearby Deposits

Other deposits in the same region.

  1. Unnamed Silver Occurrence

    • Molybdenum commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Clear Creek, Colorado
    • 0.36 miles
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  2. Wyoming Gold Mine

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  3. Jury Gold Mine

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  4. Red Mountain Tungsten Occurrence

    • Tungsten commodity Site type Occurrence status
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  5. Unnamed Molybdenum Occurrence

    • Molybdenum commodity Site type Occurrence status
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  6. Henderson Molybdenum Mine

    • Molybdenum commodity Site type Mine status
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  7. Puzzler Molybdenum Occurrence

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  8. Scotia Gold Mine

    • Gold commodity Site type Mine status
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  9. Scotia Silver Occurrence

    • Silver commodity Site type Occurrence status
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  10. Montezuma High Lode

    • Silver commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Clear Creek, Colorado
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Nearby Places

Nearby Mining Districts

Nearby Lands

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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