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  7. Deposit #USGS10042347

Mouat Nickel-Copper Copper Prospect

Nye, Montana

45.3799°N 109.8963°W

Mine Overview

The Mouat Nickel-Copper Copper Prospect is near Nye, Montana. Historically the site has been associated with the Stillwater Mining District which is now part of the Custer National Forest. The site was first discovered in 1883 by Jack Nye, Jimmy And Jonas Hedges. Preliminary development has taken place such as surface trenching, adits, shafts, drill holes, geophysics, geochemistry, or geological mapping. Enough data has been gathered to estimate grade and tonnage. The size of the deposit is estimated to be small. Mine operations consist of underground workings. There is one known shaft. Subsurface length extends a maximum of 2,438 meters (8,000 feet). The ore mined is composed of chalcopyrite, pentlandite and pyrrhotite with waste material consisting primarily of magnetite and plagioclase. The ore body has a lenticular or lens shaped form extending 274 meters (900 feet) long and 457 meters (1,500 feet) wide. The host rock in this area is quartz monzonite from the Lower Cretaceous epoch 145.00 to 100.50 million years ago. The Middle 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.

  • Copper and Nickel Primary Commodity
  • Cobalt Secondary Commodity
  • Gold, Platinum Group Elements (PGE), and Silver Secondary Commodity
  • Site Record Type?
  • Prospect Development Status?
  • 1883 Year Discovered?
  • Jack Nye Jimmy And Jonas Hedges Discovered By?
  • Metallic Site Commodity Type?
  • Small Mine Size?

Mine Names

  1. Name? Status?
  2. Mouat Nickel-Copper Current
  3. Mountain View Previous

Owner Name and Address

Anaconda Company

Type
Operator

William Mouat

Type
Owner

Commodities

Additional textual information about a site or mine.

  1. Commodity Type Importance
  2. Copper Metallic Primary
  3. Nickel Metallic Primary
  4. Cobalt Metallic Secondary
  5. Gold Metallic Tertiary
  6. Platinum Group Elements (PGE) Metallic Tertiary
  7. Silver Metallic Tertiary

Notes

SEE PAGE (1979) FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF BASAL SERIES MINERALIZATION.

Deposit

11 LARGE PODS, 24 SMALL PODS AND LENSES DISCOVERED. SIZE OF LARGEST POD: 420 FEET LONG, 218 FEET WIDE, 116 FEET THICK. NORITE SILLS DIP 30-40W, PARALLEL TO BASE OF COMPLEX. MINERALIZED AREA ROUGHLY 1, 200 FEET IN DIAMETER. INDIVIDUAL MASSES MEASURE AS MUCH AS 100 BY 30 FEET ON EXPOSED SURFACES. SULFIDES ARE MOST ABUNDANT IN HORNFELS; PYRRHOTITE IS MOST ABUNDANT SULFIDE. NICKEL AND COPPER CONTENT IS ERRATIC AND CANNOT BE ESTIMATED BY INSPECTION.

Location Info

  1. Continent Country State County
  2. North America The United States Montana Stillwater

Notes

UNSURVEYED. IN CUSTER NATIONAL FOREST.

Meridian / Township / Range Description

  1. Meridian? Township? Section? Aliquot?
  2. Montana Principle Meridian T.5S R.15E Sec. 20 SE
  3. Montana Principle Meridian T.5S R.15E Sec. 21 -
  4. Montana Principle Meridian T.5S R.15E Sec. 28 -
  5. Montana Principle Meridian T.5S R.15E Sec. 29 -

Land Status

Land status information.

  1. Land Status? Admin Area?
  2. National Forest -

Mining Districts

Formal or informal mining district names.

  1. District
  2. Stillwater Mining District

Workings

Workings at the site.

Underground Workings #1

  • Type: Underground
  • Sub Surface Length: 2438.4 Meters

Workings

7 ADITS, INACCESSIBLE; MOUAT TUNNEL. 5, 981 FEET OF DRILL CORE FROM 8 HOLES DRILLED IN 1940-1941 (USBM ); 92, 041 FEET OF DRILL CORE FROM 95 HOLES DRILLED FROM 1967-1970 (ANACONDA ); 3, 898 FEET OF DRILL CORE FROM 13 HOLES DRILLED IN 1977 (ANACONDA).

Concentration Process

Processes that concentrated or enriched the mineralization of the mine.

  1. Concentration Process
  2. Magmatic Segregation, Liquid Immiscibility

Geology

AGE OF STILLWATER COMPLEX IS 2, 705 +/-4 MA BASED ON U-LEAD SYSTEMATICS ON ZIRCON-BADDELEYITE (PREMO AND OTHERS, 1990 ); AGE OF HOST ROCKS: PRE CAMBRIAN; STILLWATER COMPLEX.

Materials

Minerals or other materials present in the mine.

  1. Role? Material?
  2. Gangue/Waste Magnetite
  3. Gangue/Waste Plagioclase
  4. Ore Chalcopyrite
  5. Ore Pentlandite
  6. Ore Pyrrhotite

Orebody

Characteristics of the ore body.

  • Length:
  • Width: 457.20 meters (1,500.00 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. Host Rock Metamorphic Rock Hornfels - - Hornfels - - -
  3. Host Rock Plutonic Rock Granitoid Quartz Monzonite - Quartz Monzonite Lower Cretaceous Lower Cretaceous -
  4. Host Rock Plutonic Rock Ultramafic Intrusive Rock Peridotite - Peridotite - - -
  5. Mineralization - - - - - Neoarchean Neoarchean -

Structure

Geologic structural features affecting or characterizing the site or mine.

  1. Scale Description
  2. Regional The Stillwater Complex Is Exposed Along The Northern Margin Of The Beartooth Uplift, One Of Several Laramide Basement-Cored Ranges That Make Up The Rocky Mountain Foreland Of South-Central Montana (foose And Others, 1961: Kulik And Schmidt, 1988)

Tectonic

Tectonic setting in which the site or deposit is situated.

  1. Setting?
  2. Tectonic Setting At Time Of Emplacement Of The Stillwater Complex Is Unknown- The Complex Was Emplaced Shortly After A Major Regional, Subduction-Related Magmatic Event That Culminated In Emplacement Of The 2-73-2-79 Ga Granitoid Suite In The Batholith Exposed In The Beartooth Uplift (wooden And Others, 1991)- However, There Is No Evidence That The Magmatism That Formed The Stillwater Complex Is Related To Convergent Margin Tectonics And Magmatism

Physiography

Physiographic area where the resource is found.

  1. Division Province? Section
  2. Rocky Mountain System Middle 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 None Related To Ore-Forming Process

Analytical Data

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

  1. Line? Analysis Data?
  2. 1 AVERAGE ORE: COPPER = 0.37%, NI=0.42%. ASSAY: 1.85% COPPER, 0.55% NICKEL, 291 PPB PT(+RU, RH, IR), 86 PPB PD, 67 PPB GOLD (CONVERTED FROM OUNCE PER TON TO PPB). AVERAGE PGE: 12.4 PPB PT, 42.2 PPB PD, 6.5 PPB RH (MAX. 58 PPB PT, 120 PPB PD, 14 PPB RH). HIGHEST VALUES IN 5 FT SAMPLES WERE 1.07% NICKEL AND 0.83% COPPER
  3. 2 HIGHEST VALUES FOR LONGER CORES WERE 0.81% NICKEL AND 0.60% COPPER FOR 55 FT

Model

Mineral deposit model of the site.

  1. Name? USGS Model Code? BC Model Code? Mark 3 model code?
  2. STILLWATER NICKEL-COPPER 1 - -

Ore Control

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

  1. Text?
  2. Immiscible Sulfide Liquid Enriched In Nickel And Copper Exsolved From Mafic Silicate Magma And Accumulated Near Lower Contact Of The Stillwater Complex-Assimilation Of Sulfur From Rocks Adjacent To The Stillwater Complex May Have Led To The Exsolution Of The Sulfide Liquid (Zientek And Ripley, 1990)

Reserve-resource

PAGE AND OTHERS IN CZAMANSKE AND ZIENTEK ESTIMATED SEVERAL MILLION TONS AT 0. 4% NICKEL, 0. 35% COPPER.

Nearby Deposits

Other deposits in the same region.

  1. Mouat Nickel-Copper Nickel Prospect

    • Nickel commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • 0.03 miles
    Read More

  2. Mountain View Cr-Pt Platinum Occurrence

    • Chromium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • 0.23 miles
    Read More

  3. Mouat Nickel-Copper Copper Occurrence

    • Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • 0.27 miles
    Read More

  4. Mouat Chromium Mine

    • Chromium commodity Site type Mine status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • Underground
    • 0.55 miles
    Read More

  5. Mountain View Mine

    • Chromium commodity Site type Mine status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • Stillwater Nickel-Copper
    • Underground
    • 0.70 miles
    Read More

  6. Stillwater Pgm Mine

    • Palladium commodity Site type Mine status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • Platinum Group Elements Reef
    • Beneficiation Mill
    • (Flotation)
    • Underground
    • 0.95 miles
    Read More

  7. Nye Basin-Lip Chromium-Platinum Prospect

    • Chromium commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • Surface And Underground
    • 1.86 miles
    Read More

  8. Nye Basin Nickel-Copper Lip Copper Occurrence

    • Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • 2.10 miles
    Read More

  9. Dow Palladium Occurrence

    • Palladium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 2.34 miles
    Read More

  10. Mouat Iron-Titanium Iron Occurrence

    • Iron commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • 2.43 miles
    Read More

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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