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  7. Deposit #USGS10048509

Iron Mountain Nickel-Copper Camp Nickel Occurrence

Limestone, Montana

45.4082°N 110.0755°W

Mine Overview

The Iron Mountain Nickel-Copper Camp Nickel Occurrence is near Limestone, Montana. Historically the site has been associated with the Stillwater Mining District which is now part of the Gallatin National Forest. Ore mineralization has been found at this location and the size of the deposit is estimated to be small, however the precise grade, tonnage, and extent of the mineralization are not known. There has been no production and little to no activity other than routine claim maintenance since the mineral discovery. The ore mined is composed of chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pentlandite with waste material consisting primarily of plagioclase and magnetite. The ore body is described as tabular shaped reaching 2,413 meters (7,919 feet) in length. The mineralization at this location is from the Neoarchean era 2.80 to 2.50 billion 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, Palladium, and Platinum Secondary Commodity
  • Gold, Platinum Group Elements (PGE), and Silver Secondary Commodity
  • Site Record Type?
  • Occurrence Development Status?
  • Metallic Site Commodity Type?
  • Small Mine Size?

Mine Names

  1. Name? Status?
  2. Iron Mountain Nickel-Copper Camp Current

Owner Name and Address

Stillwater Pgm Resources

Type
Operator

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. Palladium Metallic Secondary
  6. Platinum Metallic Secondary
  7. Rhodium Metallic Secondary
  8. Gold Metallic Tertiary
  9. Platinum Group Elements (PGE) Metallic Tertiary
  10. Silver Metallic Tertiary

Notes

NO SITE-SPECIFIC MINERALOGICAL STUDIES HAVE BEEN MADE FOR THIS PROSPECT. SEE PAGE (1979) FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF BASAL SERIES MINERALIZATION. ONLY NICKEL AND COPPER CONTENTS WERE DETERMINED FOR DRILL CORE BY AMAX. PGM AND CO DATA WERE NOT SYSTEMATICALLY ACQUIRED BY AMAX FOR MINERALIED DRILL CORE. SELECT SAMPLES WERE REANALYZED FOR PGM BY THE USGS; SUMMARY OF RESULTS ON PULPS ARE GIVEN IN ZIENTEK (1993).

Deposit

DEPOSIT CONSISTS OF LENTICULAR TO TABULAR SHAPED DISSEMINATED, MATRIX, AND MASSIVE CONCENTRATIONS OF MAGMATIC SULFIDE MINERALS NEAR THE MARGIN OF MAFIC AND ULTRAMAFIC INTRUSIONS OF THE STILLWATER COMPLEX. MINERALIZATION OCCURS FOR AT LEAST 1. 5 MI ON STRIKE NEAR THE BASE OF THE COMPLEX; RESOURCE CALCULATIONS ARE BASED ON A SEGMENT APPROXIMATELY 2400 FEET LONG. THIS RECORD ENCOMPASES MINERALIZED PERIDOTITE ZONE AND BASAL SERIES THAT ARE SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH OF IRON MOUNTAIN (PAGE AND NOKLEBERG, 1974 ); SEE DRILL PATTERN ILLUSTRATED IN ZIENTEK (1993).

Location Info

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

Notes

IN GALLATIN NATIONAL FOREST. UNSURVEYED.

Meridian / Township / Range Description

  1. Meridian? Township? Section? Aliquot?
  2. Montana Principle Meridian T.5S R.13E Sec. 12 -

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

Development

AREA IS PART OF AMAX'S LI CLAIM GROUP, WHICH WAS STAKED IN 1968-1969. AMAX (1968-1979 ); MANVILLE AND LATER STILLWATER PGM RESOURCES LEASED CLAIMS FROM AMAX AND HELD THEM UNTIL 1993. AMAX'S EXPLORATION OF THE STILLWATER AREA BEGAN IN THE SUMMER OF 1967 WITH AN ORIENTATION GEOCHEMICAL RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY FOLLOWED IN THE FALL BY A LOW-ALTITUDE HELICOPTER MAGNETICS SURVEY. IN JUNE 1968, AN INTENSIVE HELICOPTER-SUPPORTED GEOCHEMICAL STREAM-SEDIEMNT SAMPLING PROGRAM WAS CONDUCTED IN THAT PART OF THE EAST BOULDER PLATEAU NOT ALREADY CLAIMED BY ANACONDA OR FREEPORT, WHICH WAS SOON FOLLOWED BY CLAIM STAKING (J. F. MCKNIGHT, WRITTEN COMMUN ., 1969 ). AMAX CONDUCTED AN EXTENSIVE EXPLORATION PROGRAM INCLUDING MAPPING, GROUND-BASED GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS (IP AND MAGNETICS ), GEOCHEMICAL SAMPLING, TRENCHING, AND DRILLING. DRILL TARGETS INCLUDED BOTH GEOPHYSICAL ANOMALIES (PRINCIPALLY IP) AND GEOCHEMICAL ANOMALIES; C AREAS WITH COPPER >200 PPM IN SOILS ARE ILLUSTRATED IN ZINETEK (1993) 18, 688 FEET OF.

CORE WAS OBTAINED FROM 45 HOLES, DRILLED DURING 1969-1975.

Workings

NO WORKINGS

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).

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:

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 Stillwater Complex, Peridotite Zone Of Ultramafic Series; Stillwater Complex, Basal Series Metamorphic Rock Hornfels - Hornfels - - -
  3. Mineralization - - - - - Neoarchean Neoarchean -

Structure

Geologic structural features affecting or characterizing the site or mine.

  1. Scale Description
  2. Local Rocks In Prospect Area Are Cut By Steeply Dipping, Transverse Faults And Mafic Dikes That Are Perpendicular To Layering In The Stillwater Complex- Mineralized Stillwater Cumulates Will Likely Be Truncated At Depth By Longitudinal, South-Dipping High-Angle Reverse Faults
  3. 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 SEE RESERVE/RESOURCE DATA FOR COPPER AND NICKEL CONTENTS. PT, PD, AND RH CONTENTS FOR SULFIDE MIERLAIZATION IN THE IRON MOUNTAIN AREA (CAMP AND IRON CREEK AREAS) ARE SUMMARIZED IN ZIENTEK (1993)
  3. 2 MAX. CONCENTRATIONS IN PULPS OF DRILL CORE ARE PLATINUM = 530 PPB, PD=2.9 PPM. AND RHODIUM = 100 PPB

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

DRILL INDICATED RESERVES ARE BASED ON INTERCEPTS IN 9 DRILL HOLES. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT CALCULATION METHOD GIVEN IN ZIENTEK (1993).

Nearby Deposits

Other deposits in the same region.

  1. Iron Mountain-Camp Nickel-Copper Deposit

    • Nickel commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 0.01 miles
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  2. Iron Mountain Chrome Chromium Occurrence

    • Chromium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 1.17 miles
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  3. Iron Mountain Nickel-Copper Iron Creek Nickel Occurrence

    • Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 1.40 miles
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  4. Janet Copper Occurrence

    • Arsenic commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 1.41 miles
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  5. Iron Creek Nickel Prospect

    • Nickel commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • Surface
    • 1.45 miles
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  6. Monkey East Camp Zone Palladium Occurrence

    • Palladium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 1.55 miles
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  7. Monkey West Platinum Occurrence

    • Palladium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 1.63 miles
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  8. Forge Nickel-Copper Nickel Occurrence

    • Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 1.76 miles
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  9. East Boulder River Chromium Occurrence

    • Chromium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • Surface
    • 1.92 miles
    Read More

  10. Coors Palladium Occurrence

    • Palladium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 1.97 miles
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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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