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  7. Deposit #USGS10095654

Intial Nickel-Copper Copper Occurrence

Limestone, Montana

45.3857°N 109.9488°W

Mine Overview

The Intial Nickel-Copper Copper Occurrence is near Limestone, 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. 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. Mine operations consist of underground workings extending 0.20 hectares (0.50 acres). There is one known shaft. The ore mined is composed of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite with waste material consisting primarily of plagioclase and magnetite. The ore body is massive and disseminated in form of unknown dimensions. The host rock in this area is hornfels. 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?
  • Occurrence 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. Intial Nickel-Copper Current

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. NO PUBLISHED PGE DATA AVAILABLE FOR THIS AREA.

Deposit

GEOCHEMICAL ANOMALY PRESENT IN AREA OF DEPOSIT.

Location Info

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

Notes

UNSURVEYED. IN CUSTER NATIONAL FOREST.

Meridian / Township / Range Description

  1. Meridian? Township? Section? Aliquot?
  2. Montana Principle Meridian T.5S R.14E Sec. 24 -

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
  • Surface Area: 0.202 Hectares

Workings

OLD CAVED ADIT. 787 FEET OF DRILL CORE FROM 2 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).

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.

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. Local Small Local Faults Of Minor Displacement
  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

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)

Nearby Deposits

Other deposits in the same region.

  1. Initial Cr-Pt Platinum Occurrence

    • Platinum commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 0.13 miles
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  2. Dow Palladium Occurrence

    • Palladium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 0.61 miles
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  3. Bluebird Chromium Occurrence

    • Chromium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • Surface
    • 0.67 miles
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  4. Bluebird Cr-Pt Chromium Occurrence

    • Chromium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 0.79 miles
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  5. Bluebird Nickel-Copper Copper Occurrence

    • Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 0.90 miles
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  6. West Fork East Adit

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

  7. Mountain View Mine

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

  8. Mouat Chromium Mine

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

  9. Groundhog Chromium Mine

    • Chromium commodity Site type Mine status
    • Sweet Grass, Montana
    • 2.33 miles
    Read More

  10. Mountain View Cr-Pt Platinum Occurrence

    • Chromium commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Stillwater, Montana
    • 2.38 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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