Rockhounding - A Combination of Talks Given Over the Past Five Years
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This is a talk that was given for the Wyoming Geological Association in 2019. it is a summary of talks given to the Gold Prospectors Association of America, Wyoming Association of Professional Landmen, and other groups.
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Rockhounding - A Combination of Talks Given Over the Past Five Years
- 1. ROCKHOUNDING – A COMBINATION OF TALKS GIVEN OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS
- 2. SEVERAL TALKS GIVEN – GPAA, WAPL, GRADUATING LAWYERS, ETC. • Site specific – most basic • Other sources of data • Time specific • Database manipulation – NURE • From Nothing
- 3. IRON DEPOSITS NEAR LANDER • Main formation is dense, hard laminated quartz, magnetite, and amphibole • Layers range in thickness from 1mm to 6cm 3
- 4. SUNLIGHT MINING DISTRICT WEST OF CODY • Vein mineralization • Alteration zones in intrusive stocks • Mining completed following these intrusions 4
- 5. PEGMATITES • Coarse, igneous deposits • Different cooling rates • Pockets of magma • Erratic in location, structure and content • Are classified as zoned or unzoned 5 UNZONED ZONED
- 6. COPPER MOUNTAIN PEGMATITE • Tapolite (below), tourmaline, beryl, etc. • Similar to Casper Mountain 6
- 7. CASPER MOUNTAIN PEGMATITE • Pegmatite emplacement • Ultramafic magma intrusion • Reported serpentine (asbestos), chromite schist, feldspar, copper, beryl, REE, and reports of gold 7
- 8. SEVERAL TALKS GIVEN • Site specific – most basic • Time specific • Other sources of data • Database manipulation – NURE • From Nothing
- 9. PENNSYLVANIAN (300 MA) •A time of drying after massive sea level high • Paleozoic not known for its minerals •Casper Formation • Known for its thick red sandstones and limestones • Jasper and agates are common in the limey beds and will weather out and may be found as float in stream sediments 9
- 10. 10 Jasper and agates found in the Casper Formation mainly along the flanks of the Bighorn Basin
- 11. PALEOGENE (65-23 MA) • Fort Union Formation (Paleocene) • Petrified wood and other fossils • Wasatch/Bridger/Wind River formations (Eocene) • Opal, jade, petrified wood/stumps, agates, Turritella agate, Green River fish, Uranium • White River Formation (Oligocene) • Opal, Uranium, and lots of fossils 11
- 12. Petrified Wood, Sweetwater CountyJade, Wind River Fm, Granite Mts Slater Agate, near Guernsey Green River Fm Opal, White River Fm Turritella Agate, Wasatch Fm, Red Desert
- 13. 13 NEOGENE (~20 MA) • Split Rock Formation • Sandstones, conglomerates, mudstones, limestones, and tuffs of Miocene age • Known for its Sweetwater agates 13
- 14. 14 Sweetwater agates are common throughout this time period and will fluoresce under ultraviolet light due to the presence of hydrous Uranium
- 15. SEVERAL TALKS GIVEN • Site specific – most basic • Time specific • Other sources of data • Database manipulation – NURE • From Nothing
- 16. BASIC RESEARCH • Google (of course) • Google Scholar • Wyoming Geological Survey • US Geological Survey • Thesis and Dissertations • Google Earth • Layers for Google Earth
- 17. BASIC RESEARCH • General search – go through as much as possible • Image search – grab maps, change search specs • Google maps coordinates • Build a document / folder of locations, maps, pictures, literature
- 18. BASIC RESEARCH • Search Seminoe Mtns. • Click MAPS • This screen pops • Each bookmark is clickable • Start word document with links • Also LAT/LONG
- 20. ADVANCED RESEARCH • Google Scholar • Peer reviewed journals • Open access thesis and dissertations
- 21. BASIC MAPPING • Maps from Google • Maps from publications (scanned) • Ensure they can be georeferenced • The will be used to locate in advanced mapping and rubber sheeting
- 22. BASIC MAPPING • Using the database and locations from your basic research • Google Earth Pro • Free, create a project • Load Public Land Survey System • Load Wyoming Geologic Map
- 23. A LITTLE HISTORY • Penn Mining Company bought much of the area mines in 1885 and started mining • Iron prospecting started in the early 1900s but never really took off • An estimated 100 million tons of taconite from the BIFs
- 24. ADVANCED MAPPING • Add the PLSS layer for reference • Know Google Earth Shortcuts • Mapped Nephrite location From Mindat • Use Geological Map on Google Earth, find trends • BE LEGAL!
- 25. ADVANCED MAPPING • N,U, Crosshairs on Image • Now actual lat/long can be determined • As well as structural elements • Faults • Hard rock boundaries • Etc.
- 26. ADVANCED MAPPING • Remember to pay attention to scales • Also township and ranges • Image will or may look distorted real world • Add points – Penn Gold Mine locations 1-5 • 5 locations in 4 square miles
- 27. ADVANCED MAPPING • PGM #1: 42.151952°, -107.041416° • And so on… • Quick area survey on aerials • QA/QC • Road Access
- 28. ADVANCED MAPPING
- 29. ADVANCED MAPPING • Add all lat-long • Use aerials to survey • Plan routes • Bring gear • Correct vehicle choice • LEGALITY
- 30. SITE DETERMINATION • Aerial review • Use historical imagery slider • Check land ownership • (Next slide) geologic faults, • ETC
- 31. SITE DETERMINATION • Geology • Any areas that may have potential that were overlooked?
- 32. SEVERAL TALKS GIVEN • Site specific – most basic • Other sources of data • Time specific • Database manipulation – NURE • From Nothing
- 33. NURE • Programs, NURE • Data Files • Huge datasets- need organizing • Potential sources • Potential localities
- 34. NURE / HSSR(1973-1984) • NURE: National Uranium Resource Evaluation (1973) • HSSR: Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance program (1975) • HSSR one of nine components of NURE
- 35. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE REST • Collection of many datasets • Including: • RASS • State Geological Surveys • PLUTO • SWAK • Cannon, King, Folger
- 36. BRIEF HISTORY OF NURE/HSSR (1973- 1984) • 1977 NURE program switched to quadrangle basis • Also authorized to search for elements other than uranium • NURE program funding ended approx. 1983-1984 • 307 out of 625 quadrangles were sampled • 86 quadrangles were partially sampled
- 37. NATIONAL GEOCHEMICAL DATABASE (2004 – CURRENT) • Phase one complete • Combine RASS, NURE, PLUTO, and all available datasets • Phase two initiated • Goal 1: Ensure availability of up-to-date quantitative assessments of potential for undiscovered mineral deposits • Goal 2: Ensure availability of up-to-date geoenvironmental assessments of priority Federal lands • Goal 3: Ensure availability of reliable geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral locality data for the United States • Continuing Goal: Ensure availability of scientific facilities and services required to achieve MRP goals • Goal 4: Ensure availability of long-term data sets describing mineral production and consumption for national security needs
- 38. PARSING THE DATA (HSSR / NURE) • Six sources for the samples • Spring, stream, well, artificial pond, natural pond, marsh • Removed well samples • 12,338 samples remain
- 39. NURE / HSSR DATA FILES • Unedited download 10.5 MB • 158 headings • 19,635 records • Includes water and sediment data • Needs parsing
- 40. MRDS SAMPLE SITES (4,890)
- 41. ACTIVE MINES • Madden Field: Sulpher • Sweet- water Mill: Uranium • Material Sources
- 42. CARBONATITE (1)
- 45. HSSR SEDIMENT SAMPLE COVERAGE (18,532)
- 46. SEDIMENT ANALYSIS: GOLD • Ore grades as low as 0.5 mg./kg. or 0.5 PPM can be economical • Open pit mines have grades 1-5 PPM • Underground mines are minimum 3 PPM • 30 PPM is needed to be visible with the naked eye, most gold mined is invisible • Using GIS to take a closer look
- 47. SEDIMENT ANALYSIS: GOLD • Blue: 0.01-1 PPM • Green: 1-2 PPM • Orange: 2- 2.74 PPM • Yellow: 2.74-3 PPM
- 48. WYOMING STREAMS
- 49. SEVERAL TALKS GIVEN • Site specific – most basic • Other sources of data • Time specific • Database manipulation – NURE • From Nothing
- 50. INTRODUCTION TO EXPLORATION • From nothing • Basic research • Basic Mapping • Advanced research • Advanced mapping • Planning • Site Determination-evaluation
- 51. FROM NOTHING • Topic – Seminoe Mountains • Extreme basic – Internet • Greenstone Belt • Blog on gold in Seminoe Mtns. • Wikipedia • Gold anomalies at Bradley Peak • Low grade iron 100,000,000 tons • Serpentine, leopard rock, jade, jasperized banded iron, copper, zinc and lead
- 52. The Seminoe Mts are in central Wyoming on southern flank of Sweetwater Arch ~40 mi
- 53. A LITTLE HISTORY • The Seminoe Mts were named for one of Fremont’s guides – Basil Cimineau Lajeunesse • In 1871, General Bradley’s troops set out to explore the Seminoe Mts because of reports of silver-bearing galena • They found gold instead along the flank of Bradley Peak • Several gold prospects were staked after this and by 1873 it was established but Indian attacks drove them away in 1874
- 54. A LITTLE HISTORY • Penn Mining Company bought much of the area mines in 1885 and started mining • Iron prospecting started in the early 1900s but never really took off • An estimated 100 million tons of taconite from the BIFs
- 55. • ~1,500 – 2,000 ft high in relief • Bounded on SW by low-angle thrust fault, bounded on N by reverse fault • Precambrian rocks contact Cretaceous or younger rocks
- 56. LARAMIDE OROGENY • The Seminoe Mts are one of several uplifts from the Laramide Orogeny from ~70 to 40 Ma • Cores are Precambrian rocks that were uplifted almost vertically; Flanks are younger rocks that are often steeply dipping • Mountains are broad and vertical
- 57. MOUNTAIN MINERALOGY • Most outcrops Precambrian; Fragment of greenstone belt • Archean amphibolites (>2.7 Ga) intruded and folded by granodiorite (>2.6 Ga) • Divided into three mappable units: • Upper – Seminoe Formation (4,000 ft of metasedimentary rocks (BIFs)) • Middle – Bradley Peak (1,000 ft of ultramafic/mafic metavolcanics) • Lower – Sunday Morning Creek (11,000 ft of mafic
- 58. MINERAL DEPOSITS • Copper-silver-gold veins • Gold placers • Iron formation • Nephrite Jade • Serpentine • Leopard Rock • Kimberlite indicator minerals • Rare Lead and Zinc
- 59. WHERE ARE THE DEPOSITS? • Most trace precious metals are found with the BIFs that mostly come out of the Seminoe Formation • BIFs not in the Sunday Morning Creek and rare in the Bradley Peak Penn Mines (1980s)
- 60. WHERE ARE THE DEPOSITS? • Jade is found along the northern flank of the Seminoes in the Bradley Peak ultramafics (amphibolite dikes) • Leopard Rock occurs in the Seminoe Fm with the best quality near Wood Creek • Diamond indicator minerals, like pyrope garnets, are found in alluvium
- 61. SERPENTINE, LEOPARD ROCK, JADE, JASPERIZED BANDED IRON, COPPER, ZINC AND LEAD (GOLD?)
- 62. NOW, IF OUR FAMILY CAN GET SOME TIME WE CAN USE THESE DATA TO GO GET MORE ROCKS… QUESTIONS ?
Editor's Notes
- Western Interior Seaway all but gone – return to vast floodplains and nonmarine conditions but tropical – imagine palm trees in Wyoming This time is known for coal formation, which includes CBM Fort Union does produce some oil but only in SW Wyoming
- Imagine the Amazon, big rivers in a tropical landscape, with huge coal swamps associated Crocodiles and other more tropical animals were common Almost half of the country’s coal comes from PRB – estimated 170 billion short tons of coal exists in PRB with only 6% recoverable (10 billion short tons)