108:
property, this high-grade zone is probably much more extensive along strike and depth. The high cutoff grade combined with the essentially untested large tonnage low-grade mineralized zone associated with the property (>1000 feet wide and >1000 feet long) suggests actual gold resources are much greater. In addition to the
Carissa property, a distinct belt of prospects and historic mines lie between the Carissa mine and Miners Delight mine along a 4 to 5 mile northeasterly trend in the belt. This provides a structurally favorable zone for a major gold resource. Mapping by Hausel identified numerous shear structures along with steeply plunging
37:
671:
177:(2545 ± 30 Ma) intrude metasedimentary rock of the Miners Delight Formation in the western part of the greenstone belt. The South Pass pluton is a pegmatitic granite west of South Pass City, and the Sweetwater granite is a fine-to medium-grained leucocratic granite that occurs to the west of the South Pass pluton along the Sweetwater River and Lander Creek.
220:, accompanied by minor metagreywacke, metatuff, chlorite schist, tremolite-actinolite schist and rare grunerite schist. The unit is exposed on both limbs of the South Pass synclinorium, and in most places conformably, but locally unconformably, overlies the Goldman Meadows Formation. Much of the unit is composed of metamorphosed
107:
Hausel reported cursory investigations of the historic
Carissa Mine during the late 1980s indicated this mine hosted an identifiable reserve of more than 109,000 ounces averaging 0.343 to 0.850 oz/ton with a cutoff grade of 0.299 oz/ton. But due to scattered drilling and lack of deep drilling on this
51:
was discovered in the
Lewiston district of the South Pass granite-greenstone belt in 1842 along the eastern margin of the complex. Other discoveries followed including the discovery of high-grade gold mineralization at the Carissa Mine along the western flank of the belt in 1867. Some high-grade gold
229:
iron formation consists of laminated dark gray to black, fine-grained, hard, dense alternating 0.1-to-2-inch-thick (2.5 to 50.8 mm) layers of magnetite and metachert and varying amounts of amphibole. The average iron content in the
Atlantic City area is about 33.5% and ranges as high as 56.23%.
180:
The first granitic event in the South Pass area includes tonalite dikes and plugs intruded into shear zones in the South Pass supracrustal rocks along with light-colored, metamorphosed leucodacite porphyry and quartz diorite. This unit is exposed in small areas near the Mary Ellen mine, just west of
228:
The
Goldman Meadows Formation overlies the Diamond Springs Formation and contains two distinct lithologies: a schist member that includes pelitic schists, quartzites and massive to schistose amphibolites; and iron formation members composed of banded quartz-magnetite-amphibolite iron formation. The
119:
The margins of the greenstone belt contain major gold anomalies within
Tertiary sediments eroded from the greenstone belt. The Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of the Eocene Wasatch Formation, is estimated to host more than 28.5 million ounces of placer gold in the Dickie Springs-Oregon Gulch area.
91:
in the
Goldman Meadows Formation. Extensive gold development took place across the entire Precambrian greenstone belt in the late 1860s to early 1870s, and again in the 1930s until World War II. Lode deposits occur primarily in strike-trending shear zones within metagreywacke and
274:, is intercalated in places with the supracrustal rocks of the greenstone belt. It is suggested that the likely origin for this unit is an ancient basement or earlier supracrustal succession tectonically interleaved as thrust splinters into the South Pass supracrustals.
440:
Love, J.D., Antweiler, J.C., and Mosier, E.L., 1978, A new look at the origin and volume of the Dickie
Springs-Oregon Gulch placer gold at the south end of the Wind River Mountains: Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook, 13th Annual Field conference,
205:. An Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron of about 2.8 Ga reported for the greywacke by Stuckless and others (1985). The contact between the Miners Delight formation and the Roundtop Mountain Greenstone is the Roundtop fault, which is locally marked by
123:
Some aquamarine beryl is known in pegmatite in the South Pass
Granite in the Anderson Ridge area in the northwestern corner of the belt. Non-gem beryl is reported from several coarse-grained tourmaline-beryl granite pegmatites in the area.
52:
was recovered from the
Lewiston and the South Pass-Atlantic City districts. One large 34-ounce nugget resides in the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History that was recovered from Rock Creek along the western flank of the greenstone belt.
224:
and cusp-shaped pillow structures are preserved on Roundtop Mountain. A broad zone of carbonated breccias and intensely folded schists, representing a major break in the geologic record, is found at the top of the formation.
433:
Hausel, W.D., and Love, J.D., 1991, Guide to the geology and mineralization of the South Pass area, in S. Roberts, editor, Mineral Resources of Wyoming: Wyoming Geological Association 42nd Annual Field Conference Guidebook,
444:
Stuckless, J.S., Hedge, C.E., Worl, R.G., Simmons, K.R., Nkomo, I.T., and Wenner, 1985, Isotopic studies of the late Archean plutonic rocks of the Wind River Range, Wyoming: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v.96,
158:, and locally overprinted by a later retrogressive greenschist facies event. The axis of the belt is paralleled by foliation, shear zones, and lower order fold axes, and has been intruded along its flanks by granite and
213:, and strongly folded rocks. The Miners Delight formation which hosts several epigenetic shear zone and vein gold deposits is subdivided into several lithologic units, the relative ages of which are not known.
423:
Hausel, W. Dan, 1991, Economic geology of the South Pass granite-greenstone belt, southern Wind river Range, western Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Report of Investigations No.44, 129 p., map scale
386:
Day, W.C., Hill, R.H., Kulik, D.M., Scott, D.C., and Hausel, W.D., 1988, Mineral Resources of the Sweetwater Canyon Wilderness study area, Fremont County, Wyoming: USGS Bulletin 1757-D, 22 p., map scale
411:
Hausel, W.D., 1988, Geologic map of the Radium Springs Quadrangle, including the Lewiston gold district, Fremont County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Map Series MS-26, map scale 1:24,000.
393:
Hausel, W. Dan, 1984, Tour guide to the geology and mining history of the South Pass gold mining district, Fremont County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Public Information Circular No.23.
430:
Hausel, W. Dan, 1998, Diamonds and mantle source rocks in the Wyoming craton with a discussion of other U.S. occurrences: Wyoming State Geological Survey Report of Investigations No.53, 93 p.
399:
Hausel, W.D., 1986, Geologic map of the Lewiston gold district, Radium Springs Quadrangle, Fremont County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Open File Report 86-25, map scale 1:24,000.
116:
that may be favorable for saddle reef-type gold mineralization. There is little evidence that any of the historic operations recognized the steeply plunging structures as being significant.
185:
carries visible gold, and a quartz stringer within sheared metaleucodacite porphyry dike contained disseminated arsenopyrite, and showed 0.01 oz/ton gold along with 0.01 oz/ton silver.
405:
Hausel, W.D., 1988, Preliminary geologic map of the Lewiston Lakes Quadrangle, Fremont County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Open File Report 88-3, map scale 1:24,000.
408:
Hausel, W.D., 1988, Revised geologic map of the South Pass City Quadrangle, Fremont County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Open File Report 88-2, map scale 1:24,000.
248:
schist, and amphibolite. Compositionally, these rocks are typical of the basal volcanic members in other Archean terranes, and represent high-magnesian, sub-marine flows and
414:
Hausel, W.D., 1988, Revised geologic map of the Atlantic City Quadrangle, Fremont County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Open-File Report 88-7, map scale 1:24,000.
383:
Bayley, R.W., Proctor, P.D., and Condie, K.C., 1973, Geologic map of the South Pass area, Fremont County, Wyoming: USGS Professional Paper 793, 39 p., map scale 1:48,000.
417:
Hausel, W.D., 1989, Revised geologic map of the Atlantic City quadrangle, Fremont County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Map Series MS-28, map scale 1:24,000.
396:
Hausel, W.D., 1986, Geologic map of the Anderson Ridge Quadrangle, Fremont County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Open File Report 86-26, map scale 1:24,000.
87:(iron ore) deposits in the 1950s led to the opening of the Atlantic City iron mine, which produced more than 90 million tons of iron ore between 1962 and 1983 from
710:
437:
Hausel, W. Dan, and Sutherland, Wayne M., 2000, Gemstones and other unique minerals and rocks of Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Bulletin No.71, 267 p.
543:
216:
The Roundtop Mountain Greenstone is predominantly greenstone, greenschist, and amphibolite, but also includes mica schist, hornblende-mica schist, and
475:
448:
Stuckless, John S., 1989, Petrogenesis of two contrasting Late Archean granitoids, Wind River Range, Wyoming: USGS Professional Paper 1491, 38 p.
197:
of the Miners Delight Formation, ranging in thickness from 5000 to 20,000 feet, is dominated by gray to dark brown feldspathic and biotitic meta
420:
Hausel, W. Dan, 1989, The geology of Wyoming's Precious metal lode and placer deposits: Wyoming State Geological Survey Bulletin No.68, 248 p.
402:
Hausel, W.D., 1987, Sweetwater rocks wilderness study area: Wyoming State Geological Survey Mineral Report MR87-2, 6 p., map scale 1:24000.
427:
Hausel, W. Dan, 1997, Copper, lead, zinc, and associated metal deposits of Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Bulletin No.70, 229 p.
36:
705:
636:
626:
700:
591:
181:
the Duncan mine, and in a 6-mile long north-trending intrusion east of Lewiston. A quartz vein included within the Mary Ellen
536:
725:
621:
468:
715:
656:
390:
Hausel, W. Dan, 1980, Gold districts of Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Report of Investigations No.23, 71 p.
720:
611:
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operations have developed at various times along most streams downstream from these shear structures.
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The Diamond Springs Formation is conformable with the overlying rocks and consists predominantly of
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deposits were found along the northern edge of the South Pass greenstone belt. Some minor
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including a diamond have also been reported within the region. Development of the large
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in the US. The region was the site of Wyoming's initial gold discovery in 1842.
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This elongate greenstone belt is characterized by Hausel as a synclinorium of
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The Miners Delight Formation is a metagreywacke (2.8 Ga). The diverse
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South Pass greenstone belt metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks
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The geology for the South Pass belt was investigated by Hausel.
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48:
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150:rocks that have been regionally metamorphosed to
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40:Carissa Gold Mine at South Pass City,
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711:Geography of Fremont County, Wyoming
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340:Love, Antweiler, and Mosier, 1978
55:In addition to gold, significant
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669:
1:
349:Hausel and Sutherland, 2000
742:
358:Stuckless and others, 1985
114:isoclinal and open folding
18:South Pass greenstone belt
706:Precambrian United States
665:
572:
559:
491:
284:List of greenstone belts
24:) is located within the
367:Bayley and others, 1973
701:Paleoarchean volcanism
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89:banded iron formation
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726:Volcanism of Wyoming
44:taken on 2011/06/28
716:Geology of Wyoming
156:amphibolite facies
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721:Mining in Wyoming
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637:Seminoe Mountains
627:Rattlesnake Hills
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733:
696:Greenstone belts
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672:
553:Greenstone belts
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445:p. 850–860.
441:p. 379–390.
434:p. 181–200.
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112:associated with
32:Economic geology
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592:Central Lapland
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256:Gneiss complex
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222:pillow basalts
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128:Geologic units
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79:(aquamarine),
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30:
26:Wyoming craton
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137:metamorphosed
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622:Nuvvuagittuq
501:Paleoarchean
451:
376:Bayley, 1963
372:
363:
354:
345:
336:
331:Hausel, 1989
327:
322:Hausel, 1991
272:granodiorite
266:and granite
259:
234:serpentinite
231:
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215:
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179:
173:and granite
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160:granodiorite
134:
131:
122:
118:
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98:amphibolites
54:
47:
17:
15:
657:Yellowknife
506:Mesoarchean
485:Archean Eon
207:mylonitized
203:mica schist
152:greenschist
144:sedimentary
94:hornblendic
690:Categories
642:South Pass
612:Hunt River
587:Bird River
511:Neoarchean
290:References
218:metabasalt
211:brecciated
110:ore shoots
602:Flin Flon
582:Barberton
496:Eoarchean
424:1:48,000.
387:1:24,000.
268:migmatite
238:tremolite
199:greywacke
195:lithology
175:pegmatite
675:Category
652:Temagami
632:Red Lake
607:Hope Bay
278:See also
246:chlorite
148:plutonic
140:volcanic
85:taconite
73:asbestos
69:tungsten
57:iron ore
597:Ecstall
577:Abitibi
171:Granite
166:Archean
42:Wyoming
647:Swayze
264:gneiss
261:Felsic
201:, and
102:placer
100:, and
65:silver
61:copper
250:sills
183:stock
96:ortho
77:beryl
20:(2.8
617:Isua
564:List
242:talc
154:and
146:and
81:ruby
49:Gold
16:The
692::
297:^
252:.
236:,
209:,
162:.
142:,
75:,
71:,
67:,
63:,
22:Ga
545:e
538:t
531:v
477:e
470:t
463:v
244:-
240:-
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