The author near old Sutherland mine shaft |
The Tin Cup district (also Black Rock-Long Creek district) is located in the western portion of the Granite Mountains (T30 and 31N, R92 and 93W). Find this district by searching 42o38’53”N; 107o53’00”W on GoogleEarth or FlashEarth. You will see a large, triangular-shaped fragment of dark Archean supracrustal rocks with nearby, linear, dark-colored northeasterly-trending mafic (basaltic) dikes. This entire area is complexly deformed and metamorphosed and likely hosts undiscovered jasper, massive sulfide, ruby, sapphire, diamond and other gemstone deposits. If you study the area with aerial photos, many white pegmatitic and gneissic dikes are apparent in the darker country rock. These help to outline some very complex folding: both open and isoclinal folds are evident.
Copper-stained quartzite, Tin Cup |
Zoisite after ruby from the Red Dwarf schist. Some of the original ruby is preserved in this specimen. |
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Map of the Tin Cup district (from Hausel, 1997). |
A group of samples of hematite-stained quartz, cupriferous schist, low-grade banded iron formation and limonite-stained quartz breccia veins yielded 188 ppm to >2.0% Cu, none to 551 ppm Pb, 20 to 253 ppm Zn, 5 to 14 ppm Mo, 20 to 342 ppm As, 0.6 to 14 ppm Sb, none to 0.351 ppm Hg, none to 0.9 ppm Ag, and none to 10 ppb Au (Hausel, personal field notes, 1994).
Reported occurrences
Anderson Mine (SE SE section 13, T31N, R93W). One mile north of Tin Cup Springs. Gold was detected in N80oE-trending, south-dipping quartz veins in schist (Love, 1970).
Wayne Sutherland point to shear zone exposed in shaft wall. In background is a prospect in red jasper |
King Solomon Claim (Section 36, T31N, R92W). Limonite and malachite-stained veins trend northeasterly. Assays of the vein material were reported at 0.1 to 0.88 opt Au (Beeler, 1907a).
Lone Tree claims. Located east of the Queen Sheba claims. A shallow shaft cut a wide ledge of oxidized iron and quartz. Both copper and iron sulfides were noted in the 20- to 30-foot-wide ledge. One sample assayed 15% Cu and 3.5 opt Au (Beeler, 1907a).
Queen Sheba claims. Beeler (1907a) reported this property to lie somewhere on the west end of the district. A shallow shaft was sunk on a huge copper- and iron-stained quartz ledge.
The author stands in prospect pit dug in jasper. |
Some of the extraordinary banded jasper at Tin Cup. Specimens weighing several hundred pounds were found in prospect pits and mines in the district. |
Prospect Pit TC28-95 (NE section 26, T31N, R93W). A short distance to the west of TC27-95, minor copper stains were found in breccia. A select sample yielded 0.29% Cu and a trace of lead and zinc (Hausel, 1996a).
Prospect Pit TC41-95 (NW section 19, T31N, R92W). Butterscotch and red jasper has vugs filled with botroyoidal quartz in graphitic schist. A sample of schist with jasper yielded 0.13% Cu, 694 ppm Zn, 43 ppm Pb, 11 ppm Mo and 86 ppm As (Hausel, 1996a).
Prospect Shaft TC42-95 (NW section 19, T31N, R92W). One thousand feet to the northeast of TC41-95 is a shallow 8-foot deep prospect that exposed granular quartz in an iron-stained schist. A sample of the schist yielded 0.22% Cu, 336 ppm Zn, 26 ppm Pb, 38 ppm Mo and 65 ppm As (Hausel, 1996a).
Red Boy (Sutherland) Mine (Section 36, T31N, R93W). Massive pyrite is found in hematitic iron formation that was exposed in a shaft. According to the Prosepctus of the Emigrant Mining Company (June 12, 1938) samples from this mine assayed 0.04 to 0.46 opt Au. Samples collected from the bottom of the shaft contained 0.4 opt Au and 23 opt Ag (Love, 1970). Several samples of the massive pyrite were collected to verify these results, in 1983, but none contained detectable gold suggesting that the earlier assays may be questionable (W.D. Hausel, personal field notes).
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Mining Districts and Mineralized Terrains (after Hausel, 1997). |