Results of diamond drilling at the Silver Cliff Mine, Lusk, Wyoming
The Silver Cliff Mine is located in Sec. 7, T. 32 N., R. 63 W., one-half mile west of the town of Lusk, Niobrara County, Wyoming. The mine, a silver and copper producer from 1880 to 1886, was first worked for uranium by E.D. Lorimer from 1919 to 1922. Subsequent uranium mining was done by the Wyoming Uranium Corporation in 1951 and 1952; and Edmund Key Interests and Joel L. Starnes, each working separate leases, during the winter of 1952 and 1953. The rocks at the mine are a pre-Cambrian schist capped by 100 feet of Cambrian quartzite. All of the uranium production at the mine has come from this quartzite. A 65/sup 0/ to 70/sup 0/ reverse fault, called the Silver Cliff Fault, has displaced the foot wall quartzite a maximum of 70 feet downwards. Mesothermal solutions rising along this fault, deposited primary silver, copper, and uranium minerals in the favorable quartzite. Later oxidation formed the present secondary deposits, of which uranophane is the only commercially important mineral now found. The drilling was designed to explore the Silver Cliff Fault for possible uranium ore mineralization below the oxidized zone. A total of 2677.5 feet in 9 holes was drilled by the Special Minerals Branch of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Core recovery in these holes averaged 98.5 percent and 160 shifts were worked. Drilling commenced on December 5, 1952, and was completed on March 26, 1953. The Silver Cliff Fault was intersected at depths of 100 to 400 feet below the lowest presently accessible workings. Minor anomalies were detected in holes 1 through 5, both on a gamma ray probe and in the core, but none were of commercial size or grade.
- Research Organization:
- Department of Energy, Grand Junction, CO (USA). Grand Junction Office
- OSTI ID:
- 6655112
- Report Number(s):
- RME-1002; TRN: 78-017045
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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