i .¥.•• WASHINGTON GEOLOGIC NEWSLETTER January 1981 Volume 9 Number l NEW QUARTERS OF WASHINGTON DIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND EARTH RESOURCES Inside Entronce Reception Area Library Geologist's Office Cartographic Room Spectrograph ic Room X-ray Room BRIAN J. BOYLE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS RALPH A. BESWICK, Supe.-visor VAUGHN E. LIVINGSTON, Ji\., Stole Goologi,t DEPARTMENT Of NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION Of GEOlOGY ANO EARTH RESOURCES • &., Mortin Woy 1- 5 t N SoUlh Sound II • C C i Moll .... St. Ma rtini .. Coll~o• ..0 in Mailing address: Deportment of Noturol Resources Division of Geology ond Earth Resources Olympia, WA 98504 (206) 753-6183 Division Manager Vaughn E. (Ted) Livingston, Jr, Assistant Division Managers Donald M. Ford and J. Eric Schuster Geologists Bonnie Bunning Josh Logan Wayne S~ Moen James G. Rigby Ellis R . Vonheeder Allen J. Fiksdal Carl R . McFarland Will iam Phillips Keith Stoffel Timothy J. Walsh Mike Korosec Glennda B. Mc Lucas Weldon W. Rau Gerald W. Thorsen Librarian Secretaries Laboratory Cartographers Pub Iicat ions Connie Manson Pamela Whitlock Arnold Bowman Keith Ikerd Laura Bray Anne Marie Bammert Mark Macleod Wanda Walker Loretta Andrake Anne Curtis Janet Miller The Washington Geologic Newsletter, a quarterly report of geologic articles, is published by the Division of Geology and Earth Resources, Department of Natural Resources. The newsletter ts free upon request. The division also publishes bulletins, information circulars, and geologic maps. A list of these publications will be sent upon request. • • .' NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN MINERALS AND ENERGY WASHINGTON STATE 1980 by Bonnie Butler Bunning!/ Metallic Mineral Exploration The 1980 level of mining and exploration followed by at least 13 in Stevens County, 9 in in Washington varied with each commodity. Ferry County, 6 in Pend Oreille County, 2 each While 20 to 30 companies explored for uranium in Chelan, Spokane, Skamania, Snohomish, and in 1979, only an estimated 16 were active in Whatcom Counties, and at least 1 in Pierce and 1980, and of those, 50 percent were either King Counties (table 1) . Many others worked seeking venture partners or pulling out of general1y in the Okanogan Highlands and north Washington entirely . Many have been dis­ and south Cascade Mountains. couraged by the relatively low U 0 price and Washington Public Power Supply has per­ 3 8 the uncertain political future of nuclear power mane ntly discontinued all exploration in the generation. Gold and silver activity showed a state. Reserve Oil and Minerals has left north­ dramatic increase both in new hard rock mining east Washington for Albuquerque, New Mexico, projects and prospector activity, including small and Pathfinder Mines will be gone by 1981. dredging operations on the upper Columbia Cyprus Mines, taken over by Amoco in 1979, River and in streams of the Cascade Mountains. is operating the Spokane office with a minimum Substantial increase in recreation al gold panning staff. Rocky Mountain Energy has recently was noted also. Copper t!xploration attrac ted opened a Spokane office and is aggressively few newcomers this year and operations have pursuing uranium targets in the northeastern been carried at the maintenance level on several part of the state. Nord, I nc. is another new­ projects since 1979. Some new molybdenum ex­ comer to the Spokane area. ploration was initiated and several molybdenum Altogether a minimum of about 50 different targets were drilled across the state. New zinc­ companies were active in e xploration and mining lead exploration was moderate, while at sever al of metallic minerals in the 1980 season ( table 2) . old mines, geologists driUed new extensions to This figure does not include the many smaI1 buoy proven reserves while waiting optimisti­ placer operations. cally for the zinc price to rise to a 50 cent An estimat ed several hundred leases were minimum. held on s tate lands for mineral exploration. Okanogan County saw the most activity Hundreds more were committed to oil and gas with 14 companies reported working in the area, efforts. 1/ Geologist at Division of Geology and Earth Resources o(fice in Cheney . .. • Table 1.-1980 county index of metdllic mineral exploration Table 2.-Metallic mi ning exploration companies and mining activity active in Washington , 1980 County Company Curnmoc.1Lty A FM E><plorotion Joy Mining Co. Amal( lions Mines ltd. Chelan Beth~>. Cu.Mn Midnite Mines, Inc. Cyprus Mines Au Amoco Seor Creek ,'v\,ning Co. Minotome Corp. Ferry Amax Mo Bethex Mineral Associates BurW.:at l>b,Y.11 BurWest Occidental Perroleum Day Mines. lnc, /lu,/lg Chorlesron Re1our ces Pathfinder Mines Homeatak.c M111ing Co. u Phi llips Uranium Houston lntt1rui11llon'41 /lu,/lg Chevron Mmeral A5boci,Ltc:i LI Cominco Americon Inc Quintono Minerals Corp. Matt Oburs.bct.? AU,Al! Conoco Rexcon Rocky Min, Fncrgy u Cyprus Mines Rocky Mines /lu,Ag Rut,y Mines, luc. Down Mining Co- Rocky Mountain Energy WesL<!rn Nuclear u Doy Mines. Inc. Sabine Products, Inc. Klng Comtnco Am'-!riC:an lnc . Au Denison Mines, Inc. St. Joe Americon Corp. Duvol Corp. Teton Exploration Linco)n Rex.con u Eagle Mountain Mining Toledo Resources ltd . Union Carbide Okanogan AFM £"ploration Mo Energy Fuels Am.as: Mo Exxon Uni ted Mines Bear C rcc-k Mimn~ Co. Cu.Mo Gulf Resourcei Co. U.S. Borox Bi;tl,ex Cv1Mo Hom e stake Mining Co. Utah lnternotionol Ch\!Vt'Ofl u Housron lnternotlonol Minerols Wol loce Diamond Drilling Cyprus Au Oe.mson Mmes . lot:. u Corp . Weste,·n Nucleor, Inc. Ou,t•I Corp. Gu.Mo JNT-GPM En terprises West inghoure JNT-GPM Enterprises Au,Ag,Pb.211 Pathfinder u Phillip$ Ur..i.nlum u Qumt,ula Cu,Mo Rot...k.y ~Ont:s Ar. United Mines (;u,Mo Pend Oreille mine workings. The mine remains Pend Oreille Bul"Wcst u closec.l primarily due to the low price of zinc. Conoco LI Pb.Zn Culf Rusourcl.!s C(,lfP t Joe McNamee and others plan to open pit Homestake- Mioinl; Co. u .Toe McN;1mcc Pti,Zn.Cu . Ai; Joy M111111g Co. Pb,Zn the Old Rocky Creek mine on Seldom Seen Pierce: Amoco !vhucruls Au,Ag,Cu.Mu Mountain, 12 miles west of the T iger Town site. Skamania Amoco Mm(1rals Cu.Mo Dcniso11 Mjnes, lpc. Cu .Mu Two and a half million tons of lead-zinc and Snohomish Exxon C u,Mu silver ore have been identified. Grade is Occidental C u,Mv unknown _ Spokane Mineral Aasociate~ u Wcstin.g'hOU5U u Joy Mining. a mong others, also conducted Stevens Arbor Rc!:lourccs Lt<l. Ag lead- zinc drilling programs in the county. 1 Charlustuu R~oun:.L~ Ag E~g lto Mounl•trl In Stevens County production al the Miniog , loc. Cu Homet.tak.c Mining L:o. u Joe McNamvc Cu.W, Au Midnite mine continued at 960 tons per day of Joy Mirung u L·owdl W•:rncr Ag,Au,Pb,Sl>.Cu ore, grading .153 percent u o in mine and M.inat()mC. u 3 8 Newmont u stockpiles. Exploration drilling for extensions R,,oc.ky Mounta.m t:ncrgy u Sabine Products u Toledo Re-sour<;e;!!o Ltd. Cu,Mu of known ore bodies was carried out on the w~stern Nuclear lnc . u ------------- ------ ------- Midnite holdings around the mine. U.S. Borax Ag Whatcom 1 Lion~ Mines Au A few miles to the south, Western Nuclear s Unidentified locations Cominc.o Aml!.rican, lnc4 Au Minatome LI Sherwood mill maintained its 2,000 tons per day Teton Exploratlo11 u targe t capacity witl:: mill feed grading . 089 per­ cent u o . 3 8 Interest in Stevens County uranium pros­ New activity in Pend Oreille County was pects waned dramatically, though some new dominated by lead and zinc exploration, both in projects were initiated (fig . 1). Sabine Products, the Belt Series and in Kootenay Arc carbonate. a Texas firm. through Joy Mining made plans to rocks (fig . 1) . Gulf Resources Co. ran a modest heap leach a Flodelle Creek bog for uranium. drilling program on potential extensions of the Several other drilling, blasting , and mapping 2 • , . projects were carried out on hard r ock uranium production again from the Blue Grouse tungsten targets in the county by Rocky Mountain Energy, mine near Springdale . Western Nuclear, and others. Gold and copper exploration was reported Arbor Resources has taken over the near First Thought Mountain and Sand Greek i11 Melrose silver mine in the Northport area from the Orient area. Geophysics and drilling for Charleston Resources, both Vancouver corpora­ copper and tungsten were done on Minc1·al tions. An in-depth geologic study has begun Mountain in the same vicinity . A small custom there on the irregular polymetallic ore shoots in mill was built in Laurier to process local gold ore. quartz vt..:ins, grading an average or 25 ouncl:!S Significant progress ls being mad,· at the per ton in silver. Mount Tolman project in Ferry County (rig. l). Other activity in the Northport area in­ Final agreement is imminent with the Colville cluded lead-zinc exploration on Flagstaff Moun­ Indian Tribal Council and the final Environ­ tain by Houston International Minerals, and mental Impact Statement will be submitt<'d in geophysics by Toledo Resources on their Cop­ December . Construction on the mine and mill perfind p rospect, a bornile , chalcopyrite, and complex is expected to begin in mid-1981 with molybdenite occurrence. There was limited production following in 1983-84. Production will be at the rate of 60,000 tons per day on this 900-rnillion-ton ore body . Molybdenum Plnd)IS.Motoll °""""'.. grade is 0 . 10 percent with . 09 percent copper. ••••• The Knob Hill mine in Republic owned by Day Mines is enjoying the benefits of a g~neral PENO • Cal¥11.