Volume 15
Mining Geology
by
JOSEPH
T. SINGEWALD,
JR.
Geology,
Profe-sor o f Economic
The Johns H o p k ~ n sUnibersit).
Committee o n Mining Geology
Chairman,
T
HE year 1933 is outstanding in
the number of important contributions made to the literature of
economic and mining geology. .Publications of the Institute have contributed greatly to this record. Much
of the literature is in the nature of
stock-taking and appraisal of achievements in the field and coordination of
more widely scattered knowledge.
To the Posepny and Emmons volumes, the Institute has added the Lindgren volume. The former were primarily memorial volumes and reprinted contributions to the science
that had been already published elsewhere. The Lindgren volume, as a
testimonial to Waldemar Lindgren,
has been especially written to present
the actual status of the science of ore
deposits, to set forth the
that
are now confronting the economic geologist, and to show the way in which
he is attacking them and the progress
that he has made. Under the supervision of a committee of 'six, of \vhich
Prof. John W e l l i n ~ o nFinch is chairman, the book was written by 44 geolcgists actively engaged in problelns of
ore genesis. It is unquestionably the
most important publication in this
field that has appeared in a long
time. Problems in ore genesis discussed are classification, physicalchemical factors. differentiation, hyclrothermal depth zones, relation of
ore deposition to stratigraphy, stlucture and igneous geologp, association
of lodes with granite batholiths, correlation between mineralization and
kinds of igneous rocks. supergene enrichment, and sedimentary deposits.
There are chapters on utilization of geology by mining companies, geology
as related to western mining, influence
of mining in the western United States,
and a description of western ore deposits by genetic types. Preceding the
Lindgren volunle by o ~ l l ytwo months,
was a fourth revised edition of Lindgren's "Mineral Deposits," a testbook
and reference book that has had no
peer since the appearance of the first
edition in 1913.
An appropriate colnpanion to the
"Ore Deposits of the Western States"
(the Lindgren volume) is "Mineral
Deposits of the Canadian Shield," by E.
L. Bruce. Discussions of the magma,
the relations of mineral deposits to
igneous masses, the formation of minerals, replacement, and rock alteration
are followed by short descriptions of
the geology and mineral deposits of
the Canadian shield grouped under
geologic-geographic sub-provinces.
Another Institute book of unusual
interest to the mining geologist is
"The Porphyry Coppers," by A. B.
Parsons. Though a historical and
technical record of achievement in
mining geology, mining and metallurgy, as well as finance, the story is
as fascinating as a novel. Chapters
011 each one of the 12 porphyry copper companies are accompanied by
special chapters on what was accomplished in the many technical lines
i n ~ o l \ ~ ein
d the development of these
deposits. The sustained interest in
the Far East makes welcome the secolld and enlarged edition of "Ores and
Industry in the Far East," by H. F.
Bain with a chapter on petroleum by
Dr. B. Heroy.
0"
great interest
mining geologists were the international congresses. Excursions of the sixteenth International Geological Congress during
July and August carried American
and foreign ~nininggeologists to most
of the important mining districts of the
United States. The guidebooks ],repared for these excursions make available up-to-date concise descriptions of
them. At the fifth Pacific Science
Congress in June there was a symposiuln on the lead and zinc resources of
the Pacific countries which \vill be
published in the Proceedings of tlle
Congress earlv in 1934.
,
Much attention was att~actedby the
economic geology exhibit at the Century of Progress which had as its ohjects to show: (1) that in 1933, in
contrast to 1833, we are living in a
mineral age and (21 the advance of
geology from a position of no practical importance in 1833 to one of
great industrial importance in 1933.
Gold mining was the only large
branch of the mining industry that
was boonling during 1933 and tlle
world-wide search for new gold deposits continued. The situation is reflected in the large number of papers
~ ~ u b l i s h eduring
d
the year describing
gold deposits, especially in the
Canadian districts. Spectacular gold
occurrences in the Swayze district, '
wllicll was discovered late in 1931, i
are described by R. C. Rowe in the
C a 7 d i a n Milling Journal, and the geology of the district by William B.
Millar in MrNIN~A N D METALLIJRGP,
and by H. C. Rickaby in the BulletiI~
of the Canadian IllstitUte of Mining
Metallurgy. The latter publicstion also has a sullllnary of the Hallinger geology by L. C. Graton and H. E. McKinstry, and the November
issue
the Engineering and Mining
Journal is devoted to the McIntyre
Porcupine
A brief paper
by C. W. Knight on central Canada's
gold belts in the Canadian Mining
Journal is a convenient rCsumk of the
Ontario-Quebec region and includes a
useful index map showing the positions df the principal mines.
TIle remarkable use of the airplane
in gold-mining operations in New
Guinea has aroused nluc]l interest in
its gold deposits.
TIley are described by H. ~~~l~~~ and 1.
Marley in the ~ ~ l lof ~thet Institution
i ~ ~ of
&lining and Metallurgy.
An ilnportant contribution to the clle&stry
of supergene enrichment of gold and
silver by Roland Blanchard in the Engineering and Mining Jozcrrzal deternlilles the influence of manganesebearing waters on the lnigrntion of
gold and silver by means of a series
of assays in mine workings in N~~
~
~
i
~
~
~
w.
.
THEalla
genesis of copper ores low
in sulfur
iron leceived further
attention ill a paper b y E. S. ti^^ ill
~ ~ ~ ~~ ~
~ ,~on, 6 l,. ~i~cllalcocite
1 ~~ ~ ~
, ,
and jyative
T~~~~of
D ~ pos;ts.~ ~~~~i~~
divides these deposits
into five geologic groups: ( 1 )
(2) ~~d bed deposits, ( 3 )
Mansfeld kupferschiefer, (4'1 ~ a k k
superior and
(5) K
~
~l~~~ fall into two
genetic
groups. TI^^ first three are tile result
of the
of iron and sulfur frolll
standard copper ores by surface ],rocesses. TIle fourtll resulted from their
removal by interaction of the mineralizing solutions with the wall rock.
The fifth map belong to the same
genetic group as the fourth. Large '
copper
c
ore
s ~ ~ , ~ ~
~
~
~
~
~
January, 1934
M IN lNG AND METALLURGY
9
ask^
copper-iron sulfide deposits discovered
at. Cape Smith on Hudson Bay late
in 1932 are described by W. B. Airth
in the Canadian Mining Journal.
Triassic mineralization in the Middle
Atlantic States is discussed 6y W. 0.
Hickok and W. H. Newhouse i n .
Econonzic . Geology. Hickok gives
much. detailed information concerning
the mineralogy of theCornwal1, Pennsylvania, iron-ore deposits and considers the genesis: of this contact metamorphic deposit. Newhouse recog-nizes a zonal distribution of the iron
and copper deposits of the Triassic
area of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
awakened in these problems during the by Sanluel G.
and Thonlas Pelvisit of the Geological Congress ex- tier Wootton, on "The Metal Recursion to this- district in July under sources of New Mexico and Their Ecothe able leadership of Mr. Fowler.
nonlic Features." Ernest F. Burchard
Two presidential addresses of the presents a general sumnlary of the
Society of Econo~nic Geologists ap- sources of the ores of iron and ferropeared in Econonric Geology. "The alloy metals in the Journal of ChenriDepth Zones in Ore Deposition," by cal Education.
L. C. Graton, recognizes besides the
The depths of the deepest ..mines
three accepted zones, hypothernlal, have increased rapidly in recent years,
mesothermal, and epithermal, two ad- as interest in the maximum depth
ditional 'zones, the leptothernlal and achievable is aroused. Problems of
the telethermal. Their positions are mining at great depths are discussed
below And above a more sharply de- by S. J: Truscott in the Mining Magaliniited epithermal' zone. The paper zine and in Nature. The Morro Velho .
also e~nphasizesthe great maximum mine in Brazil has again passed the
vertical range of the depth zones. B. deepest Rand mines, with a depth of
N example of 'the application of S. Butler's address on "Ore Deposits 8040 ft. Underground temperatures
geology as a'guide to the solution of the United States i n ' Their Rela- and underground waters are considof treatment problenls is described in tion to Geologic Cycles" is appropri- ered. In this connection attention
Contribution No. 20, A. I. M. E., in ately supplemented by the symposiunl d~.ouldbe called to a paper by A. C.$
which Broderick shows that a geo- o f t h e Mining Geology session at the Lane in "The Mineral Industry Durlogical classification of Michigan iron February meeting of the Institute on ing 1895," on "How Deep Can We
ores is of practical value in judging the structural .control of ore deposi- Mine?" in which he predicted a depth
their concentration possibilities.
tion. Two papers of this symposium of 10,000 ft. as certainly attainable,
. A,'number of 'papers dealing with published are "~ectonic Position of and 15,000 ft. probably attainable in
the &ononlic aspects of nlining geol- , O r e Deposits in the Rocky Mountaih rich deposits.
Advances in technique in the microogy were published during the year, Region,".by Paul Billingsley and Admost of them centering around the gustus Locke (T. P. No. 501); and scopic study of ores are recorded by
gold problem. The most factual 'con- "Structural Associations of Cert'ain M. H. Haycock and J. E. Appel in
tribution is by Scott Turner in MINING Metalliferous Deposits in Southwest- Econo~nic Geology.
Haycock deAND METALLURGY
on "The State of ern United States and Northern Mexi- scribes the application of the quartz
the Institute and of the Mineral In- co," by Harrison Schmitt .(%ontrib. spectrograph to the study of opaque
. minerals which enables the qualitative
dustries," in which the output of the No. 38.)
principal mineral products in the
. .
recognition of minerals occurring in .
United States in 1930, 1931, and 1932
ILLTNGSLEY a n d Locke find that very anal1 amounts and to some devulcanism intrusion, and mineral- gree the quantitative determination of
is compared with the average output
during the period 1925-1929 and the ization, are closely related phenomena tI1.e elements present. Appel describes
production of these substances in the that are localized ,where the Tertiary a method of preparing nitrocellulose
United States i s co~npared with the thrust - belt involves Paleozoic and films on'which are impressed the texworld pioduction during the period . Pre-Cambrian rocks along anticlinal lures of ores. and yhich are particular1921-1931. These tables and graphs axes and has cut' deep into the earth's ly \~1'111ablein the study of soft ores
show clearly the effect of the depres- crust. Schmitt considers Inore local because enough of the substance adsion on the various branches of the a n d immediate structural' features, that heres to the fill11 to reproduce not only
mineral industry in this country and determine the location of nlining dis- the texture but also the colors of the
how they fared in compariso~l ~vith,tricts and the positions of ore shoots. constituents.
Preparation of the ground-breaking
the rest of the world.
consiclered essenMONG the foreign contributions
The genesis of the Tri-State ore de- and brecciation-is
posits continued to be debated in Eco- tial to ore deposition and esplains the
there is "Le Gite d'Uraniun1 de
nornic Geology., Fowler and Lyden re- uriiversal association of o.re deposits Shinkolobwe-Kasolo" (M61noires, Inplied to Leith's paper of 1932 on with localized structural features. The stitut Colonial Belge) by J. Th.oreau,
"The Structure of the Wisconsin and practical value of a correct determina- which describes the geology and gives
Tri-State Lead and Zinc Deposits," in tion of the genetic significance of many
of the ores of
which he advocated a superficial minerals associated with ores is illus- this deposit that has-supplied most of
origin of the chert breccias, by re- trated in the paper by J. K. Gustaf- the world's radium for more than a
affir~nirlgtheir arguments in support son in Economic Geology on "Meta- decade. The tectonics and the genesis
of th.e hydrothern1al origin of the niorphism and Hydrotllerinal Altera- of the sulfide. bed in the classic Harz
chert and its brecciation by tectonic tion of the Homestake Gold-bearing Mountain Ralnmelsberg district are
.
.
forces. Tar: later agreed with. Fowler Formation."
discussed by W. E. Schmidt (Zeit fiir
A useful state publication bringing Berg-, Hiitten- und Salineniuesen) wh.0
and Lyden and Weidman as to the
origin of the ~nineralizing up to date in much more detail the elaborates the novel theory of Hanrsolutions but lnaintained that the chert section on New Mexico in U. S. Ge- mann that a preexistent sedin~e~ltary
is syngenetic and that the breccias are- ological Survey Bulletin 507, is Bul- sulfide orebody was squeezed into its
solution breccias. Much interest. was letin 7, New Mexico School of Mines, present position. Pentti Eskola (Bul'
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