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Uranophane at Silver Cliff mine, Lusk, Wyoming

Bulletin 1009-A
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/b1009A

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Abstract

The uranium deposit at the Silver Cliff mine near Lusk, Wyo., consists primarily of uranophane which occurs as fracture fillings and small replacement pockets in faulted and fractured calcareous sandstone of Cambrian (?) age. The country rock in the vicinity of the mine is schist of pre-Cambrian age intruded by pegmatite dikes and is unconformably overlain by almost horizontal sandstone of Cambrian(?) age. The mine is on the southern end of the Lusk Dome, a local structure probably related to the Hartville uplift. In the immediate vicinity of the mine, the dome is cut by the Silver Cliff fault, a north-trending high-angle reverse fault about 1,200 feet in length with a stratigraphic throw of 70 feet. Uranophane, metatorbernite, pitchblende, calcite, native silver, native copper, chalcocite, azurite, malachite, chrysocolla, and cuprite have been deposited in fractured sandstone. The fault was probably mineralized throughout its length, but because of erosion, the mineralized zone is discontinuous. The principal ore body is about 800 feet long. The width and depth of the mineralized zone are not accurately known but are at least 20 feet and 60 feet respectively. The uranium content of material sampled in the mine ranges from 0.001 to 0.23 percent uranium, whereas dump samples range from 0.076 to 3.39 percent uranium.
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Uranophane at Silver Cliff mine, Lusk, Wyoming
Series title Bulletin
Series number 1009
Chapter A
ISBN 060763815X
DOI 10.3133/b1009A
Edition -
Year Published 1954
Language ENGLISH
Description p. 1-12
Larger Work Type Report
Larger Work Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Larger Work Title Contributions to the geology of uranium, 1953-54
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