Elizabeth Mine

The Elizabeth Mine was a copper mine located on the town line between the Town of Strafford and the Town of Thetford, in Orange County, Vermont.

Elizabeth Mine
Location
Elizabeth Mine
LocationStrafford / Thetford, Orange County
StateVermont
CountryUnited States
Coordinates43°48′46″N 72°20′06″W
Production
ProductsCopper
Typeopen-pit, underground
History
Opened1809 (1809)
Closed1957
Superfund site
Information
CERCLIS IDVTD988366621
ContaminantsMine tailings, metals, sulfides
Progress
ProposedDecember 1, 2000
ListedJune 14, 2001
List of Superfund sites
View of tailing and waste rock capped storage and barren ground next to the north cut.

The ore deposit was discovered in 1793, but mining did not start until 1809. Open pit mining and from 1886 underground mining was conducted. The mine produced up to 8,500,000 pounds (3,900,000 kg) of copper (1954) and was closed in 1957.

Due to acid mine drainage the west branch of the Ompompanoosuc River was polluted. Since 2000 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources have been developing a plan to clean up the area.[1][2]

Geology

The ore deposits at the Elizabeth Mine represent classic examples of sedimentary exhalative type deposition where hydrothermal fluids enter the marine environment and precipitate out minerals in a strataform ore body.[3][4][5] The ores are hosted in the strongly deformed Lower Devonian Guile Mountain Formation (a grey to dark grey mica schist). The ore body at the Elizabeth Mine is a massive sulfide deposit consisting primarily of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite.

See also

References
  1. Hammarstrom, J. M.; Seal, R. R., II; Ouimetter, A. P.; Foster, S. A. (2001). "Sources of metals and acidity at the Elizabeth and Ely mines". Society of Economic Geologists guidebook Series. 35: 213–248.
  2. Seal, R. R., II; Hammarstrom, J. M.; Slack, J. F.; Hathaway, E. M.; Lovely, W. P.; Kierstead, M. A. (2001). "Introduction: environmental geochemistry and mining history of massive sulfide deposits in the Vermont copper belt". Society of Economic Geologists Guidebook Series. 35: 115–117.
  3. Deb, M. (2004). Sediment Hosted Lead-Zinc Sulphide Deposits. CRC Press. p. 367.
  4. Slack, J. F.; Offield, T. W.; Woodruff, L. G.; Shanks, W. C., III (2001). "Geology and geochemistry of Besshi-type massive sulfide deposits of the Vermont copper belt". Society of Economic Geologists Guidebook Series. 35: 193–211.
  5. Offield, T. W.; Slack, J. F. (1993). "Structure and origin of the Ely copper deposit, east- central Vermont". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 2039: 59–68.
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