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| Mineralized terrains and mining districts in Wyoming from Hausel (1997). |
Located 6.5 miles northwest of Encampment Wyomng at Puzzler Hill. Puzzler Hill is formed of a pyroxenite massif hosted by Late Archean gneiss north of the Cheyenne Belt suture zone. The extent of the complex has not been determined as the complex continues to the northeast under sedimentary cover. Anomalous platinum, palladium and nickel were discovered in 1995 but the property remains unevaluated for these mineral resources.
Puzzler Hill is an ultramafic massif with sporadic highly anomalous mineralization located in sections 24, 26, 35 & 36. The pyroxenite (CO1-94) and associated actinolite-chlorite schist (CO5-94) country rock are highly magnesian (Hausel, 1995b).
Oxide/Element Sample number
(Weight percent) CO1-94 CO5-94
SiO2 45.5 48.75
TiO2 0.59 0.44
Al2O3 8.48 8.57
Fe2O3 11.76 12.09
MnO 0.17 0.19
MgO 19.39 16.43
CaO 8.01 6.65
Na2O 0.83 0.79
K2O 0.07 0.09
P2O5 0.05 <0.03
Cr2O3 0.35 0.28
LOI 3.59 4.24
TOTAL 98.79 98.52
Au (ppb) 3 14
Pt (ppb) 8 <5
Pd (ppb) 15 8
Cu (ppm) 159 248
Ni (ppm) 343 178
Co (ppm) 29 28
Other samples collected from the massif from28 a small group of mines and prospects also contained anomalous metals. The samples yielded 0.01% to 4.43% Cu, 66 ppm to 3.72% Ni, 14 ppb to 0.29 opt Au, <5 ppb to 0.027 opt Pt, 5 ppb to 0.12 opt Pd, <0.1 ppm to 0.19 opt Ag, 21 ppm to 831 ppm Co, 64 ppm to 294 ppm Cr, and trace lead and zinc. These samples included limonite-stained breccia (CO2-94) from a mine dump in the S/2 section 26 that yielded anomalous copper, nickel, platinum and palladium. Samples of massive specular and earthy hematite with copper carbonate, minor bornite and chalcopyrite in chlorite-actinolite-talc schist from the Charter Oak mine dump (CO3-94 and CO4-94) yielded anomalous copper and gold. A sample (CO6-94) of quartz breccia cemented by sideritic limonite with fuchsite collected from a mine dump in the center of section 26 was poorly mineralized.
Assays from the Puzzler Hill massif (Hausel, 1995b).
Sample Cu Ni Co Cr Au Pt Pd Ag Pb Zn
No (%) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppb) (ppb) (ppb) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm)
CO2-94 4.43 37200 831 244 95 828 4042 2.9 57 55
CO3-94 3.52 66 27 71 7718 <5 11 3.8 10 14
CO4-94 2.39 127 82 64 9862 <5 14 6.6 9 9
CO6-94 0.01 162 21 294 14 <5 5 <0.1 - -
Early reports suggested that the mine was located in a northerly-trending, easterly-dipping quartz vein on the east side of a broad synform in granite-gneiss, schist and diorite country rock. The vein contains iron- and copper-sulfides which impregnate the fractured country rock. Chalcopyrite, chalcocite, bornite and azurite were identified in a gangue of quartz, jasperoid, schistose wall rock, calcite and some chalcedony (Spencer, 1904). Some high-grade gold was found on the property (Beeler, 1905a) and some secularite from the Charter Oak mine dump is gem-quality and used to produce some attractive specularite cabochons with traces of copper (Hausel and Sutherland, 2000).
The mineralized zone was traced 2 miles on the surface and varied in width from 14 feet at the Charter Oak shaft (section 24, T15N, R85W) to 100 feet elsewhere. Where the mineralized structure is widest, the ore apparently consisted of quartz stringers mixed with low grade material. An open cut near the top of Puzzler Hill showed a "huge ledge of mineralized diorite" stained with copper-carbonate (Beeler, 1906g). It has been reported that the Charter Oak also has some cobalt (as much as 4 to 5% Co) (Armstrong, 1970), although we were unable to verify these high values even though anomalous cobalt was detected in our samples (Hausel, 1995b).
