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Kelsey Mining District, El Dorado County, California, USAi
Regional Level Types
Kelsey Mining DistrictMining District
El Dorado CountyCounty
CaliforniaState
USACountry

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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
38° North , 120° West (est.)
Estimate based on other nearby localities or region boundaries.
Margin of Error:
~58km
Mindat Locality ID:
209220
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:209220:4
GUID (UUID V4):
0


Location: The Kelsey district is in northwestern El Dorado County, 5 miles N of Placerville. It is that portion of the Mother Lode gold belt that extends from the vicinity of the town of Kelsey northwest to Garden Valley.

History: This area was placer-mined soon after James Marshall's gold discovery in 1848 at Coloma, a few miles to the west. The camp was first settled by, and named for Benjamin Kelsey. Marshall spent his last days at Kelsey, and a building on his property once housed a pioneer museum. There was much lode mining from the 1860's through the early 1900's and again in the 1930's. Some intermittent work has been done recently at the Black Oak mine.

Geology and Ore Deposits: A northwest-trending two-mile-wide belt of gray to black slate of the Mariposa Formation (Upper Jurassic) is in the central portion of the district, with greenstone, slate, graphite schist, and quartzite to the west. Amphibolite, slate, and schist lie to the east. Serpentine lenses are also present both to the east and west. The ore deposits occur in quartz veins with numerous stringers. The veins range from one to 10 feet in thickness. Nearly half of the known output of some of the mines has been from small but extremely rich ore shoots. None of the mines has been worked to depths of more than 600 feet.

Mines: Big Four, Big Sandy ($100,000+), Black Oak ($1.2 to 5 million), Gopher Hill, Gray Eagle, Hart, Ida Livingston, Kelsey ($100,000+), Lady Emma, St. Clair, Veerkamp, War Eagle, and Yuba.

Select Mineral List Type

Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region.


Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

11 valid minerals.

Detailed Mineral List:

โ“˜ Albite
Formula: Na(AlSi3O8)
โ“˜ Ankerite
Formula: Ca(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2
โ“˜ Calcite
Formula: CaCO3
โ“˜ Chalcopyrite
Formula: CuFeS2
โ“˜ 'Feldspar Group'
โ“˜ Galena
Formula: PbS
โ“˜ Graphite
Formula: C
Description: Occurs as graphitic slate.
โ“˜ Native Gold
Formula: Au
Localities: Reported from at least 49 localities in this region.
โ“˜ Pyrite
Formula: FeS2
โ“˜ Quartz
Formula: SiO2
Localities: Reported from at least 44 localities in this region.
โ“˜ 'Serpentine Subgroup'
Formula: D3[Si2O5](OH)4
โ“˜ Siderite
Formula: FeCO3
โ“˜ Talc
Formula: Mg3Si4O10(OH)2
Description: Occurs as soapstone and in talcose schist.

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 1 - Elements
โ“˜Native Gold1.AA.05Au
โ“˜Graphite1.CB.05aC
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts
โ“˜Chalcopyrite2.CB.10aCuFeS2
โ“˜Galena2.CD.10PbS
โ“˜Pyrite2.EB.05aFeS2
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides
โ“˜Quartz4.DA.05SiO2
Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates
โ“˜Calcite5.AB.05CaCO3
โ“˜Siderite5.AB.05FeCO3
โ“˜Ankerite5.AB.10Ca(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2
Group 9 - Silicates
โ“˜Talc9.EC.05Mg3Si4O10(OH)2
โ“˜Albite9.FA.35Na(AlSi3O8)
Unclassified
โ“˜'Feldspar Group'-
โ“˜'Serpentine Subgroup'-D3[Si2O5](OH)4

List of minerals for each chemical element

HHydrogen
Hโ“˜ TalcMg3Si4O10(OH)2
Hโ“˜ Serpentine SubgroupD3[Si2O5](OH)4
CCarbon
Cโ“˜ AnkeriteCa(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2
Cโ“˜ CalciteCaCO3
Cโ“˜ GraphiteC
Cโ“˜ SideriteFeCO3
OOxygen
Oโ“˜ AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
Oโ“˜ AnkeriteCa(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2
Oโ“˜ CalciteCaCO3
Oโ“˜ QuartzSiO2
Oโ“˜ SideriteFeCO3
Oโ“˜ TalcMg3Si4O10(OH)2
Oโ“˜ Serpentine SubgroupD3[Si2O5](OH)4
NaSodium
Naโ“˜ AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
MgMagnesium
Mgโ“˜ AnkeriteCa(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2
Mgโ“˜ TalcMg3Si4O10(OH)2
AlAluminium
Alโ“˜ AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
SiSilicon
Siโ“˜ AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
Siโ“˜ QuartzSiO2
Siโ“˜ TalcMg3Si4O10(OH)2
Siโ“˜ Serpentine SubgroupD3[Si2O5](OH)4
SSulfur
Sโ“˜ ChalcopyriteCuFeS2
Sโ“˜ GalenaPbS
Sโ“˜ PyriteFeS2
CaCalcium
Caโ“˜ AnkeriteCa(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2
Caโ“˜ CalciteCaCO3
FeIron
Feโ“˜ AnkeriteCa(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2
Feโ“˜ ChalcopyriteCuFeS2
Feโ“˜ PyriteFeS2
Feโ“˜ SideriteFeCO3
CuCopper
Cuโ“˜ ChalcopyriteCuFeS2
AuGold
Auโ“˜ Native GoldAu
PbLead
Pbโ“˜ GalenaPbS

Localities in this Region

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

North AmericaContinent
North America PlateTectonic Plate
USA

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