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| Report of Investigations 44 on the geology and mineralization of the South Pass greenstone belt, Wyoming (photo by Wayne Sutherland). |
{Revised 2/9/2022}.
It was an affirmation and dream to map the entire South Pass granite-greenstone belt and all accessible mines back when I was employed as a research geologist at the Wyoming Geological Survey on the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie. I'm not sure why this became such a powerful affirmation - maybe I was a reincarnated gold miner from the 19th century? But, if I had the chance, I was going to spend a lot of time in a tent at South Pass. I could even see myself retiring, buying a 12-gauge to keep bureaucrats away, and buying a retirement cabin to live in at Atlantic City or South Pass City. But the latter never happened.
However, I did get the opportunity to live in a tent, map eight 1:24,000 scale quadrangles, produce a report of investigations on the greenstone belt and compile a 1:48,000 scale geological map of the entire greenstone belt and its mining districts and mines. What a great time! And there are so many people I thank for the opportunity who were acknowledged in my book on the greenstone belt (Hausel, 1991, p. 3-4).
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| Gold book, published in 2011, discusses gold deposit discovered at the Carissa mine. |
During mapping and sampling of the Carissa mine in the South Pass greenstone belt of Wyoming, it was discovered that the mine sits on a major shear structure that is over 1,000 feet wide and is likely mineralized throughout this structure for a minimum of 1,000 feet and likely greater. High-grade gold was identified by sampling and drilling by various mining companies to a depth of 970 feet, and low-grade gold was identified in the large, shear envelope, during mapping of this area by Professor Hausel. At today's gold price, this mine likely contains commercial gold that could be mined by a small open pit and underground operation. Even the gold found in the wide, low-grade shear envelop is comparable to gold values mined in some of Nevada's open pit gold mines. The type of structural control on this ore deposit suggests it is likely to be mineralized to depths more than a thousand feet, to possibly several thousand feet!
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| A quiet town, South Pass City sits adjacent to the Carissa. |
Even though this is likely a multi-million ounce gold deposit, the State of Wyoming purchase the property from private claim owners and then withdrew the property including it within the South Pass City historical site without considering the significant gold potential. This, and the withdrawal of adjacent Willow Creek which cuts the Carissa shear, likely confiscated considerable gold wealth ($billions in gold) and jobs from the Wyoming public. This is sad, as the Carissa is likely the best gold deposit in Wyoming. Other potentially commercial gold deposit in the state include Rock Creek, Kurtz-Chatterton, Copper King, Bear Lodge Mountains, Penn Mines in the Seminoe Mountains, and various mineralized breccias in the Rattlesnake Hills, Wyoming.
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| quartz with visible gold, South Pass, Wyoming |
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| Milky quartz breccia with visible gold in all of the vugs! Every time I led a field trip to the Carissa mine, at least one person found a spectacular sample with visible gold. And I led many field trips to the old mine. I don't know of any other mine where it was guaranteed someone would find some gold. |
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| silicified amphibolite with visible gold |
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| The Carissa mine as it appeared in 2010 with my son, Eric Hausel |
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| The exposed Carissa mine shear zone with geologist (Jon King) on right side of photo for scale. Photo by the author, taken in the 1980s. |
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| One of dozens of field trips to South Pass. The author stands in photo center speaking to group (photo by Dave Miller). |
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