Dover Mining District, New Jersey, USAi

Regional Level Types
Dover Mining District	Mining District
New Jersey	State
USA	Country

The New Jersey Highlands, and its extentions into adjacent New York and Pennsylvania, are littered with iron deposits and the mines that exploited them. Most of the ores are dominated by magnetite and most of the mines were small. The bulk of production came from 3 areas, Oxford, the Dover area and Ringwood.

The Dover District, as defined by Sims (1958), is an area of about 80 square miles although firm reasons for its limits are not given. Most of the area, like the Highlands generally, had numerous small mines and prospects. The central part of the district contained 4 large mines, Mount Hope, Hibernia, Richard and Scrub Oaks. The Hibernia mine became extinct in 1916 but the other 3 operated until the late 1950's to mid 1960's. The Mount Hope mine was reactivated briefly in 1977 and produced a small amount of ore as a byproduct of a short lived hydropower project.

I don't see any point in filling space here with discriptive and geologic copy when there is a voluminous literature readily accessible for those who are interested. For descriptions of the various mines the older texts are best, starting with Bailey (1910) and Sims (1953,1958). For supporting information from other areas see Kastelic (1977) and Hotz (1952).

Concerning the more technical aspects, the study and understanding of the geology of the Precambrian metamorphic rocks of the region has made very substantial advances in the past 25 years. The recognition of a probable back-arc environment combined with detailed analytical studies has enhanced the understanding of the genesis of the ore deposits of the entire region. Some recent key papers are Matt (2017), Volkert, et al (2010), Peck (2009).

Fossils

This region is too big or complex to display the fossil list, try looking at smaller subregions.

Localities in this Region

Other Regions, Features and Areas that Intersect

References