Brendel and Gamble Mine (Copper Hill Mine; Copper Mtn. Mine; Brendel and Sullivan Mine), Crawford County, Missouri, USAi

Regional Level Types
Brendel and Gamble Mine (Copper Hill Mine; Copper Mtn. Mine; Brendel and Sullivan Mine)	Mine
Crawford County	County
Missouri	State
USA	Country

This mine is located 3 1/2 miles southeast of Sullivan in the extreme northeast corner of Crawford county. It is situated upon the crest and north face of a high hill which rises 230 feet above the flood plain of the Meramec river flowing at its base. The upper 100 feet of the hill is composed of Roubidoux sandstone, the outcrops of which, for the most part, dip toward the center of the hill, indicating the existence of a filled sink. The lower portion of the hill is composed of Gasconade limestone, the beds of which appear to be horizontal.

Mining has been conducted by means of two open cuts, which were made near the crest of the hill during the early 70's, and by two shafts sunk on the north face of the hill during the past few years. One cut is 130 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 20 feet deep, while the other is about half that size. From these cuts several thousand tons of red and specular ore have been taken. The ore is chiefly red hematite and is overlain by beds of ferruginous sandstone. Several small pits sunk in the vicinity of the larger cuts showed ore occurring under similar conditions.

Shafts Nos. 1 and 2, on the north slope of the hill, are 35 and 140 feet deep respectively. The bottom of shaft No. 1 and the 100 foot level of shaft No. 2 are also reached by tunnels entering from the hillside. Near the bottom of shaft No. 1, 8 feet of brown ore with some copper and iron sulphides were encountered. Shaft No. 2 cut red hematite from the 30 to the 100 foot level, below which it followed the line of a vertical two foot seam in the limestone. This seam was encased by a layer of hard pyrite and marcasitc with some chalcopyrite, while the interior consisted of soft red clay enclosing both of these minerals and their alteration products.

The iron ore taken from the deeper shaft is a soft, red hematite which breaks down easily and, where undercut, required timbering. It is in many respects like that of the Leslie mine. Much of it is highly calcareous and some of it bears structures of crystalline limestone indicating the replacement of that rock. The major portion of the ore, however, is secondary after the sulphide.

The open cuts upon the crest of the hill appear to have disclosed only the upper portion of the ore body. They are high above and several hundred feet distant from the more recent shafts and tunnels, but in view of the well defined filled sink structures it is probable that the two ore showings will be found to be the extremities of a single ore body. If so, there is a large body of ore available. The present developments should be connected by a drift or drilled in order to determine this fact.

The property was not operated between the years 1876 and 1904. In 1904 it was worked for copper, and produced 22,500 pounds of that metal. During the years 1905 to 1909 and incident to the copper developments, 735 tons of red ore were mined and shipped. This ore averaged 53.61% iron, 9.00% silica, 0.125% Phos., and 0.15% Mn. (Analysis made by the St. Louis Blast Furnace Company.)