Barite

specimen number:
2062215

location:
Montreal Mine, Iron Co., Wisconsin, USA

description:

A spray of salmon colored barite crystals coming off of a hematite matrix. This is in great condition. Superb miniature for this Wisconsin classic. At one time part of the collection of Wisconsin collector Gene LaBerge.

The Montreal mine, situated within the city of Montreal in Iron County, Wisconsin, United States, was a massive, highly significant underground iron operation that stood as one of the premier producers on the historic Gogebic Iron Range. Geologically, this immense deposit is hosted within the Paleoproterozoic-age Ironwood Iron Formation, a thick sequence of interbedded cherty iron oxides and silicates that underwent intensive regional tilting, faulting, and subsequent supergene enrichment. Circulating groundwater solutions leaching through structural fractures and local faults oxidized primary iron silicates and dissolved silica, leaving behind rich concentrations of high-grade, soft, secondary red hematite and minor manganese ores trapped along structural troughs formed by intersecting diabase dikes and sedimentary layers. Historically, exploratory test pits were first dug and initial shafts sunk at the location around 1882, leading to the commencement of regular commercial production and the first official ore shipments in 1886 under the Montreal Mining Company. The facility eventually came under the long-term industrial management of the Oglebay Norton Company, expanding over seven decades into an enormous underground complex utilizing deep vertical shafts, including the prominent number 4, number 5, and number 6 shafts, which reached a remarkable depth of more than 4,300 feet below the surface to target deeply buried reserves. The highly productive mine operated continuously through two world wars, employing hundreds of local workers and outputting over 45 million tons of direct-shipping iron ore until severe competition from cheaper foreign open-pit sources and changing domestic steelmaking technologies forced the permanent cessation of regular mining operations in August 1962, followed by final cleanup shipments in 1963.

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