La Mure coal Mines, La Mure, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France

• Display
  • Standard
  • Detailed
  • By Strunz Category
  • By Dana Category
• Photos
  • Mineral Photos (40)
  • - Full View (23)
  • - Photomicrograph (14)
  • - Stacked Photomicrograph (3)
  • Add Photo
• Maps
  • Map Pages
• Search
  • Mineral Search
  • Search Google

Anciennes mines de La Mure (Le Villaret-Susville, Prunières, Saint-Arey)

Former coal mines located under the Senépi mountains (west from La Mure), officially started in 1806 and closed in 1997. These mines have operated 6 coal layers in carboniferous (lower stephanian) sandstones deposited on micaschists and covered by triassic and jurassic sediments. All is deformed by the Alpine tectonics in the form of a large syncline (called La Mure dome) that has complicated the coal operation. Several adits (Le Villaret level 15, Les Merlins level 12, Les Rioux level 12...) had cut some mineralized faults (quartz, siderite and dolomite with miscellaneous sulphides) in micaschists or in carboniferous/triassic/liassic sediments. The vugs in these veins have probably given the best sulphides specimens in France! These specimens all date from the time of operation because all adits are now closed and the large dumps near the main adits are only composed of finely crushed rubble...

NB: The coordinates below correspond to the Villaret shaft which was the main shaft of the mining claim but these mines were very large and many adits were dug in the mountains.

Mineral List

Azurite Baryte Bornite Boulangerite Bournonite Calcite Cannizzarite

Chalcopyrite Cinnabar 'Coal var: Anthracite' Cubanite Diadochite Dolomite Fluorapatite

Galena Gypsum Magnesite Malachite Melanterite Oxyplumboroméite Pyrite

Quartz Semseyite Siderite Smithsonite Sphalerite Tetrahedrite

27 entries listed. 26 valid minerals.

References

External Links