Reeb Mica Quarry, Hog Hill, East Hampton (Chatham), Middlesex County, Connecticut, USAi

Regional Level Types
Reeb Mica Quarry	Quarry
Hog Hill	Hill
East Hampton (Chatham)	Quarry
Middlesex County	County
Connecticut	State
USA	Country

The Reeb mine lies in the town of East Hampton, 1.6 miles S. 39° E. of Cobalt Village. From Cobalt travel 0.7 mile eastward on State Highway 6A to State High¬way 16A. Drive 0.7 mile eastward on Highway 16A to its intersection with a gravel road; follow the gravel road 1.6 miles southward to the mine road, which leads 700 feet northwestward to the workings.

The property (fig. 135) is owned by J. Reeb of East Hampton. Operations were conducted on a small scale prior to 1942. The mine was operated intermittently from July 1942 to July 1944 by Joseph Carini, R. F. D., South Glastonbury. It was mapped by E. N. Cameron and V. E. Shainin in May 1943. At that time, the working consisted of a quarry 75 feet long and 15 feet in average width and depth, and three small prospect pits. When visited in September 1944 the quarry was flooded.

The pegmatite is an irregular body, probably lenticular, containing many large inclusions or projections of wall rock. It is at least 800 feet long and has an outcrop width of 250 to 300 feet. Only the footwall contact is exposed. It strikes due north, dips 50° to 70° E. and in general is concordant with interbedded quartz-mica schist and mica quartzite. The wall rock contains abundant tourmaline [schorl] crystals adjacent to the pegmatite contact. Several shear joints that strike about due north and dip gently west cut both pegmatite and wall rock.

The pegmatite consists of quartz, plagioclase [albite], perthite [microcline], muscovite, and small amounts of garnet [probably almandine] and tourmaline [schorl]. A poorly defined zonal structure is visible in the workings. The border zone, 3 to 6 inches thick, consists of quartz, muscovite and subordinate plagioclase. The wall zone, 1 to 3 feet thick, contains quartz, plagioclase, muscovite, perthite, and accessory garnet and tourmaline. Mica forms books up to 15 inches broad and 5 inches thick. The zone is present throughout the length of the quarry but the mica content varies considerably from place to place. The probable core of the pegmatite consists of coarse-grained quartz, plagioclase, scrap muscovite, and subordinate perthite. Accessory minerals are tourmaline, garnet, and a little beryl.

The mica books are pale ruby and range from soft to hard. Most of the books are stained by limonite, and quartz and feldspar films occur along many of the cleavages. “A” structure, ruling, cross-fracturing, and tanglesheet are common. In part, the structural defects are probably due to movement along shear surfaces.

Most of the feldspar in the pegmatite is heavily intergrown with quartz. Some pure perthite is present and could be separated by hand cobbing, but much of it is stained by limonite.

The extremely irregular form of the footwall proved a hindrance to operations. Limonite-staining of the mica books can be expected to disappear below the level of oxidation, but structural defects, which have caused an abnormally low recovery of sheet mica, cannot be expected to disappear. It is doubtful that enough sheet could be recovered to support a profitable operation even under economic conditions such as those of 1943 and 1944.