Some bauxite and clay deposits in northeastern Alabama

Abstract

Deposits of bauxite and pisolitic clay in five areas in northeastern Alabama in Cherokee, Calhoun, and Talladega Counties were investigated in 1942-43 as part of an evaluation of the Nation's mineral resources. None of the areas contains bauxite of commercial importance as a source of aluminum under economic conditions obtaining through the 1960's. The bauxite and clay deposits are in an area underlain by rocks of Early Cambrian to Ordovician age. Extensive surficial deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age obscure the bedrock in many places. In the Nances Creek area, one deposit at site N.C. 2 was explored by drilling; the material is largely grade D bauxite and kaolin, with two small lenses of grade C bauxite, the highest grade found in the area. The other deposits in the Nances Creek area are smaller and apparently lower in grade. They were not drilled. Of these, the deposit at site N.C. 1 is the most promising. It is about 1,500 feet northeast of N.C. 2 and is similar to it, but probably smaller. Erosion has exposed the bauxite at N.C. 1 and N.C. 2 but probably has not removed much of the original deposits. The other three deposits are in a less favorable topographic position for preservation, and at least one of these is mainly an accumulation of float. The remaining two may be parts of original deposits plus rubble of reworked material, or they may be merely accumulations of float. It is suggested that at one of these, the Love prospect, one or more holes be drilled to test the prospect at depth. In the Jacksonville area, the only deposit of bauxite known is the Kitchens prospect. The size of the deposit may be moderate for the Appalachian Alabama district, but the bauxite is high in iron and silica and does not appear to be commercial-grade material. The Parsons mine in the Talladega area lies within an area underlain by carbonate rocks of the Knox Group of Cambrian and Ordovician age. Associated white gravels of Tertiary age are younger than the bauxite, but their exact age and relation to the bauxite is unknown. Most of the bauxite is moderately high grade and low in iron. It is generally soft, pink or white, and pisolitic to nonpisolitic. About 500 tons of bauxite was shipped during World War I. Except for the De Armanville prospect, the so-called deposits in the De Armanville and Congo areas appear to be concentrations of pebbles and boulders of pisolitic kaolinitic clay as constituents of a widespread gravel of Tertiary age.