Mining and Exploration History of the Southeast Missouri Iron Metallogenic Province

摘要

Mining has been a driving force in the development of Missouri for hundreds of years-a history of feast and famine, success and ruin. In southeast Missouri, the mining history spans times from early crude furnaces and small mines to large modern operations working at depths of more than 730 m below the surface. Eight major iron orebodies and myriad minor deposits are known in the southeast Missouri iron metallogenic province, which is hosted in Mesoproterozoic igneous rocks of the St. Francois Mountains terrane.