Bureau of Mines have been conducting mineral surveys of wilderness, wilderness study, and primitive areas. Studies and reports of all primitive areas have been completed. Areas officially designated as "wilderness," "wild," or "canoe" when the Act was passed were incorporated into the National Wilderness Preservation System, and some of them are presently being studied. For wilderness study areas, the mineral surveys constitute one aspect of the suitability studies. This report discusses the results of a mineral survey of some national forest lands in the Mill Creek, Mountain Lake, and Peters Mountain study areas, Virginia and West Virginia, that are being considered for wilderness designation (PL 93-622, January 3, 1975). The areas studied are in the Jefferson National Forest in Giles and Craig Counties, Va., and Monroe County, W.Va.
The Rainbow Lake Wilderness Area contains a low-grade identified resource of copper in thin sedimentary beds that are no more than 1.5 feet thick and that contain grades no higher than 0.5 percent. The beds are restricted to a single stratigraphic horizon, dip 5° to 30° N., and are present only at great depth in much of the area. The area also contains about 210,000 short tons of commercial-quality peat and a great amount of sand and gravel (fig. 1). An abundance of similar material in the region closer to transportation and consumption centers makes these deposits unimportant. The Flynn Lake Wilderness Study Area contains about 300,000 short tons of commercial-quality peat and large amounts of sand and gravel, but these, like similar deposits in the Rainbow Lake Wilderness Area, are not economically important. Basalt and andesite lava flows are bedrock beneath the glacial drift in the southern part of the area and dip northward 30°. Consequently, the lava flows are present in the subsurface of both the Flynn Lake and the Rainbow Lake areas. Little is known of these rocks because of the lack of exposures, but, on the basis of regional geologic relationships and a theory of how native-copper ores were formed, they are believed to be favorable for such deposits. Because native-copper ores in Michigan are presently unecon9mic to mine, little interest in exploration for native copper is found in Wisconsin. The study area could prove promising, however, if copper prices inerease.
In accordance with the provisions of the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577, September 3, 1964) and the Joint Conference Report on Senate Bill 4, 88th Congress, the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Mines have been con-• ducting mineral surveys of wilderness and primitive areas. Studies and reports of all primitive areas have been completed. Areas officially designated as uwilderness, .. uwild," or ucanoe" when the Act was passed were incorporated into the National Wilderness Preservation System, and some of them are presently being studied. The Act provided that areas under consideration for Wilderness designation should be studied for suitability for incorporation into the Wilderness System. The mineral surveys constitute one aspect of the suitability studies. This report discusses the results of a mineral survey of the Caney Creek Wilderness, Arkansas, in the Ouachita National Forest. Caney Creek was established as a wilderness by Public Law 93-622, January 3, 1975.
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