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IOWA'S MINERAL'S
Mineral Resource Facts
by Robert M. McKay
The following economic minerals have been produced or explored for in Iowa:
Construction Industry Resources
Clay and Shale
Clay and shale are produced in Iowa for use in Portland cement, lightweight aggregate,
common bricks, and for the ceramics industry, including floor and wall tiles and pottery.
Clay is currently being produced from eight pits in Iowa by six companies.
Crushed Stone (limestone)
Crushed stone is Iowa's leading mineral commodity, with a production of 38 million tons,
valued at $186 million, accounting for almost 50% of the state's mineral value. The major
use of crushed stone is for road resurfacing, with the material also used in cement
manufacturing, bituminous surface aggregate, agricultural limestone, and numerous other
applications. Currently, only limestone and dolostone are crushed in Iowa.
Dimension Stone
Dimension stone (flagging, veneer, and quarry blocks) of limestone and dolostone is
produced in Dubuque, Jackson, and Jones counties. In Jones County, quarries in the Stone
City area have been producing dimension stone continuously since the 1880s. This high
quality rock, called Anamosa Stone, is marketed throughout the midwest and as far as
California.
Gypsum
In 1992 Iowa was the nation's second largest producer of gypsum, mining over 2 million
tons valued at $11.6 million. The two primary gypsum producing areas in Iowa are in
Webster County, where it is produced from surface mines, and Des Moines County, where it
is extracted from an underground mine. Gypsum's primary uses are for wallboard, plaster,
and cement products.
Sand and Gravel
Sand and gravel resources represent one of Iowa's largest mineral industries. Over 16
million tons of sand and gravel, valued at over $58 million, were marketed by Iowa
producers in 1992. These resources are used primarily for maintenance of Iowa's road
system, for concrete aggregate, and subgrade road material. Most of Iowa's mineable sand
and gravel resources are stream-deposited sediments.
Agricultural/Chemical Feedstock Industries Resources
Lime: chemical feedstock, ag-lime, high-calcium limestone
Lime (calcium oxide) both as quicklime and hydrated lime are manufactured in Scott County.
It is produced by calcining (burning under controlled conditions) high calcium limestone
to produce quicklime. Some of the quicklime is crushed and reacted with water to produce
hydrated lime. Lime is used by the chemical industry in the production of paint and other
products, and in other industries.
Peat
Peat is an unconsolidated material composed of partially decomposed plant remains from a
water-saturated environment such as a bog or fen. Total peat production in Iowa is small
and limited to only a few sites. Last available production statistics for Iowa were 1988
when 15,000 tons was mined, valued at $433,000. Peat is primarily used as a soil
conditioner.
Phosphate
Phosphate has never been produced in Iowa, however, the basal portion of the
Ordovician-age Maquoketa Formation in portions of Dubuque County is moderately phosphatic.
Although thin and currently subeconomic, this interval is a potential source of phosphatic
material.
Silica Sand
Iowa has extensive deposits of high purity, readily accessible silica sand. This resource
is present almost exclusively in the St. Peter Sandstone (Ordovician) of northeastern
Iowa. Most past production was from underground mines near the Mississippi River town of
Clayton (Clayton County). Silica sand is used in the foundry, glass, and chemical
industries.
Energy Resources
Coal
Iowa's coal resources have been estimated conservatively at 7.2 billion tons. Other
estimates based on less rigorous criteria range as high as 29.6 billion tons. All menial
coal is Pennsylvanian-aged occurring in the Cherokee, Marmot, and Wabaunsee groups (click to view nomenclature for
Pennsylvanian System of Iowa) with an average rank of high volatile C bituminous. The
coal occurs in primarily nonmarine shales, sandstones, and siltstones with minor
interbedded marine limestones and shales. The Cherokee Group coal beds themselves are
characteristically variable in thickness and extent while the younger coal beds are more
persistent. High sulfur and ash contents are common throughout. Historical production
information is available.
Coalbed Methane
Methane is a by-product of coalification that has been produced for fuel in many coal
bearing regions. Recently, "nonpetroleum" sources of natural gas have attracted
interest due to changes in the tax laws on natural gas production. The gas is generated
primarily in two phases during coalification; first when the plant material is initially
buried and begins the process of anaerobic decay and later when the coal makes the
transition from C bituminous to B bituminous. This latter change is brought about by
continued application of heat and pressure, usually due to burial.
The extensive area of Pennsylvanian-age strata in Iowa includes significant coal resources. Much of these resources lie at depths in southwestern Iowa where economic mining is impossible. The coal in this area of the state and any associated methane are a largely unknown resource.
Oil and Gas
Petroleum (oil and gas) is not currently produced in Iowa, and exploration activities in
Iowa have been historically low (with only about 135 oil test wells drilled). Only two
wells have produced oil in Iowa, the W.F. Flynn P-1 and the CST #1 Bombei, both drilled on
the Keota Dome in Washington County, southeast Iowa. The total production from both wells
was less than 500 barrels.
In addition to the southeast Iowa area, two other potential provinces in Iowa offer the hope of potential petroleum production. The Forest City Basin of southwestern Iowa and adjacent states has produced significant amounts of oil in Missouri and Kansas. Producing oil fields lie as close as 15 miles south of the Iowa border (at Tarkio, Missouri), but only traces have been discovered in Iowa. Black shales associated with the Precambrian age Midcontinent Rift System were the target of exploration in the mid to late 1980s. A deep test well, the M.G. Eischeid #1, was drilled in Carroll County in southwest Iowa in 1987 by Amoco Production Company. The well reached a total depth of 17,851 feet, the deepest penetration of Midcontinent Rift clastic rocks, but no petroleum detections were reported.
The Department Natural Resources administers Iowa's oil, gas, and metallic minerals laws.
Uranium
Uranium has never been mined in Iowa, however, in the mid 1980s a short-term exploration
program was initiated in Lyon County in northwestern-most Iowa. This program targeted the
base of the Precambrian Sioux Quartzite for Olympic Dam type deposits. Economic
considerations halted activities before any exploration drilling was conducted. Elsewhere
in Iowa, high uranium values are associated with Pennsylvanian black shales in southwest
Iowa.
Metallic Minerals
Chromite
Chromite has never been mined in Iowa, however, in late 1964, New Jersey Zinc drilled a
series of exploration drill cores on an aeromagnetic anomaly in Sioux and Lyon counties in
northwest Iowa. Later study of these cores revealed an altered Archean age layered mafic
pluton that included a serpentinized zone with centimeter-thick chromite bands. Several
exploration companies have subsequently restudied the cores but have determined that it
was not an economic deposit. The drill cores are on file at the Geological Survey Bureau's
Oakdale Rock Library.
Gold
There are no outcroppings of gold-rich rocks in Iowa, however, gold is scattered in small
amounts in some of the glacial materials that cover the state. The gold is concentrated in
sands and gravels in many of Iowa's rivers where it can be recovered in small amounts by
panning.
In 1853 an Eldora inn keeper named John Ellsworth reported a discovery of gold on his farm along the Iowa River in Hardin County. As news of the discovery leaked out, Iowa experienced its own gold rush. As many as 3,000 would-be miners descended on the Eldora area in search of instant wealth; all left disappointed.
In his 1904 report on the Geology of Fayette County, T.E. Savage stated that $1.00 to $1.50 worth of gold could be panned from Otter Creek in a day by a 'patient washer.' Today with the value of gold at about $300 per ounce, that gold would be worth about $25.
Iron
Iowa's only historic iron production was from a Cretaceous-age sedimentary iron deposit
called Iron Hill near Waukon in Allamakee County in northeast Iowa. The deposit was
originally explored in the 1870s and first mined in 1899. The mine operated intermittently
for 20 years between 1899 and 1918, and it is estimated that about 67,000 tons of iron ore
concentrate was produced and shipped. Original reserve estimates of 10 - 12 million tons
indicate that a substantial quantity of ore remains.
Lead and Zinc
The first mineral extraction of lead and zinc in Iowa was probably before the year 1650 in
the Dubuque area by early French voyageurs and Indians. These early prospectors mined
metallic lead ores and initiated the lengthy history of mining of lead and zinc ore in
Iowa until 1910 when the Avenue Top Mine, the last of the Dubuque area mines, was closed.
Production figures for this lengthy mining period are nonexistent to very incomplete,
however, lead production apparently peaked in 1848 and in 1854. A reported 4,385 tons of
lead was exported from Dubuque. By 1910, the year the last mine ceased operation, combined
annual production of lead and zinc concentrates had declined to 270 tons. The industry's
last production in Iowa occurred between 1911 and 1917 when ore concentrates, totaling
less than 350 tons, were processed from remnant dumps and tailings piles.
Manganese
Manganese has never been mined in Iowa, however, in the late 1980s a U.S. Geological
Survey-sponsored exploration program was initiated around the Sioux (Quartzite) Ridge in
South Dakota and Minnesota. Although no exploration was conducted in Iowa, this unit does
extend into Lyon County, the northwestern-most Iowa county. This program targeted the
Cretaceous rocks and Cannon-Force type sedimentary manganese deposits. A number of drill
cores were obtained, but no significant manganese concentrations were discovered.
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