Crowders Mountain PoInt of Interest
Lawton Barite Mine

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Name: Lawton Barite Mine
Type: Man-made mine
GPS Coordinates: Latitude:  N 35° 13.399'
Longitude:  W 081° 16.167'
Elevation:   1174 ft
Orientation: Open Pit Mines
PoInt Reached From: Faint trail south off of the Tower Trail
Description: Large area of open pit mines trending NNE
Many small and large pits
Dimensions:
Interior Features:
Exterior Features:

Lawton Barite Mine

from 1949 Geo&Studies_VanHorn_etal

Mines And Prospects

Lawton Property - Most of this property is owned in fee by the Bertha Mineral Company.  It is located on the southeast side of Crowders Mountain, 4.3 miles ESE of Kings Mountain in Gaston County, North Carolina.  The main barite zone is known to be 2,600 feet long, just crossing over the Bertha Mineral Company property lines at each end.  A single additional pit lies about 800 feet farther east of north, so that the north and south extremities of the total known zone are respectively about 3,500 feet S33degE and 5,400 feet S70degE of Crowders Peak.  This property is described in the reports of both Pratt and Keith.  The barite zone trends N16degE and is fairly regular excepts at the north end, where either there are two barite horizons, about 400 feet apart, or else a single horizon widens considerably.  Here six pits show barite east of the main zone, about 950 feet northeast of the No. 1 shaft.
  Barite at the Lawton property first was found as surface float.  Some 75 different surface pits were worked by hand, going down until ground water was encountered or until pit walls failed to hold without support.  It is probable that the lengths of individual pits or trenches reflect the length of any single lenticular vein having a thickness as much as 4 inches.  Pits show an en echelon pattern typical of barite lenes observed in other portions of the Carolina Belt.  Later work involved the sinking of two shafts, 650 feet apart, to depths of about 200 feet, and the driving of a drift which followed a barite vein or series of veins intil the two shafts were connected.  It is reported that barite in the drift had an average thickness of 2 feet, and that the average BaSO4 content of the barite was about 87 percent.
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It is likely that this mine is the following:
(data gathered from mindat.org)
Lawton Barite Property Northern Workings, Lawson Barite Property, Kings Mountain District, Gaston Co., North Carolina, USA

REF:Analytical Data:: VAN HORN, E. C., 1949

Deposit: KEITH, ARTHUR, 1931 , GAFFNEY - KINGS MOUNTAIN S. C. - N. C. FOLIO NO. 222 , USGS GEOL. ATLAS OF THE U. S., MINE TEXT P. 9 AND 10 , SYMBOL LOCATES MINE ON MAP AT 1 : 62,500 , TEXT 13 P.

Deposit: VAN HO

Commodities: (Major) - Barium-Barite; (Trace) - Iron, Lead, Zinc

Development Status: Past Producer

Host Rock Unit: Roan Gneiss

Structure: Battleground Schist Strikes N 45 E And Dips 30 To 60 Se, North Trending Crowders Mountain Anti Form

Host Rock: Granite, Diabase

Tectonic Structure: Nne Trending Folds And Faults

Map Reference:
Latitude & Longitude (WGS84): 35° 13' 38'' North : 81° 16' 0'' West
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal Degrees): 35.2272222222 : -81.2666666667
Latitude & Longitude (Degrees plus Decimal Minutes): 35° 13.6333333333': -81° 16'

Mineral List:
Baryte  BaSO4
'Chlorite Group' 
Epidote  {Ca2}{Al2Fe3+}[O|OH|SiO4|Si2O7]
Galena  PbS
Muscovite  var: Sericite
Quartz  SiO2
Sphalerite  ZnS
'Tourmaline'  AD3G6(BO3)3[T6O18]Y3Z

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