Burnsville mine, Yancey County, North Carolina

The Burnsville mine in Yancey County, North Carolina, was worked by the Powhatan Mining Co. of Baltimore, Maryland, according to the U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook.^1,4 The yearbook for 1961 reported that the company "produced amphibole asbestos from its Burnsville mine," and the yearbook for 1962 that the mine "was the only domestic source of amphibole asbestos."^1,2 For 1963 the yearbook again called the mine's output "amphibole asbestos."³

From the 1964 volume on, the yearbooks name the fiber as anthophyllite: Powhatan "produced anthophyllite asbestos at the Burnsville mine" in 1964 and 1965, and for 1965 the yearbook added that "shipments were slightly below those of 1964."^4,5 In July 1968 Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, printing the Bureau of Mines' review of 1967, said that the company "continued to produce Anthophyllite at its Burnsville Mine," but that "production declined 5% from the year before."⁶ The yearbooks' tables of United States asbestos producers for 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971 each list the Powhatan Mining Co.'s Burnsville mine in Yancey County as a source of anthophyllite.^7,8,9,10

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.⁵

Location

Year by year

Every statement about this mine in the documents, in each document's own words, by the year it is about.

1961

• Fiber: “amphibole asbestos” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2¹
• Worked: “produced amphibole asbestos from its Burnsville mine” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2¹

1962

• Fiber: “amphibole asbestos” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2²
• Worked: “was the only domestic source of amphibole asbestos” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2²

1963

• Worked: “Amphibole asbestos was produced at the Burnsville mine” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2³
• Fiber: “Amphibole asbestos” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2³

1964

• Worked: “produced anthophyllite asbestos at the Burnsville mine” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁴
• Fiber: “anthophyllite asbestos” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁴

1965

• Worked: “Powhatan Mining Co., Baltimore, Md., produced anthophyllite asbestos at the Burnsville mine” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁵
• Output: “Shipments were slightly below those of 1964” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁵
• Fiber: “produced anthophyllite asbestos” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁵

1967

• Fiber: “Anthophyllite” (Powhatan Mining Company), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 48⁶
• Worked: “continued to produce Anthophyllite at its Burnsville Mine in Yancy County” (Powhatan Mining Company), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 48⁶

1968

• Worked: “North Carolina: Powhatan Mining Co. | Yancey | Burnsville | Anthophyllite.” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁷

1969

• Worked: “North Carolina: Powhatan Mining Co. | Yancey | Burnsville | Anthophyllite.” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 3⁸

1970

• Worked: “North Carolina: Powhatan Mining Co. | Yancey | Burnsville | Anthophyllite.” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁹

1971

• Worked: “North Carolina: Powhatan Mining Co. | Yancey | Burnsville | Anthophyllite.” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2¹⁰

Other names

Documents call this mine “Burnsville mine”, “Burnsville”.

See also

• Burnsville Mine in the Lexicon
• Asbestos exposure sites in North Carolina
• All asbestos mines

References

1. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1961 (January 1, 1962), p. 2.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1962 (January 1, 1963), p. 2.
3. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1963 (January 1, 1964), p. 2.
4. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1964 (January 1, 1965), p. 2.
5. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1965 (January 1, 1966), p. 2.
6. Asbestos Magazine, 1968, July 1968 (July 1, 1968), p. 48.
7. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1968 (January 1, 1969), p. 2.
8. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1969 (January 1, 1970), p. 3.
9. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1970 (January 1, 1971), p. 2.
10. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1971 (January 1, 1972), p. 2.