Monticello mine, California

The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1945 reported that Kohler & Chase "shipped short-fiber chrysotile from the mine near Monticello, Napa County, but did not produce."² In 1960 Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, printed an article by a writer who had studied California's chrysotile deposits during the war years; he placed "the short-fiber chrysotile deposit which Kohler and Chase controlled for a number of years" some "20 twisting and up-and-down miles north of Napa."¹ He wrote that "the best fiberized rock is at present being gouged out of pockets or lenses and no regular working mine benches have been established," and that he was "not aware that any spaced diamond drilling has ever been done on this deposit."¹ "New owners," he added, were "experimenting with fiber recovery using special air separation equipment."¹

The documents report small or short-lived production of asbestos fiber for sale.²

Location

Year by year

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

1945

• Idle: “shipped short-fiber chrysotile from the mine near Monticello, Napa County, but did not produce” (Kohler & Chase), p. 3²

1960

• Ownership: “the short-fiber chrysotile deposit which Kohler and Chase controlled for a number of years ... New owners are at present experimenting with fiber recovery”, p. 6¹
• Description: “The best fiberized rock is at present being gouged out of pockets or lenses and no regular working mine benches have been established”, p. 8¹
• Mill: “New owners are at present experimenting with fiber recovery using special air separation equipment”, p. 6¹
• Exploration: “The writer is not aware that any spaced diamond drilling has ever been done on this deposit”, p. 8¹

See also

• Asbestos exposure sites in California
• All asbestos mines

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1960, May 1960 (May 1, 1960), pp. 6, 8.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1945 (January 1, 1946), p. 3.