Deposit
Long Valley Monazite Placer District
Long Valley Monazite Placer District is a deposit with published resource estimates in Idaho, recorded in the USGS USMIN rare earth element occurrence database (ver. 4.0, June 2019).
Location: Idaho, United States
Commodities: rare earth elements (in monazite); ilmenite; zircon; garnet; thorium (in monazite); thorium; uranium
Published resource estimates
| Material | Class | Amount | Grade | Contained | As of | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thorium oxide (ThO2) | Probable Potential | 215,000 t | 4.35111 percent | 8,230 metric tons Th | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| total rare-earth oxide (TREO) | Probable Potential | 136,000 t | — | 136,000 metric tons TREO | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| ilmenite (FeTiO3) | Probable Potential | 2,220,000 t | — | 701,000 metric tons Ti | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| total rare-earth oxide (TREO) | Unclassified | 75,100 t | — | 75,100 metric tons TREO | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| uranium oxide (U3O8) | Probable Potential | 312.1 t | — | 265.1 metric tons U | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| garnet | Unclassified | 55,500 t | — | 55,500 metric tons garnet | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| ilmenite (FeTiO3) | Unclassified | 944,000 t | — | 298,000 metric tons Ti | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| thorium oxide (ThO2) | Unclassified | 120,000 t | 4.31111 percent | 4,530 metric tons Th | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| uranium oxide (U3O8) | Unclassified | 163.1 t | — | 139.1 metric tons U | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| zircon (ZrSiO4) | Unclassified | 21,500 t | — | 10,700 metric tons Zr | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| zircon (ZrSiO4) | Probable Potential | 43,300 t | — | 21,500 metric tons Zr | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
| garnet | Probable Potential | 132,000 t | — | 132,000 metric tons garnet | Jan 1, 1980 | Staatz and others (1980), Page 16 — Staatz, M.H., Hall, R.B., Macke, D.L., Armbrustmacher, T.J., and Brownfield, I.K., 1980, Thorium resources of selected regions in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 824, 32 p. |
Recorded production
- Long Valley Monazite Placer District: produced approximately 9,850,000 metric tons of zircon (ZrSiO4) at 0.000118 metric tons per cubic meter, containing about 1,170 metric tons Zr, 1950–1955 (Staatz and others (1980), Page 10, Table 2)
- Long Valley Monazite Placer District: produced approximately 9,850,000 metric tons of garnet at 0.004161 metric tons per cubic meter, containing about 4,090 metric tons garnet, 1950–1955 (Staatz and others (1980), Page 10, Table 2)
- Long Valley Monazite Placer District: produced approximately 9,850,000 metric tons of monazite at 0.000653 metric tons per cubic meter, containing about 6,430 metric tons monazite, 1950–1955 (Staatz and others (1980), Page 10, Table 2)
- Long Valley Monazite Placer District: produced approximately 9,850,000 metric tons of ilmenite (FeTiO3) at 0.002251 metric tons per cubic meter, containing about 22,100 metric tons Ti, 1950–1955 (Staatz and others (1980), Page 10, Table 2)
Sources
- U.S. Geological Survey · published Jun 1, 2019 · retrieved Aug 12, 2026 · archive unavailable: Wayback snapshot 20260427015518 of the ScienceBase item exists but the archive service returned 503 on verification 2026-08-12; recheck on a weekly pass