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Fluvanna County

Tellurium Mine

Tellurium is a classic early Virginia gold name on the Fluvanna / Goochland line near Columbia, with multiple inventory shafts and a long paper trail from the 1830s onward.

Open on map
Known for
Early productive lode mine; Fisher / Bowles-era development
County / quad
Fluvanna (primary pin) · Caledonia; related points in Goochland
Inventory
MRVID 152D-153 · MRDS W030588
Other commodities
Zinc, pyrite noted on file
Cluster
Several nearby Tellurium-labeled shafts/adits on the map layer

The Tellurium name marks one of the best-documented early gold camps in central Virginia, along the Fluvanna / Goochland line near Columbia.

Nineteenth-century accounts describe discovery in the early 1830s, leasing and stamp-mill work soon after, and a long life as a small but well-known producer. Virginia Energy still lists a primary shaft record (Tellurium Gold Mine) plus several nearby shafts and an adit under related Tellurium labels. That cluster is why the map shows more than one gold pin in a tight area.

For research, open the primary pin, then pan the cluster with streams and structure on. The James River drainage and local creeks matter here: historic lode ground and modern placer clues often connect through the same landscape, even when the old mills are long gone.

Access: County-line mine sites are almost always on private or restricted ground. Use VaGoldMaps to study the pattern. Get permission before any visit.

Related historic mines

Sources

Historic mines Field Note · Virginia gold map