Location
This district is in east-central Madera County at the site of the old town of Fine Gold, about 35 miles northeast of Madera. It is in the south end of a 20-mile mineralized belt that extends southeast from the Grub Gulch and Coarsegold districts. It also includes the Quartz Mountain area. The district was first mined in the late 1850s. There has been intermittent prospecting in recent years, chiefly in the vicinity of Quartz Mountain.
Geology
The region is underlain by medium- to coarse-grained granodiorite cut by pegmatite and aplite dikes. Also present are thin beds of gneiss, schist and slate. There are a number of quartz veins containing small but sometimes rich ore shoots. The ore contains native gold, pyrite, and galena. Nearly all of the deposits are shallow. The veins range from less than one to more than 10 feet in thickness.
Mines
Ackers, Fresno Banner, Johnny, Little Johnny, Quartz Mountain, Standard, Waterloo, Zebra.
Bibliography
Irelan. William, Jr., 1888, Fine Gold Gulch district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 8, pp. 210-216.
Mclaughlin, R. P., and Bradley, W. W., 1916, Madera County, Waterloo mine: California Min. Bur. Rept. 14, pp. 552-553.
Turner, H. W., 1896, Further contributions to the geology of the Sierra Nevada: U.S. Geol. Survey, 17th Ann. Rept., pt. 1, p. 695.
Watts, W. L, 1893, The Fine Gold mines: California Min. Bur. Rept. 11, pp. 215 and 216-217.
