Gold Range District
Overview
Other Names: White Blotch, Oroville, Cliff Spring, Goldrange
County: Nye
Discovered: 1926
Commodities: gold, silver
Comments
The district lies on the east side of the northern Belted Range in an area roughly defined by Belted Peak on the northwest, Wheelbarrow Peak on the southwest, and Chalk Mountain on the east. The district was first known as White Blotch.
References
Averett, 1962, p. 46; Alvin McLane, personal commun., 1995; Tingley and others, 1997, p. 7-128.
Gold Run District
Overview
Other Names: Adelaide
County: Humboldt
Organized: 1866
Commodities: copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, tungsten, molybdenum, nickel
Comments
Centered on Gold Run Creek on the east slope of Sonoma Range. The Gold Run district extends generally from Rock Creek south to Gregg Canyon, and east to the edge of Pumpernickel Valley.
References
White, 1869, p. 41; Angel, 1881, p. 450; Hill, 1912, p. 212; Lincoln, 1923, p. 99; Stoddard, 1932, p. 45; Vanderburg, 1938a, p. 23; Willden, 1964, tables 24, 25; Stager and Tingley, 1988, p. 76
Gold Run Placer District Description
Location
East slope of the Sonoma Range, on the west side of the Pumpernickel Valley, T. 34 N., R. 40 E.
Topographic Maps
Edna Mountain and Winnemucca 15-minute quad- rangles; Gold Run 7 1/2 -minute quadrangle.
Geologic Maps
Gilluly, 1967, Geologic map of the Winnemucca quadrangle, Pershing and Humboldt Counties, Nevada, scale 1:62,500.
Access
From Winnemucca, about 16 miles east on Interstate 80 to light-duty road south of Golconda; from there, it is 10 miles south to placers in Gold Run Greek.
Extent
The placers of the Gold Run district are in the upper part of Gold Run Greek, just east of the town of Adelaide, in a basin composed of older fan gravels and recent alluvium (sees. 17 and 20, T. 34 N., R. 40 E.). The gravels in this area are about 10-14 feet thick, but gravels along lower Gold Run Creek are apparently as thick as 60 feet.
Production History
The Gold Run placers were reportedly discovered in 1886; early production is unknown. The placers were worked on a small scale throughout the 20th century, but except for the years 1903—04, when more than 1,000 ounces was recovered, total recorded yearly production has been small.
Source
The placer gold was probably derived by erosion of gold veins in the near vicinity of the placers. Such veins are exposed at the Crown mine, where gold and silver occur along a mineralized fault zone 10—80 feet wide between Cambrian and Ordovician shales and quartzites.
Literature
Koschmann and Bergendahl, 1968: Placer production from Gold Run Greek.
Mining World, 1911: Reports plans to develop Gold Run placers; distribution of gold in gravels; thickness of gravels.
Southern Pacific Company, 1964: Locates area of potential placer ground along lower Gold Run Creek.
Vanderburg, 1936a: Early placer-mining activity; placer-mining operations at the Ontario-Nevada Mines Inc. property in 1935. Depth of gravel. 1938b: History; production.
Goldbanks District
Overview
Other Names: Gold Banks, Cinnabar
County: Pershing
Discovered: 1907
Commodities: mercury, gold, silver, antimony
Comments
Located on the east flank of the East Range in T29-31N, R38-39E. The district includes the Goldbanks Hills, parts of Table Mountain, and areas on the ridge south of Peavine Creek. A Cinnabar district, shown on the General Land Office 1866 map to be immediately south of the Sierra district on the east side of the East Range, included the areas of the present Goldbanks and Kennedy districts. However, the Goldbanks district discovery date was given as 1907 by Hill (1912), and Cinnabar was probably mainly in the area of Cinnabar Creek, within the present Kennedy district.
References
General Land Office, 1866; Hill, 1912, p. 213; Lincoln, 1923, p. 205; Stoddard, 1932, p. 76; Vanderburg, 1936b, p. 14; Lawrence, 1963, p. 184; Johnson, 1977, p. 56
Goldbanks Placer District Description
The eastern edge of the Goldbanks Hills at the north end of Pleasant Valley (sees. 20 and 21, T. 30 N., R. 39 E.) contain gold-silver ores in quartz veins within rhyolite that were prospected on a small scale during the period 1907-8. Gravels at the foot of the hill in which the gold lodes are situated probably were the source for the small amount of placer gold recovered from the area in 1949.
Literature
Dreyer, 1940.
