Golconda Tungsten Mine

Site Name

Primary: Golconda Tungsten Mine
Secondary: Iron Mask Group, Rare Metals Corp. Mines
Secondary: NBMG Sample Site 2906

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Commodity

Primary: Tungsten
Secondary: Manganese

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Humboldt
District: Golconda District

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Land Status

Land ownership: BLM Administrative Area
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: Rare Metals Corp. (1945?)

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Production

Year: 1945
Time Period: 1941-1945
Material type: W
Description: Cp_Grade: ^0.8-1.0 Percent Wo3

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1893
Discovery Year: 1866
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: M

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Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Basin And Range Province
Physiographic Section: Great Basin
Physiographic Detail: Basin And Mountains

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Epithermal Mn

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Orebody

Form: BLANKETS AND VEINS

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Silicification, Argillization And Pyritization Of Underlying Rocks

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Analytical Data: 1.5%W
Analytical Data: 1918 ORE: 32.5% MN
Analytical Data: WO3-2.78%. SAMPLE 2906 FROM A SINGLE PIECE OF MN OXIDE MATERIAL ON DUMP OF A SMALL ADIT JUST NORTH OF MAIN PIT CONTAINS 2 %- FE, 1 % MG, 1 % CA, 0.02 % TI, +5000 PPM MN, 30 PPM B, + 5000- PPM BA, 10 PPM BE, 2000 PPM CO, 30 PPM CU, 30 PPM MO, 500 PPM- NI, 7 PPM SC, 2000 PPM SR, 150 PPM V, 2000 PPM W, 100 PPM Y, -50 PPM ZR.
Analytical Data: 5.2% FE R.A.F. PENROSE'S ANALYSIS OF ORE YIELDS: MN 0-66%

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Materials

Ore: Hollandite
Ore: Pyrolusite
Ore: Psilomelane
Gangue: Jarosite
Gangue: Goethite
Gangue: Iron
Gangue: Lepidocrocite

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Comments

Comment (Deposit): VEINS CONSIST OF LINEAR MASSES OF ANASTOMOSING GROUPS OF VEINLETS ALONG NE TREND BENEATH TUFA CAPS. BOTH FERRUGINO-US AND MANGANIFEROUS VEIN FILLINGS CONTAIN TUNGSTEN WITH QUART-Z, BARITE AND JAROSITE. KERR REPORTS THAT THE FERRUGINOUS ZONE-S IN PART REPLACE THE MANGANIFEROUS PHASES AND THERE IS A HIGH-ER CONCENTRATION OF TUNGSTEN IN THE FERRUGINOUS ZONES. IN GENE-RAL, THE MANGANIFEROUS AND FERRUGINOUS MATERIALS ARE SEPARATED- INTO DIFFERENT LAYERS, ALTHOUGH BOTH OCCUR AS STREAKS IN THE -LAYERS OF THE OTHER MATERIAL. BOTH ARE UNDERLAIN BY A MASSIVE -ILLITE LAYER WITH SOME FINE QUARTZ RICH ZONES. TUNGSTEN OCCURS- IN ALL OF THESE LAYERS.

Comment (Workings): PITS, SHALLOW STOPES, LARGE DUMPS

Comment (Production): THREE CARLOADS MN ORE IN 1893; ONE IN 1918; 83739 UNITS WO3 FROM 105,591 TONS ORE IN 1940'S

Comment (Development): IMPORTANT SOURCE OF TUNGSTEN DURING W.W.II.

Comment (Geology): LENTICULAR DEPOSIT INVEDDED IN A SOFT BUFF CALCAREOUS TUFA CONTAINING FRAGMENTS OF SANDSTONE, SHALE, AND LIMESTONE: THE BLACK, ORE BED IS UP TO 3 1/2 FT. THICK. LOCAL MN-RICH SPRING WATER PROVIDED THE MN FOR THE DEPOSIT WHICH FORMED BY PRECIPITATION OF THE MINERALS FROM SUPER-SATURATED BRINES OF PLEISTOCENE LAKE LA HONTAN. BEWEATH THE BLANKET DEPOSIT ARE VEINS OF SIMILAR MINERALIZATION WHICH MAY HAVE PROVIDED THE SOURCE OF THE OVERLYING ORES.

Comment (Deposit): W.C. GREGG MADE THE FIRST LOCATIONS IN THE AREA AND ORGANIZED THE DISTRICT IN 1866. MANGANESE ASSOCIATED WITH TUNGSTEN WAS DISCOVERED 4 MILES EAST OF GOLCONDA IN 1885. IT WAS AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF TUNGSTEN FROM 1941 TO 1945. EXCAVATION OF THE HIGH-GRADE ORE CONTAINING UP TO 7% WO3, HALTED EARLY IN 1945. THE W-BEARING LAYERS OF FERRUGINOUS AND MANGANIFEROUS CLAYEY GRAVEL & FUFA WERE WORKED BY OPEN PITS AND FLAT, SHALLOW STOPES. THE DEPOSITS ARE OF HOT-SPRINGS ORIGIN AND ARE ALIGNED ABOVE A NNE-TRENDING VEIN SYSTEM IN STEEPLY-DIPPING CAMBRIAN ROCKS. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT; 3 FIELD OBSERV

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References

Reference (Deposit): WILLDEN, R., 1964, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF HUMBOLDT CO., NEV; NEV. BUREAU OF MINES BULL 59.

Reference (Deposit): GARSIDE, L. J., 1984, FIELD EXAMINATION 30 SEP 84, AND SAMPLE ANALYSIS.

Reference (Deposit): S. E. G. GUIDEBOOK, 1980, UNPUB.

Reference (Deposit): SNYDER, W. S., 1978, MANGANESE DEPOSITED BY SUBMARINE HOT SPRINGS IN CHERT-GREENSTONE COMPLEXES, WESTERN U. S.: GE-OLOGY, V. 6, P. 741-744.

Reference (Production): WILLDEN, R., 1964 NBM BULL STAGER, H.K. (IN PREP JAN. 1984)

Reference (Deposit): KERR, P.F., 1940, TUNGSTEN-BEARING MANGANESE DEPOSIT AT GOLCONDA, NEVADA: G.S.A. BULL. VOL. 51, P. 1359-1390

Reference (Deposit): RANSOME; F.L., & BURCHARD, E.F., 1920, CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECON. GEOL., PT. 1: U.S.G.S. BULL. 710

Reference (Deposit): VANDERBURG, W.O., 1938, RECONNAISSANCE OF MINING DISTRICTS IN HUMBOLDT CO., NEV; U.S.B.M. INF. CIRC. 6995

Reference (Deposit): PENROSE, R.A.F, JR, 1893, A PLEISTOCENE MANGANESE DEPOSIT NEAR GOLCONDA, NEVADA: JOUR. GEOL., VOL. I, P. 275-282

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Nevada Gold

Nevada has a total of 368 distinct gold districts. Of the of those, just 36 are major producers with production and/or reserves of over 1,000,000 ounces, 49 have production and/or reserves of over 100,000 ounces, with the rest having less than 100,000 ounces. Read more: Gold Districts of Nevada.