Buckskin Peak Mine

Site Name

Primary: Buckskin Peak Mine
Secondary: Paradise Mine
Secondary: Mccormick Group
Secondary: Mccormick-Dermody

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Commodity

Primary: Mercury
Tertiary: Iron

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Humboldt
District: National District

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Land Status

Land ownership: National Forest
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

Type: Surface/Underground

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Ownership

Owner Name: C. H. Hall, 1941

Owner Name: D. C. Mc Cormick, J. Dermody, And J. C. Ward . Asarco Held Claims In 1983.
Years: 1928 -

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1938
Discovery Year: 1907
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

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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: Hot-spring Hg

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Orebody

Form: BLANKET

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Silicification, Clay. Alteration Minerals Associated With Mercury Ores Include Quartz, Alunite And Kaolinite And The Rock Is Largely C-Onverted To Opalite Consisting Of Quartz And Chalcedony. At De-Eper Levels, The Alteration Assemblages Consist Of Illite-Mont-Morillonite And Calcite-Chlorite.

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Rocks

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Pliocene

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Pliocene

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Analytical Data

Analytical Data: HAND SORTED ORE RAN UP TO 120 LB/TON HG
Analytical Data: AVG. GRADE OF ORE NOW-ABOUT 5 LB/TON HG. SAMPLE 478 OF SELECT CINNABAR-BEARING POOL SINTER CONTAINS 0.1 % FE, 0.02 % MG, 1 % TI, 50 PPM MN, 0.5 PPM AG, 10- PPM B, 1000 PPM BA, 1 PPM BE, 5 PPM CU, 50 PPM LA, 100 PPM NB-, 50 PPM PB, 5 PPM SC, 50 PPM SN, 20 PPM V, 500 PPM ZR.

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Materials

Ore: Cinnabar
Ore: Pyrite
Gangue: Chalcedony
Gangue: Opal
Gangue: Kaolinite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Alunite

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Comments

Comment (Development): HALL INSTALLED A 64-TON FURNACE IN 1940, REMOVED IN 1941 AFTER 70 FLASKS HG WERE PRODUCED

Comment (Location): SW 1/4 , SEC. 11; SUMMIT OF BUCKSKIN PEAK

Comment (Production): RESERVES OF AT LEAST 1000 FLASKS, UP TO 3000 FLASKS INDICATED IN 1940.

Comment (Deposit): 4 CINNABAR OREBODIES OCCUR AS THIN (1-6 INCH) MANTOS SUBPARALLEL TO BEDDING WHICH STRIKES NW AND DIPS GENTLY NE. C-INNABAR IS THE ONLY ORE MINERAL AND IT OCCURS AS DISSEMINATION-S IN THE OPALITE, FRACTURE COATINGS, AND AS MASSIVE REPLACEMEN-T OF THE OPALITE. CINNABAR OCCURS AS BANDS AND STREAKS IN A 1 -M WIDE HORIZONTAL ZONE IN SILICEOUS POOL SINTER WHICH IS INTER-BEDDED WITH VOLCANICLASTIC ROCKS. THE CINNABAR IS FINE-GRAINED- AND LIGHT-SENSITIVE. THE VOLCANICLASTIC ROCKS CONSIST OF QUAR-TZ SANDSTONE AND RHYOLITIC PEBBLE CONGLOMERATE. SOME CINNABAR -ALSO OCCURS AS VEINLETS AND STOCKWORKS. CALOMEL (HG2CL2) IS PR-ESENT ON A FEW OXIDIZED SURFACE SAMPLES. THE POOL SINTER HAS D-ESSICATION CRACKS ON UPPER BEDDING SURFACES. REPORTEDLY IT IS -VERY LOW IN TI AND ZR, INDICATING ITS ORIGIN AS A SILICA PRECI-PITATE. THE MINERALIZED SEDIMENTS ARE INTRUDED? NEARBY BY A FL-OW-BANDED, LITHOPHYSAL, SPHERULITIC RHYOLITE. THE CINNABAR SIN-TER DEPOSITS ARE THE SURFACE EXPRESSION OF AN UNDERLYING

Comment (Deposit): PRECI-OUS METAL VEIN SYSTEM WITH HIGHER CONCENTRATIONS OF STIBNITE I-N THE UPPER LEVELS OF THE VEINS.

Comment (Workings): PITS, TRENCHES, TUNNELS

Comment (Geology): CINNABAR IS CONFINED TO THE SINTER BLANKET, WHERE IT OCCURS IN 4 ZONES, BOTH AS LAYERS OF MASSIVE CINNABAR, AND FINELY DISSEMINATED THROUGH A CHALCEDONIC AND OPALINE SILICA GANGUE. IN BANDED SINTER, CINNABAR-BEARING BANDS ARE INTERLAYERED WITH BARREN SILICA. IN CLASSIC SINTER, CINNABAR IS CONFINED TO SILICA CEMENT BETWEEN FRAGMENTS. SOME CAVITIES IN SINTER ARE LINED WITH CINNABAR, OPAL AND CHALCEDONY. CINNABAR BEARING ZONES ARE PARALLEL TO BEDDING OF THE SINTER; CINNABAR AND SINTER WERE PRECIPITATED SIMULTANEOUSLY DURING HOT-SPRING ACTIVITY. CINNABAR BEARING ZONES OCCUR ALONG THE NW AND SE SIDES OF THE SINTER BLANKET

Comment (Deposit): CLAIMS WERE ORIGINALLY STAKED ON BUCKSKIN PEAK FOR GOLD AND SILVER PRIOR TO 1907. BETWEEN 1922 AND 1928, CHALMERS MCCORMICK LOCATED OVER 16 CLAIMS ON BUCKSKIN PEAK ADJACENT TO THE BUCKSKIN NATIONAL MINE. THE CLAIMS WERE OWNED BY D. C. MCCORMICK J. DERMODY, AND J. C. WARD, COVERING THE PEAK AND INCLUDING THE MERCURY DEPOSIT. PRESENCE OF CINNABAR WAS KNOWN SINCE 1911, BUT ORE WAS NOT RECOGNIZED UNTIL 1928 WHEN J. DERMODY TRACED CINNABAR FLOAT TO THE SILICEOUS SINTER BLANKET. THE PROPERTY WAS OPTIONED TO C. H. HALL IN 1939 WHO INSTALLED A 64 TON FURNACE IN 1940. DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN BY SURFACE CUTS AND TRENCHES AND UNDERGROUND WORKINGS. HALL'S FURNACE WAS REMOVED IN 1941 AFTER PRODUCING ONLY 70 FLASKS HG. THE PROPERTY LAY IDLE FROM 1941 TO AT LEAST 1956. MINE WORKINGS CONSIST OF A 560-FT TUNNEL, 2 ADITS TOTALLING 420 FT, AND A SMALL AMOUNT OF OTHER UNDERGROUND WORKINGS. THE PROPERTY MAY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO SUPPORT A SMALL (50 TPD) OPERATION. FROM 1960 TO 1970, MERTEC INC.,

Comment (Deposit): PROCESSED A SMALL AMOUNT OF ORE AND RECOVERED ABOUT 100 FLASKS OF MERCURY. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT; 3 FIELD OBSERV

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References

Reference (Deposit): VANDERBURG, W. O., 1938, RECONNAISSANCE OF MINING DISTRICTS IN HUMBOLDT COUNTY, NEV: U.S.B.M.I.C 6995

Reference (Deposit): BAILEY, E. H., RYTUBA, J. J., AND JONES, R. B., 1984, UNPUBLISHED DATA ON MERCURY DEPOSITS OF NEVADA.

Reference (Deposit): GARSIDE, L. J. AND BONHAM, H. F., 18 AUG 83, NBMG FIELD EXAMINATION ON TOUR LED BY PETER VEKRE OF ASARCO, AND SAMP-LE ANALYSIS.

Reference (Production): BAILEY, E. H. AND PHOENIX, D. A., 1944.

Reference (Deposit): BAILEY, E. H., AND PHOENIX, D. A., 1944, QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS IN NEVADA: NEV. UMV. BULL. VOL 38 NO 5; SER. NO 41

Reference (Deposit): ROBERTS, R. J., 1940, QUICKSILVER DEPOSIT AT BUCKSKIN PEAK, NATIONAL MINING DISTRICT, HUMBOLDT CO., NEV: USGS BULL 922E.

Reference (Deposit): BENSON, W. T., 1956, INVESTIGATION OF MERCURY DEPOSITS IN NEVADA AND IN MALHEUR CO., OREG: U.S.B.M. REPT. INV. 5285

Reference (Deposit): TINGLEY, J. V., 1968; UNPUBLISHED REPORT ON THE BUCKSKIN PEAK MERCURY DEPOSIT; ON FILE AT NEV. BUREAU OF MINES

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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.