Reona-Sunshine Deposit

The Reona-Sunshine Deposit is a gold mine located in Lander county, Nevada at an elevation of 5,413 feet.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

Satelite View

MRDS mine locations are often very general, and in some cases are incorrect. Some mine remains have been covered or removed by modern industrial activity or by development of things like housing. The satellite view offers a quick glimpse as to whether the MRDS location corresponds to visible mine remains.

Site Name

Primary: Reona-Sunshine Deposit
Secondary: Bonanza Deposit
Secondary: South Canyon Deposit
Secondary: Sunshine Deposit
Secondary: Midas pit (new name for South Canyon and Bonanza pits)
Secondary: part of the Fortitude Complex
Secondary: part of the Battle Mountain Complex
Secondary: part of the Phoenix Project

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Copper

Location

State: Nevada
County: Lander
District: Copper Canyon area

Land Status

Land ownership: Private
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.

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Owner Name: Newmont Mining Corp.
Info Year: 2004

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: sediment-hosted gold in part; pluton-related in part
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1994
Year Last Production: 2004
Discovery Year: 1990
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: M

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Distal disseminated Ag-Au

Orebody

Form: tabular to irregular

Structure

Type: R
Description: Golconda Thrust fault; Willow Creek Thrust fault

Type: L
Description: Virgin Fault.

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: All rocks have been affected to some degree by contact metamorphism from the associated graniitc intrusions. The Copper Canyon granodiorite

Rocks

Name: Chert
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Permian
Age Old: Middle Pennsylvanian

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Cambrian

Name: Shale
Role: Host
Description: calcareous
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Cambrian

Name: Conglomerate
Role: Host
Description: calcareous
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Middle Pennsylvanian

Name: Sandstone
Role: Host
Description: calcareous
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Middle Pennsylvanian

Name: Granodiorite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Oligocene
Age Old: Eocene

Name: Sandstone
Role: Host
Description: micaceous quartzo-feldspathic
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Cambrian

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: free gold

Comment (Deposit): The Bonanza and South Canyon deposits are hosted primarily in the Battle Formation with minor ore forming in the Harmony Formation. The Bonanza deposit is adjacent to the Virgin Fault. Ore at the Sunshine Deposit is hosted in a sheared contact zone between chert of the Lithotectonic Unit 1 (LU-1) of the Havallah Sequence and granodiorite of Copper Canyon. alternate deposit type: skarn gold

Comment (Development): Battle Mountain Gold Company announced the Reona project reserves in about 1993. Stripping of overburden at the Reona Project began in 1994 and the first gold pour was later that year. In 1994, it was reported that the Reona zone hosts 13.5 million tons of ore averaging 0.028 ounces of gold per ton. With a gold recovery of 70%, the mine was expected to yield a total of 260,000 ounces of gold Annual production was expected to reach 70,000 ounces in 1995. In 2004, Newmont reported that 2005 development work at their Phoenix Project would included developing the Reona Pit, expanding the Fortitude and Northeast Extension Pits to form the Phoenix Pit, and expanding the North Midas and South Midas Pits to form the Midas Pit. The Midas pit is in the immediate vicinity of the Bonanza and South Canyon deposits. Later it became incorporated into the greater Phoenix project of Newmont.

Comment (Location): The Reona Sunshine mine area has traditionally been discussed as three separate deposits: Bonanza, South Canyon, and Sunshine. The first listed lat/long in this record is for the Sunshine deposit area, about a half mile east of Willow Creek, on the west side of the ridge that separates it from Copper Canyon. The Bonanza and South Canyon deposits are on the east side of that ridge, with the South Canyon deposit just north of the Tomboy-Minnie mine and the Bonanza deposit on the east side of Copper Canyon south of the old Copper Canyon mine.

Comment (Workings): Old underground and more recent open pit.

Comment (Economic Factors): In 1994, total reserves for all three of the Reona project deposits, Bonanza, South Canyon, and Sunshine, were 13.5 million metric tonnes of leachable ore averaging 0.87 grams of gold per tonne (0.028 ounces of gold per ton). Total annual gold production from the combined deposits was expected to be about 50,000 to 70,000 ounces of gold per year to be mined over 5 years. Total recoverable ounces was estimated at 260,000 ounces of gold. There was recorded production of 50,000 ounces of gold and 95,000 ounces of silver from the Reona project in 1994. Total production from the Reona Project from 1994-1996 was reported as 160,058 ounces of gold and 423,267 ounces of silver. Subsequent production was lumped together with that for all of the Battle Mountain Gold complex operations, and after they were taken over by Newmont, Reona becomes part of the greater Phoenix project. In 1996, remaining reserves at Reona were 52.9 million tons of ore grading 0.038 ounces of gold per ton. Total endowment for the combined Reona deposits in 1996 was 259,729 ounces of gold and 1,907,500 ounces of silver.

Comment (Identification): This prospect encompasses the Reona, South Canyon, Sunshine, and Midas pit mine areas, part of which was covered in earlier MRDS record # MP90060 from which all material has been incorporated into this record and additional new material has been added.

References

Reference (Deposit): Geological Society of Nevada, 1999, Geology and Gold Mineralization of the Buffalo Valley Area, Northwestern Battle Mountain Trend; GSN Special Publication No. 31, 1999 Fall field trip Guidebook.

Reference (Deposit): NBMG MI-1994-2003.

Reference (Deposit): Denver Mining Record, 10/19/94

Reference (Deposit): Northern Miner, 10/17/94.

Reference (Deposit): Wendt, Clancy, 2004, Technical Report on the? ICBM/COPPER BASIN Property, Lander and Humboldt Counties, Nevada, Staccato Gold website, : http://www.staccatogold.com/i/pdf/icbm-43-101.pdf
URL: http://www.staccatogold.com/i/pdf/icbm-43-101.pdf

Reference (Deposit): Doebrich, Jeff, 1995, Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Antler Peak 7.5-minute quadrangle, Lander County, Nevada, NBMG Bull 109, 44 p.

Reference (Deposit): California Mining Journal, Dec., 1992

Reference (Deposit): Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Database of significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States; Part A, Database description and analysis; part B, Digital database: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-206, 33 p., one 3.5 inch diskette.

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.