Crescent Valley Placers

The Crescent Valley Placers is a gold mine located in Lander county, Nevada.

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: Crescent Valley Placers
Secondary: Triplett Gulch Placers
Secondary: Mill Gulch placers
Secondary: Mud Springs Valley placers

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Tungsten

Location

State: Nevada
County: Lander
District: Tenabo District

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: Coral Gold Corp.
Info Year: 2004

Owner Name: Pacific Gold Corp
Info Year: 2004

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Placer gold
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1905
Year Last Production: 1940
Discovery Year: 1916
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

Orebody

Form: blanket; channels

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Name: Gravel
Role: Host
Description: alluvial
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Quaternary

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Electrum
Ore: Scheelite

Comments

Comment (Economic Factors): From 1931 to 1936, the Bullion district placer deposits produced 1111 ounces of gold and 119 ounces of silver from as many as 9 different placer operations mining at the same time. The placer deposits at Mud Springs Gulch and its tributaries reportedly produced only a total of about $2,000 worth of gold from their discovery in 1907 until about 1938. The Triplett Gulch placer mines produced 1,627 ounces of gold and 160 ounces of silver in 1940 and an unrecorded amount by numerous lessees before that. Production from the 1937-1939 dredging operation in Mill Gulch is estimated at no less than 6,000 ounces of gold. Proven placer reserves reported in 2003 are 1.98 million cubic yards of placer gravels grading 0.034 ounces of gold per ton and 6.3 million cubic yards of placer gravels grading 0.031 ounces of gold per ton .

Comment (Identification): The current record describes an area covered by the Triplett Gulch, Mill Gulch, and Mud Springs placer deposits described in part by earlier MRDS records M232525, M232526, and M232527 from which all material has been incorporated into the current record, as well as additonal new material.

Comment (Location): The Crescent Valley placer deposits are located along three creeks: predominantly Triplett Gulch and Mill Gulch just south of Tenabo, and some along Mud Springs Gulch a few miles to the north. UTM is to the Mill Gulch placer area.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: free gold, electrum, scheelite

Comment (Workings): By 1938, about 30 shallow shafts 60-90 feet deep had been dug to bedrock through the placer gravels in Mud Springs Gulch .

Comment (Deposit): The alluvium in Mill Gulch is sand and medium boulders from 10 to 45 feet thick, with most of the gold occurring near the underlying bedrock. Gold ranges from fine to coarse-grained, with a fineness of 920. A small amount of scheelite occurs in the gravels with the gold. The Triplett Gulch placer is a half-mile south of Mill Gulch. The alluvial gravels in Triplett Gulch wer 1-12 feet thick, averaging 6 feet thick- placer deposits. The placer material in Triplett Gulch is chiefly sand and soil containing a small proportion of angular rock fragments. Depth of the alluvium ranges from 1 to 12 feet. Average value of dry washed material in 1939 was $2 cu/yd.

Comment (Development): The lode deposits in the district were discovered in 1905, but the Tenabo (Crescent Valley) placer deposits were not discovered until 1916. Some hand work with dry washers and rockers was done by Raleigh and lessees, but no production was recorded until 1931. In 1936, the Mill Gulch Placer Mining Company bought the Mill Gulch placer claims from Raleigh, and filed placer claims over a large area in adjacent Triplett Gulch. The company installed a floating washing plant and a dragline and began 24 hour- a-day production in 1937 continuing at least until 1939 followed by a few more years of small-scale workings. Production from this operation in Mill Gulch is estimated at no less than 6,000 ounces of gold. In 1938 Mrs. G. W. Triplett and E.O. Swackhamer held 9 unpatented placer claims over the main workings in Triplett Gulch. There were up to 40 sublessees working the ground with small-scale dry washing equipment, and processing up to 50 cubic yards of material a day. Triplett Gulch Mines, Inc. operated a non-floating washing plant in Triplett Gulch in 1940. It processed 140,000 cubic yards of placer material yielding 1,627 ounces of gold and 160 ounces of silver. The placer deposits at Mud Springs Gulch and its tributaries a few miles to the north, were discovered by Gus Fowler in 1907 and were worked intermittently by hand methods through the 1930s, producing only a total of about $2,000 worth of gold. The rise in god prices since 2000 generated renewed interest in the old placers, and the area was being prospaected in 2003 by Pacific Gold Corp and Coral Gold Corp., who reported reserves for the Crecent valley placer properties.

References

Reference (Deposit): Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 90-206A, 33 p.; 98-206B. 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.