Schwartz Canyon Deposits

Site Name

Primary: Schwartz Canyon Deposits
Secondary: Schwartz Tunnel
Secondary: Swartz
Secondary: Ad Claim
Secondary: Jerry Claim
Secondary: Robertson Claim
Secondary: MDM Claim
Secondary: Cinch & Pip Mines
Secondary: Silver Lode

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Commodity

Primary: Tungsten
Primary: Copper
Primary: Silver
Primary: Zinc
Secondary: Fluorine-Fluorite
Secondary: Molybdenum
Tertiary: Iron

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Lincoln
District: Cave Valley 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.
Administrative Organization: Ely BLM Administrative District

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: Lexam Explorations
Info Year: 1996

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: replacement; vein stockwork
Operation Type: Underground
Discovery Year: 1869
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: W skarn

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Orebody

Form: irregular; pinch and swell; pods

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Structure

Type: L
Description: The rocks in the mine area have been cut by a N-S- trending normal fault with the west side downthrown.

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Alteration consists of silication, marbelization, and chloritization.

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Rocks

Name: Shale
Role: Host
Description: limy
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Cambrian
Age Old: Middle Cambrian

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Description: silicified tactite
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Cambrian
Age Old: Middle Cambrian

Name: Quartzite
Role: Host
Description: calcareous
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Cambrian
Age Old: Neoproterozoic

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Magnetite
Ore: Molybdenite
Ore: Fluorite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Gangue: Mica
Gangue: Tremolite
Gangue: Wollastonite
Gangue: Epidote
Gangue: Diopside
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Chlorite

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Comments

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: scheelite; chalcopyrite; sphalerite, fluorite, molybdenite, magnetite, copper oxides

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: quartz, calcite, pyrite, diopside, epidote, wollastonite, tremolite, coarse white mica, iron oxides, chlorite

Comment (Location): The mine workings are located near the crest of Schell Creek Range within about a mile radius of Patterson Pass, and 2 miles north of Patterson Pass. UTM is to one of several workings on the property.

Comment (Development): The first discoveries in the Patterson Pass District were on rich silver ores about 1869, causing a flurry of activity that was short-lived, with small unrecorded production. Lake Valley Mining Company shipped some siliceous silver ore from the area mines in 1920-1921, and built a 50-ton cyanidization plant that produced silver from 1922-1925. There was some activity in th edistrict from 1920 to 1930, and in 1941, Owen Walker located the Cinch and Pip Mines from which about 1000 tons of tungsten ore was produced during World War II. There was intermittent production until the Jerry Claims were developed in 1956. There was a major exploration project conducted by Union Carbide in the late 1970s until the 1980s, several holes were drilled in the mine area. At the time of Union Carbide exploration in 1979, the owner of the property was Eugene Hodges, In 1996, Lexam Explorations reported that drilling at their Patterson Pass property encountered 25 feet of 0.040 opt gold starting at 30 feet, and 25 feet of 0.014 opt gold starting at 75 feet.

Comment (Economic Factors): Total recorded production of the district mines from sporadic work between 1904 and 1952 was about 27,000 ounces of silver, 40 ounces of gold, 600 pounds of copper, 8,000 pounds of lead, and 750 units of WO3.

Comment (Identification): This record is a new record that includes all material in earlier MRDS records M233811, M060501, M233810, M233815, M233818, and M233812 as well as additional new information.

Comment (Workings): The vein deposits have been developed by numerous workings including 2 adits, 2 shafts, several dozer trenches and drill holes. In 1916 one tunnel extended N5W for 300 ft. Union Carbide drilled several holes in the mine area in the 1980s.

Comment (Deposit): The Schwartz Tunnel is at or near the basal contact of the Pioche Shale with the Prospect Mountain Quartzite. Some of the vein material on the adit dump above the Schwartz tunnel is pegmatitic with coarse white mica and coarse terminated quartz crystals in vugs. Below the adit dump is Pioche Shale. The adit above the tunnel displays a replacement horizon in one of the basal limestone units of the Pioche Shale. The limestone is silicified and now displays a typical tactite mineral assemblage of diopside, calcite, and epidote with some fluorite, pyrite and chalcopyrite throughout. Sphalerite is also present. The altered horizon at the mouth of the adit is reddish-brown silicified limestone with polka dot appearance from algal girvanella. This horizon is capped by gossan, which can be followed for 100 ft or more to the SW. At the ridgecrest SW of the Schwartz workings is an old shaft and several dozer trenches. The replaced horizon recurs here. A coarse, bladed, greenish white mineral (wollastonite or tremolite) occurs on the vein selvages. Host rock is bedded calcareous quartzite, limestone, or limy shale, striking N-S, dipping 15-36E. Limey shale and limestone located 100 feet above the tunnel are altered to tactite. A stockwork of quartz veins outcrops continuously with a strike of N70E and dip of 13SE. Southwest of the tunnel, pyrite and chalcopyrite occur in veinlets, pods, and replacement of algal spheroids within the replaced horizon. Gossan is abundant in the dump material.

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References

Reference (Deposit): Hill, J.M., 1916, Notes on some Mining Districts in Eastern Nevada: USGS Bull 648, 214p.

Reference (Deposit): Tschanz, C.M. and Pampeyan, E.H., 1970, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Lincoln County, Nevada: NBMG Bull 73, 187p.

Reference (Deposit): Field Check by Smith/Bentz/Tingley, NBMG, 1981

Reference (Deposit): Stager, H. K., 1983, Unpublished Manuscript on Tungsten in Nevada.

Reference (Deposit): Schrader, F. C., 1931, NBMG Bull 10 (UNR Bull Vol 25, No. 3.

Reference (Deposit): Papke, K. G., 1979, NBMG Bull 93, p. 70.

Reference (Deposit): Schrader, F. C., 1931, Notes on ore deposits at Cave Valley, Patterson District, Lincoln County, Nevada; University of Nevada Bulletin: Geology and Mining Series, vol.25, no.3, 16 pp.

Reference (Deposit): Van Loenen, R.E., Blank, H.R., Jr., Barton, H., and Chatman, M.L., 1987, Mineral resources of the Mount Grafton Wilderness Study Area, Lincoln and White Pine Counties, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1728-F, 24 p.

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.

Reference (Deposit): Lexam Explorations Inc. news release, 2/19/96.

Reference (Deposit): NBMG MI-1996.

Reference (Deposit): NBMG Mining District file # several items.

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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.