Tonopah District

Site Name

Primary: Tonopah District
Secondary: Mizpah
Secondary: West End Consolidated
Secondary: Halifax Tonopah
Secondary: Jim Butler Tonopah
Secondary: MacNamara
Secondary: Mizpah Extension
Secondary: Montana - Tonopah
Secondary: North Star
Secondary: Rescue Eula
Secondary: Tonopah Belmont
Secondary: Tonopah Extension
Secondary: Tonopah Midway Mines

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Commodity

Primary: Silver
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Lead
Tertiary: Arsenic
Tertiary: Tungsten

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Nye
District: Tonopah District

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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.

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: numerous

Owner Name: numerous, most recently Echo Bay Mining Company

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: District
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: epithermal vein deposits
Operation Type: Underground
Year First Production: 1900
Year Last Production: 1947
Discovery Year: 1900
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: L

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Epithermal vein, Comstock

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Orebody

Form: Tabular to irregular

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Major structures include the Halifax Fault Zone (N-S) and the Tonopah Fault. The youngest group strike NE, NW, and N-S, dipping W.

Type: L
Description: The Tonopah fault, the N-S-trending Halifax Fault Zone, the Merton fault, and the Monarch-Pittsburg fault.

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Dominant alteration types affecting volcanic host rocks are silicification, sericitization, argillization and kaolinization . Andesite has been altered to chlorite and calcite. Rhyolite has been altered to chlorite, calcite, pyrite, quartz, sericite, and siderite.

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Rocks

Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age Young: Late Pliocene
Age Old: Late Miocene

Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age Young: Miocene

Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock Unit
Age Young: Miocene

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Associated
Description: dikes and intrusives
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Tertiary

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Tertiary

Name: Andesite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Miocene

Name: Trachyte
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age in Years: 20.400000+-0.600000
Age Young: Early Miocene

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Argentite
Ore: Stephanite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Electrum
Ore: Pyrargyrite
Ore: Iodyrite
Ore: Pyrargyrite
Ore: Cerargyrite
Ore: Silver
Ore: Polybasite
Ore: Stephanite
Ore: Polybasite
Ore: Embolite
Ore: Cinnabar
Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Wolframite
Gangue: Barite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Pharmacosiderite
Gangue: Cacoxenite
Gangue: Rhodochrosite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Jasper
Gangue: Opal
Gangue: Turquoise
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Sericite
Gangue: Adularia
Gangue: Apatite

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Comments

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: argentite, pyrargyrite, cerargyrite, polybasite, stephanite, polybasite, stephanite, copper sulfate, tetrahedrite, galena, electrum, arsenical pyrargyrite, iodyrite, embolite, cinnabar (rarely, in thin streaks) scheelite, wolframite, some native silver

Comment (Workings): Major workings consist of the 850-foot Midway No.1 shaft, the 1,625-foot Midway No. 2 Shaft, the 972-foot Tonopah Extension No 1 Shaft, the 1,440Kfoot Tonopah Extension No.2 Shaft, the 2,375-foot Victor Shaft, the 1,650-foot McKane Shaft, the 1,670-foot Cash Boy Shaft, the 1718-foot Belmont Shaft, the Desert Queen Shaft, the 1,050-foot Rescue-Eula Shaft, the 462-foot Montana-Tonopah Shaft, the 1,000-foot Mizpah Extension Shaft, the Wandering Boy Shaft, the 300-foot Big Tono Shaft, the 490-foot Gold Hill Shaft, 238-foot Fraction No. 1 Shaft, 400-foot Fraction No. 2 Shaft, the 1,200-foot deep Halifax Shaft, the 1,212-foot West End Shaft, the 800-foot Ohio Shaft, and the 700-foot McNamara Shaft with workings on the 200, 300, and 375-foot levels as well as many additional underground and surface workings.

Comment (Deposit): Several of the main ore-producing veins of the district are the Mizpah Vein, Montana Vein, Macdonald Vein Oddie-Egan Group, Belmont Vein, Shaft Vein, Lillie Belle Vein, Favorite Vein, IOU Vein, and Burro Vein. The Mizpah vein is a sheeted zone with ore minerals occurring in lenses or films on cracks or crevices. The main ore vein is up to 6 feet wide with a 40-50-foot wide zone of lower-grade vein material. A 112-foot wide quartz vein was reported in the West End Consolidated Mine. A 3-foot vein strikes NE, dipping 40SE in the Fraction No. 2 shaft. Some veins are banded and crustified. Supergene enrichment was a major enhancement to the richness of the Tonopah mines ore. The depth of oxidation was variable, up to 1170 feet.

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: quartz, pinkish carbonate, barite, apatite, opal, turquoise, pyrite, sericite, adularia, jasper, manganocalcite, rhodochrosite, cacoxenite Fe2(OH)3PO4.4.5H20, pharmacosiderite Fe3(OH)3(AsO4)2.5H20

Comment (Identification): This record includes material from earlier MRDS records #D001289 and #W002911, and other individual records for the major producing mines of the district.

Comment (Location): The most productive of the Tonopah mines were centered between Mount Oddie and Mt. Brougher, near the south end of the San Antonio Mountain Range.Some fo the more productive mines were on the southwest flanks of Mount Oddie.

Comment (Development): A fire in the Tonopah-Belmont mine in February 1911 caused the deaths of 17 men, the only significant mining accident in the history of the Tonopah mines. Peak mine production occurred from 1900 to 1921 yielding almost $121 million in gold, silver, copper and lead ore. The mines declined over the Depression years, and by World War II, only four major mining companies were operating. Following a huge fire in 1942 at the Tonopah Extension mill, the remaining mines closed down by the end of the war and the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad was torn up in 1947. There was a brief period of renewed interest in Tonopah in 1968-1969 when Howard Hughes' Summa Corp. bought many of Tonopah Mining Company 's old mining claims in the central mineralized portion of the Tonopah district, including the Mizpah, Silver Top, and Desert Queen mines. Some minor drilling was done and a few of the old mines were retimbered. The claims were acquired by Houston Oil & Minerals in 1977 and in 1981, it was reported that Houston was testing the old dumps of the Mizpah mine with plans to mill 15000 tons at their Manhattan mill. This did not materialize, however. Echo Bay Mining Company acquired the claims, but did not develop them, and later donated them to become the core of the Tonopah Historic Mining Park.

Comment (Development): In May 1900, Jim Butler found silver ore samples near Tonopah Springs, but his first assay of the ore at nearby Klondike was unconvincing. Later that year, Tasker Oddie visited Butler and paid for another assay in return for a quarter interest in the claim, after which Austin assayer William Gayhart assayed the samples as high as $600 a ton. Butler and his wife later returned to then county seat Belmont to file on eight claims near Tonopah Springs, of which six became some of Nevada's largest producers: Desert Queen, Burro, Valley View, Silver Top, Buckboard, and Mizpah. Work began on the Mizpah mine in October 1900, and the camp that sprang up nearby was called Butler. Partners Butler and Oddie leased out their claims for a year, taking a 25% royalty on all silver and gold mined from their claims. The population of Butler grew from 40 men in Jan 1901 to 60 in March 1901 and to 250 a few weeks later. A post office opened at Butler in April 1901 and changed its name to Tonopah in 1905. The Butler mines produced almost $750,000 in gold and silver in 1901, and continued regular production for 40 years. In 1902 Jim Butler sold his claims which were consolidated into the holdings of the Tonopah Mining Company, which controlled 160 acres of productive ground in the main Tonopah district. The company workings consisted of three deep shafts with more than 46 miles of lateral workings. The Tonopah-Belmont Mining Company also formed in 1902 with 11 claims (160 acres) adjoining the east side of the Tonopah Mining Company property. The Tonopah-Belmont was developed by two vertical shafts, 1,200 feet and 1,700 feet deep with underground workings totaling almost 39 miles. Ore from both properties was shipped to Millers for processing until 1912, when a 60-stamp 500-ton mill was built at Tonopah. From 1912-1923, it was operated as one of the best-equipped and most efficient silver cyanide mills in the US. The town's population grew to more than 3,000 by the end of 1902, at which time substantial new ore deposits were located in the lower levels of some of the existing mines, including the Montana-Tonopah, Desert Queen, North Star and Tonopah Extension. The huge volume of ore being developed in Tonopah's mines by 1903 necessitated the construction of a 60-mile long narrow gauge railroad that connected Tonopah with the Carson and Colorado branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad at the Sodaville junction. The railroad was officially opened on July 25, 1904, and in 1905 was enlarged to standard gauge. When the railroad was extended to Goldfield in 1905, it was named the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad. In May 1905, Tonopah replaced Belmont as the county seat and the town continued to grow. In the next few years, two mining companies consolidated between them most of the productive mines in Tonopah: the Tonopah Extension Mining Company, controlling about 700 acres of property west of the Tonopah Mining Company's property. The Tonopah Extension company had three mines - the No. 2, Victor, and McKane, all over 1,500 feet deep, and the Victor reaching almost 2,200 feet deep. The company built a 30-stamp cyanide mill in 1910, which was later enlarged to 50 stamps. The second dominant company that evolved was the West End Consolidated Mining Company, with 185 acres adjoining the southwest side of the Tonopah Mining Company's property. West End also controlled the Halifax-Tonopah Mining Company and leased additional claims from Jim Butler. West End's three main shafts were as deep as 1,400 feet, and in 1911 the company built a 200 tpd cyanide mill. More than 20 mining companies were active in the district from the 1910s though the 1920s.

Comment (Economic Factors): Total production from the Tonopah district mines was more than five million tons of ore worth more than $150 million in silver and gold predominantly, with lesser amounts of copper and lead production. At today?s market the value of precious metals produced would be in excess of a billion dollars.

Comment (Environment): Oxidized subduction-related continental-margin arc along western North America.

Comment (Geology): Complex faulting has affected rocks in the district. Tertiary volcanic host rocks are nearly flat lying.

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References

Reference (Deposit): Shawn Hall, A History of Tonopah, at: website: http://www.tonopahnevada.com/history.htm
URL: http://www.tonopahnevada.com/history.htm

Reference (Deposit): Lemmon, D.M., and Tweto, O.L., 1962, Tungsten in the U.S., USGS Map, MR-25.

Reference (Deposit): Spurr, J E, 1904, The Ore Deposits Of Tonopah, Nev.: USGS Bull. 225 P. 88-110.

Reference (Deposit): Spurr, J E, 1903, The Ore Deposits of Tonopah, Nev: USGS Bull. 219.

Reference (Deposit): Lemmon, D.M., Unpublished Data.

Reference (Deposit): Locke, A, 1912, The Geology of the Tonopah Mining Dist.: Bull. Aime vol. 62, p. 217-226.

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): Balliet, L. W, 1914, The Geology of Tonopah, Nev.: Mining and Engineering World, vol 40, p. 837-841.

Reference (Deposit): Koschmann and Bergendahl, 1968, Gold Districts of the U.S.; USGS Prof. Paper 610, p.4.

Reference (Deposit): Nolan, T. B. 1935, The Underground Geology of the Tonopah Mining Dist. Nev; Nev. Univ. Bull., v. 29 no. 5, p. 13

Reference (Deposit): Lincoln, F. C. 1923, Mining Districts and Mineral Resources of Nevada; Reno, Nev. Newsletter Pub. Co., p. 186

Reference (Deposit): The Mining Record, November 25, 1981

Reference (Deposit): Kral, V E, 1951, Mineral Resources of Nye Co., Nev,: Nev. Univ. Bull. v. 45, no. 3, Geology and Mining Series, No. 50, p. 171

Reference (Deposit): Carpenter, J. A, et al., 1953, History of Fifty Years of Mining at Tonopah: NBMG Bull. 51.

Reference (Deposit): Burgess, 1911, The Halogen Salts of Silver and assoc. minerals at Tonopah; Econ. Geol. v. 6, p. 21

Reference (Deposit): Spurr, J.E., 1905, Geology of the Tonopah Mining District: USGS Prof. Paper 42, p. 184-188.

Reference (Deposit): Bailey, E. H., U S Geol. Survey, Personal Files

Reference (Deposit): Bailey and Phoenix, 1944, Quicksilver Deposits of Nevada: NBMG Bull. 41

Reference (Deposit): Spurr, J E, 1905, Geology of the Tonopah Mining Dist., Nev.; USGS Prof. Paper 42

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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.