The Golden Butte Gold Mine is a gold and silver mine located in White Pine 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
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Golden Butte Gold Mine MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Golden Butte Gold Mine
Secondary: Butte North (northern orebody)
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver
Location
State: Nevada
County: White Pine
District: Butte Valley
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
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Not available
Ownership
Owner Name: Alta Gold Co.
Info Year: 1999
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: sediment/structure- hosted gold deposit
Operation Type: Surface
Year First Production: 1987
Year Last Production: 1991
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S
Physiography
Not available
Mineral Deposit Model
Model Name: Sediment-hosted Au
Orebody
Not available
Structure
Type: L
Description: Black Metals Fault zone and other steeply-dipping fault zones.
Alterations
Not available
Rocks
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Late Mississippian
Age Old: Early Mississippian
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Early Mississippian
Age Old: Late Devonian
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Early Mississippian
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Late Devonian
Age Old: Middle Devonian
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Ore: Gold
Comments
Comment (Deposit): The property consists of a hydrothermal gold system that exhibits alteration features related to sediment/structure- hosted gold deposits found elsewhere in Nevada. On a district scale, disseminated, structurally-controlled and skarn-hosted gold deposits are related to a large mineralized porphyry complex located beneath the valley floor.
Comment (Development): The Golden Butte prospect was examined by NBMG geologists in the early 1980s before it was developed into a mine. At that time there were drill roads, drill holes, and N-S-trending trenches on the property in fine grained dense red-brown jasperoid. Drill cuttings contained barite-bearing argillized calcite breccia fragments and also some antimony oxides in nearby rock. During the 1980's the Alta Gold-Echo Bay joint venture mined approximately 130,000 ounces of gold from surface jasperiods using heap leach methods at the Golden Butte Mine. The project and adjacent Limousine Butte property are currently being drill tested with a program designed to augment the existing (620,000 ounce) gold mineral inventory. The first two holes returned high-grade gold results (news release December 9, 2003) and the drill program has subsequently been expanded by 3,000 feet to 8,200 feet and from 8 to 14 holes to do additional testing of the deposit.
Comment (Economic Factors): In 2003, the existing gold mineral inventory was reported at 620,000 ounces of gold. 1989 reserves before mining began were reported at 4.23 million tons of ore grading 0.031 opt Au. Total recorded production from the mine between 1989 and 1991 was 43,519 ounces of Au, and 16,911 ounces of Ag , all from the south (Golden Butte) deposit. During the 1980's the Alta Gold-Echo Bay joint venture reportedly mined approximately 130,000 ounces of gold from surface jasperiods via heap leach at the Golden Butte Mine. Another report states that 91,000 ounces of gold were produced from the Golden Butte Mine by Alta Gold from 1987-1989.
Comment (Identification): MRDS records M233684 and M233685 describe field observations from NBMG geologists who examined this prospected area in the early 1980s before it was developed into a mine.
Comment (Location): This deposit is on the west flank of the Cherry Creek Range at the edge of Butte Valley, but as it has no organized mining district of its own, prospects in this area have in the past sometimes been included in the Cherry Creek District, whose mines lie mostly on the east side of the Cherry Creek Range. Limousine Butte to the south of Golden Butte is sometimes described included in descriptions of the property, but has its own record in the database.
Comment (Workings): open pit
Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: free gold
References
Not available
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.
