Chukar Footwall Mine

Site Name

Primary: Chukar Footwall Mine
Secondary: Chukar
Secondary: Gold Quarry Mine Area

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver
Tertiary: Arsenic
Tertiary: Antimony
Tertiary: Mercury
Tertiary: Thallium
Tertiary: Barium-Barite
Tertiary: Lead
Tertiary: Zinc
Tertiary: Copper
Tertiary: Manganese
Tertiary: Nickel

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Eureka
District: Carlin Trend

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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: Newmont, the Gold Company
Info Year: 2004

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: disseminated/shear zones
Operation Type: Underground
Year First Production: 2003
Year Last Production: 2004
Discovery Year: 2001
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: Sediment-hosted Au

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Orebody

Form: tabular

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Decalcified, silty limestone units of the Siluro- Devonian Roberts Mountains Formation are folded into a northeast- trending anticline in the Chukar footwall deposit.

Type: L
Description: The Roberts Mountains Thrust, Good Hope Fault System, Gold Quarry Fault, and other faults created a pervasive fracture system at Gold Quarry. Isoclinal folding of bedding is common.

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Alteration types consist of silicification and clay alteration. At the Gold Quarry deposit, in the central Carlin trend, Heitt (1992) reported K/Ar dates ranging from 28 to 27 Ma from supergene alunite veins that crosscut and postdate gold mineralization.

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Rocks

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Description: decalcified silty
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Devonian
Age Old: Wenlock

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Kaolinite
Ore: Barite
Ore: Alunite
Ore: Pyrite
Gangue: Silica

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Comments

Comment (Workings): The Chukar Footwall Underground mine workings are collared in the southwest corner of the Gold Quarry Pit; three portals are being driven into the walls of the open pit mine. Ore is mined using longhole-stope and cut-and-fill methods.

Comment (Economic Factors): With a gold endowment of approximately 530,000 oz, Chukar Footwall is a relatively small satellite deposit to the much larger Gold Quarry deposit, which contains a total of 24 million oz in past production and current reserves and resources. In 2001, Chkar Footwall was reported to contain 278,000 tons of ore grading 0.49 opt Au proven and underground probable reserves as well as an addtional 115,000 tons, 0.46 opt Au of mineralized material.

Comment (Location): The tunnels start in the southwest corner of the Gold Quarry Pit; UTM is to approximate collar of underground workings at the edge of Gold Quarry open pit.

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: silica, iron oxides, kaolinite, barite, alunite, pyrite

Comment (Deposit): A portal within the Gold Quarry pit provides access to workings. Gold mineralization is hosted in decalcified, silty limestone units of the Siluro- Devonian Roberts Mountains Formation, which are folded into a northeast- trending anticline. Northeast-striking faults allowed gold mineralization to deposit along the hinge and limbs of the anticline. Unique to Chukar is the occurrence of visible gold along fractures.

Comment (Commodity): Commodity Info: Gold grains range from <0.1 to 10.0 microns in size and usually occur associated with microfractures or disseminated in microcrystalline cherty matrix. Au:Ag ratio ranges from about 2:1 in mill grade ores to 1:3 in leach grade ores.

Comment (Development): The Chukar Footwall Mine was in development in 2002 in the southwest corner of the Gold Quarry Pit; three portals are being driven into the walls of the open pit mine. Plans call for development production in November, and for Chukar to be in full production by April 2003, producing roughly 190,000 oz of gold per year. Average ore grade is 0.048 opt Au. Exploration could eventually increase the mine life of Chukar, which is now expected to be operating for 3.5 to 4 years. Deep drilling by Newmont Mining Corp. in 2003 in the Gold Quarry pit beneath the Dos Equis and Chukar deposits intersected mineralization that will be further investigated for potential pit expansion or underground mining.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: free gold

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References

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): Newmont Gold website, 2004.

Reference (Deposit): Adella Harding 2002, Elko Daily Free Press Mining Quarterly.

Reference (Deposit): Johnston, Marcus. K., 2004, Wallrock alteration associated with the Chukar Footwall Carlin-type deposit, Eureka County, Nevada ;Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 4, p. 23.

Reference (Deposit): NBMG MI-2001-2003

Reference (Deposit): Newmont Mining Corp. First Quarter 2003 Report, 5/7/2003;

Reference (Deposit): Third Quarter 2003 Report, 10/29/2003

Reference (Deposit): J. Sagar, 2005, Geology and Mineralization at the Chukar Footwall Underground Mine, Eureka County, NV: SME Annual Meeting 2005 program

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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.