Osceola District Lode Deposits

Site Name

Primary: Osceola District Lode Deposits
Secondary: Gold Exchange Group
Secondary: Butterfield claim
Secondary: Star claim
Secondary: Crescent claim
Secondary: Time Check claim
Secondary: Cumberland claim
Secondary: Exchange claim
Secondary: Woodman claim
Secondary: Golden Eagle claim
Secondary: January claim
Secondary: Dirty Shirt Mine
Secondary: Serpent claim
Secondary: Black Mule Mine
Secondary: Hampton
Secondary: Skyline claim groups
Secondary: Summit Group
Secondary: King claim
Secondary: Queen claim
Secondary: Goldhill claim
Secondary: June claim
Secondary: Gold Crown claim
Secondary: Skipper Mine
Secondary: Lane Tilford Group
Secondary: Tilford claim
Secondary: Skyline claim
Secondary: Paycheck claim
Secondary: Apex claim
Secondary: Hungry Three claim
Secondary: Three Sisters claim
Secondary: Gilded Age Mine

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Primary: Tungsten
Secondary: Molybdenum
Secondary: Lead
Tertiary: Manganese

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Location

State: Nevada
County: White Pine
District: Osceola 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: Osceola Gold Mining Company and Alta Gold
Info Year: 1997

Owner Name: Osceola Gold Mining Company
Info Year: 1997

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: sheeted fissure vein zones
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1872
Year Last Production: 1940
Discovery Year: 1872
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: Gneiss-hosted kyanite Au

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Orebody

Form: tabular to pipelike

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Structure

Type: L
Description: The mine area rocks are cut by many vertical to steeply dipping N- to NE-trending faults with little displacement.

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Clay seams present in some ore.

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Rocks

Name: Porphyry
Role: Associated
Description: quartz monzonite to granodiorite
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Jurassic

Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Cambrian

Name: Quartzite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Cambrian

Name: Granodiorite
Role: Associated
Description: porphyry
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Jurassic

Name: Quartz Monzonite
Role: Associated
Description: porphyry
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Jurassic

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Powellite
Ore: Fluorite
Ore: Calcite
Ore: Limonite
Ore: Manganite
Gangue: Quartz

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Comments

Comment (Deposit): In general, the Osceola lode deposits consist of sheeted quartz veins cutting quartzite and altered limestone adjacent and related to a quartz monzonite to- granodiorite porphyry stock and associated dikes. Scheelite and coarse gold occur both in the quartz veins, in altered limestone adjacent to the veins, and also disseminated in beds of finely shattered quartzite. In the vicinity of the Cumberland Lode, there are at least 5 adjacent parallel fissures forming a sheeted zone, with 2 main parallel lodes several hundred feet apart. Vein material contains many vugs lined with fluorite, gold, and other minerals. There is a large vein of tungsten carrying gold values running N-S across the western end of the Hampton Group. Veins are oriented both E-W and N-S and are intimately associated with several parallel fracture zones. Scheelite occurs as large orange-brown crystals up to several inches across, and can also occur as small specks and crystal clusters surrounding small iron-stained cavities in the quartz. Scheelite occurs in several narrow steeply dipping quartz veins in granite. A considerable amount of lead ore was found in a vein parallel to the lower Tunnel vein. Host rock is predominantly massive bedded Cambrian quartzite striking N10E, dipping 45NW.

Comment (Economic Factors): The camp produced nearly $5 million, primarily in gold, with some silver, lead and tungsten. Intermittent mining continues. Reported production in 1939 was $175,000 worth of gold. Reported production in 1940: was 5,884 ounces of gold and 55 ounces of silver. Production from 1936 to 1942 totalled about 37 Kilotonnes of ore containing 30,000 ounces of gold and 15 ounces of silver.

Comment (Identification): This record incorporates material from several records of the major lode deposits in the Osceola District.

Comment (Development): Lode gold was discovered in the Osceola District in 1872, and most of the vein deposits were first worked for gold, with the early ore milled in arrastras. Some exceptionally high grade " ore was taken out of the Hampton Group in 1896. A small cyanide plant was built in the early 1900s and a mill run of several hundred tons of ore was made from the Cumberland Mine before 1908. Some of the mines lapsed and were inactive until 1927-1928, when scheelite was identified in the veins. Parker owned and operated the Dirty Shirt Mine from 1929-1933 and mined and milled about 5 tons high-grade scheelite concentrate, after which Uvada Tungsten was organized to take over the property, but the lease lapsed due to low price for tungsten. The Black Mule (Pony Express) mine was first worked for gold in the late 1800's. Tungsten was discovered about 1930, after which it was operated for a short time by the Nevada-Massachusetts Co., and later in 1942-43 by the Gilded Age Mining Co. There was renewed exploratio and development of both the lode and placer properties of the district in the 1980's. In 1997 it was reported that Alta Gold Co. had an agreement with Osceola Gold Mining Co. to develop gold properties covering about 730 hectares in the Osceola district. Alta Gold?s initial drilling was focused in the area around the old Gilded Age (Black Mule, Pony Express) Mine.

Comment (Location): The gold-tungsten-bearing quartz belt found in 1872 cut across Pilot Knob, a spur on the NW flank of the Snake Range.

Comment (Workings): The Gold Exchange Group/Cumberland Mine claims have the most extensive underground workings of the district including 2 shafts, several stopes, and winzes. Other district mine workings include many shafts and adits with thousands of feet of drifts, crosscuts and raises on several levels. More recent work since 1980 has been mostly shallow surface cuts and drilling. A 20-stamp mill was present in 1922.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: gold, scheelite, powellite

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: quartz, fluorite, iron oxides, calcite, limonite, dendritic manganese, manganite.

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References

Reference (Deposit): USBM,1963, Unpublished Data, NBMG File 335, Item 13.

Reference (Deposit): Weeks, F.B., 1908 Geology and Mineral Resources of the Osceola Mining District, White Pine Co., Nevada, U.S.G.S Bull 340

Reference (Deposit): USBM, 1983, Open File Report MLA 56-83.

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): Mining Record, 1926 Clipping Mentions Crescent Mine.

Reference (Deposit): USBM, 1983, MILS Data

Reference (Deposit): Terradata, 1980, A Mineral Inventory of the Schell Resource Area, Ely District, Nevada; Prepared For BLM.

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

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

Reference (Deposit): Hose, R.K., Blake, M.C., Jr., and Smith, R.M., 1976, NBMG Bull 85, p. 60-62.

Reference (Deposit): Vanderburg, W.O., 1936, NBMG Bull 27, p. 167-173

Reference (Deposit): Weed, W.H.,Ed., 1922, The Mines Handbook, Vol. XV, p. 1303-1304.

Reference (Deposit): McClure, E.R., 1934, Letter and report on Hampton & Skyline mining claims, Osceola, Nev.; NBMG district file 335, item 2.

Reference (Deposit): Stager, H. K., and Tingley, J.V., 1988, NBMG Bull.105,Tungsten Deposits of Nevada.

Reference (Deposit): Parker, M.B., 1930, The Dirty Shirt group of scheelite mining claims: NBMG district file 335, item #1.

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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.