Easter Project

Site Name

Primary: Easter Project
Secondary: Taylor Mine
Secondary: Easter Mine
Secondary: Eastern Mine
Secondary: Pioche-Xray Mining & Milling Co. property
Secondary: NBMG Sample Site 579

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver
Tertiary: Iron
Tertiary: Manganese
Tertiary: Mercury

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Lincoln
District: Delamar (Ferguson) 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: Las Vegas BLM-administration district

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: Beta Minerals
Info Year: 2005

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: vein; breccia filling; shear zone
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1912
Year Last Production: 1930
Discovery Year: 1912
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: Epithermal vein, Comstock
Model Name: Hot-spring Au-Ag

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Orebody

Form: tabular

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Structure

Type: L
Description: Local structures evident at the property are a shear zone as well as cross-faulting and fractures with slight silicification and mineralization at intersections with main fault zone.

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Alteration consists of silicification, argillization, and propylitization

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Rocks

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

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

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Cinnabar
Ore: Iron
Ore: Adularia
Gangue: Quartz

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Comments

Comment (Workings): The property was developed by a shaft, several adits, prospect pits, and stopes in one area on the vein structure. More recent drill hole collars and drill core present were present at the time of examination in 1984; drilling had been done within past 10 years. In 1912, the property was reported to have 3 tunnels 130 feet, 48 feet and 25 feet long. Adits shown on topo map are all driven perpendicular to the vein, and all cross-cut the structure. The shaft was sunk down-dip of the vein. Water level is just a few feet below the adit level. The stream flows along the north side of the vein, and the sloping vein surface forms the steep southern wall of the canyon here.

Comment (Location): The mine area is accessible by poor jeep trail from Meadow Valley Wash.

Comment (Development): The property was covered by 4 full claims (in 1912) along the strike of the vein for 6750 feet. J.W. Taylor was the principal owner in 1912, and Mr. E.C.D. Marriage in 1933. Phil Dolan was the lessee in 1933-1935. The property has been the focus of renewed exploration activity by joint ventures since 1982, including work by Homestake, FMC Gold Company, Hanna Mining, Aur Resources, and Phelps Dodge Mining Company. A total of 104 drill holes have been completed on the prospect, both core holes and reverse circulation holes. Homestake Mining Company made a resource estimate in 1988 of 4 million tons at 0.056 oz/ton at a 0.02 oz/ton cutoff (224,740 oz Au), based upon 25 drill holes. In 1995, it was reported that five holes of a phase three drilling program had been completed at the Easter gold property by World Wide Minerals, Ltd. All the holes intersected the previously identified mineralized zone. The drill program was to continue for at least 18 holes totaling 6,000 feet. Phases one and two, conducted in 1994 on the main vein, defined gold ore reserves of 1.5 million tons grading 0.069 opt gold. These are open-pit reserves delineated to an average depth of only 200 feet. Geophysical surveys have revealed that the Main vein persists at least 400 feet to the west, and several strong targets were encountered. Beta Minerals acquired the Easter gold exploration project in 2003. In August, 2004 Beta Minerals announced completion of and assay results from their drilling program on the Easter Property. Twelve core holes totaling 4,857 feet were drilled during June and July to test gold mineralization along a strike length of 2,840 feet within the 6,500 foot long zone, and tested the mineralization to a depth of 851 vertical feet. 451 samples were submitted for gold assay. The drilling confirmed down-dip continuity of mineralization and expanded the resouce but did not produce the spectaclar results that had been anticipated.

Comment (Economic Factors): The size of the mine workings suggests that there was significant historic production, much of which is unknown. In 1933, 38 tons of ore was mined yielding 0.95 ounces per ton in gold and 3.94 ounces per ton in silver. Drilling in 1994 on the main vein defined gold ore reserves of 1.5 million tons grading 0.069 ounces per ton gold. These are open-pit reserves delineated to an average depth of only 200 feet.

Comment (Identification): This record is a new record for the current Easter Project that includes all material in earlier MRDS record M241676 as well as additional new information.

Comment (Deposit): Brecciated, recemented vein quartz occurs along a fault zone cutting silicified rhyolite. The wallrock is laced with banded chalcedonic quartz. Wallrock adjacent to the structure is green from propylitic alteration. Within the vein, silicified breccia fragments are embedded in a matrix of chalcedonic quart with open spaces coated with acicular quartz crystals. Some lamellar quartz after calcite is present. Some quartz may have replaced original adularia crystals. There are traces of iron and manganese oxides in vein material. The 10 to15-foot thick silicified breccia zone is exposed for about 1000 feet along strike. An iron-oxide-stained zone in the immediate footwall of the structure has been stoped in one area. Richest ore was found in the farthest east portions of the vein system. The Easter property mineralization is an epithermal quartz-adularia vein stockwork system within Tertiary volcanics of the Caliente Caldera Complex of southeastern Nevada. The Easter vein has been traced on the surface for a strike length of 6,450 feet and drill tested to a depth of 1,740 feet. The main mineralized zone is lens shaped in plan view, and is 50 to 125 feet wide in the center of the deposit, pinching to 20-25 feet wide to the east and west. The core of the deposit rises as a hillside above the surrounding country, allowing for surface mining with little or no waste stripping required. Gold mineralization is associated with silicification in the form of stockworks, fissure-filling veins and silicified volcanics. The highest grades (up to +0.50 oz/ton Au) are in the immediate hanging wall of the vein. There is an extensive opaline sinter and argillically altered bedded tuff sequence on the eastern side of the property. Bedded hot-springs-pool opalite containing cinnabar indicates a once active geothermal system with potential for additional precious metal mineralization at depth.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: gold, cinnabar

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: quartz, iron and manganese oxides, adularia

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References

Reference (Deposit): Callaghan, E., 1937, Geology of the Delamar District, Lincoln Co, Nev. Nevada Bur. of Mines vol . 31, no. 5, p. 50-58.

Reference (Deposit): Correspondence between J. W. Taylor and J. E. Spurr, 1912, NBMG District File 167 Item 2.

Reference (Deposit): Snee, Lawrence W. and Rowley, Peter D. , 2000, New 40Ar/39Ar dates from the Caliente caldera complex, Nevada-Utah; at least 10 million years of Tertiary volcanism in one of the world's largest caldera complexes; Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America, vol.32, no.7, pp.461.

Reference (Deposit): Tschanz, C.M. and Pampeyan, .H., 1970, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Lincoln Co. Nev. Nev. Bur. Mines Bull. 73, p. 141.

Reference (Deposit): NBMG MI-1994, MI-1995

Reference (Deposit): Denver Mining Record, 9/6/95, 9/20/95.

Reference (Deposit): Beta Minerals website: www.betaminerals.com

Reference (Deposit): Tingley, J.V., 1984, NBMG Field Examination on April 4, 1984.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, A.M., 1933-1934, Report of a preliminary examination of the Easter Mine; NBMG District File 167, Item B.

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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.