Eureka District Deposits

Site Name

Primary: Eureka District Deposits
Secondary: TL Shaft
Secondary: Silver Conner Shaft
Secondary: Ruby Hill Tunnel
Secondary: Richmond-Eureka Mine
Secondary: Locan Shaft
Secondary: Lawton Shaft
Secondary: KK Consolidated
Secondary: Jackson Mine
Secondary: Geddes & Bertrand Mine
Secondary: Eureka Tunnel
Secondary: Eureka Consolidated
Secondary: Dunderberg
Secondary: Atlas Shaft
Secondary: Diamond Mine
Secondary: Consolidated Eureka Mine
Secondary: Richmond Secret Canyon
Secondary: Pinto
Secondary: Silverado
Secondary: Spring Valley

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Commodity

Primary: Zinc
Primary: Copper
Primary: Silver
Primary: Gold
Primary: Lead
Tertiary: Molybdenum
Tertiary: Tellurium
Tertiary: Iron

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Eureka
District: Eureka 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: Ely BLM Administrative District

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: numerous

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: District
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: Pluton-related; replacement, contact metasomatic, bedded, fault zone
Operation Type: Underground
Year First Production: 1864
Year Last Production: 1952
Discovery Year: 1864
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: Polymetallic replacement

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Orebody

Form: tabular, blanket, irregular, pipe-like, pods, beds

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Structure

Type: R
Description: compound thrust faults, perhaps in front of deep Roberts Mountains Thrust to west; later block faulting

Type: L
Description: Complex faulting in limestone and dolomite, major structures are all pre-ore

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Ore is oxidized to 1000 feet depth.

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Rocks

Name: Andesite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Quaternary
Age Old: Oligocene

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

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

Name: Dolomite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Middle Cambrian
Age Old: Late Cambrian

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Middle Cambrian

Name: Granite
Role: Associated
Description: porphyry
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Late Cretaceous

Name: Porphyry
Role: Associated
Description: granite
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Late Cretaceous

Name: Basalt
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Quaternary
Age Old: Oligocene

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Quaternary
Age Old: Oligocene

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Cerargyrite
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Arsenopyrite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Scorodite
Ore: Anglesite
Ore: Cerussite
Ore: Smithsonite
Ore: Bindheimite
Ore: Mimetite
Ore: Hemimorphite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Galena
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Azurite
Ore: Wulfenite
Ore: Plumbojarosite
Ore: Molybdenite
Ore: Cerussite
Ore: Anglesite
Ore: Wulfenite
Ore: Arsenopyrite
Gangue: Dolomite
Gangue: Limonite
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Siderite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Halloysite
Gangue: Aragonite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Goethite

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Comments

Comment (Location): Most of the Eureka Mining District mines are located on several hills on the northeastern flanks of Prospect Mountain at the north end of the Fish Creek Range. UTM is to a large concentration of productive mines centered about three miles SSW of the town of Eureka.

Comment (Workings): The historic mines of the Eureka District were all developed by underground workings with thousands of feet of drifts, adits, shafts, stopes. Water is found at the 2500 foot level in the underground workings, below which sulfide ore occurs.

Comment (Development): Silver was discovered in 1864 and the Diamond Springs District was founded. Silver strikes were made in 1864 by prospectors from Austin proved uneconomical to work because of the high lead content of the ores. Ore was shipped to England and Wales for smelting until 1869, when the first of sixteen successful smelters was constructed and the smelter emissions gave Eureka the nickname "Pittsburgh of the West." Eureka grew in size and mining productivity during the middle 1870s when the Eureka & Palisade Railroad was extended south from the Central Pacific to Eureka. By 1878, Eureka had a population of about 9,000, second largest city in Nevada. Fifty mines produced lead, silver, gold, and zinc that fed the smelters, which could process a total of more than 700 tons of ore a day. By 1879, mining had reached well below the water table, and the increased cost of pumping the water out of the mines began to make mining deeper less profitable. Eureka mining production peaked in 1882, but tailed off rapidly after 1885 and by 1891 the major mines had been shut down. Eureka continued to be an important producing district, at least through 1957, though output in later years fluctuated widely, with no production as recently as 1952-53. The district was one of major producers in the west of lead, silver and gold from 1869-90; since this time there has been production every year until 1952. Only zinc was produced only after 1942 until the Ruby Hill (Archimedes) gold deposit was discovered. There are important deep reserves of sulfide lead, zinc and silver, carrying gold, but the water problem has prevented development of these resources.

Comment (Deposit): Deposits are replacement veins, chimneys, irregular masses and bedded deposits in Cambrian limestone along fissures and above a thrust fault in the richest area. Igneous rocks are a small quartz monzonite stock and quartz porphyry dikes of early Cretaceous age; intrusive and extrusive andesite of middle Eocene age; and rhyolite plugs and flows of middle Oligocene age. There are abundant sulfide minerals, but the bulk of the production was from oxidized ores. The Eureka Consolidated property contained the Champion & Buckeye claims on the south side of Ruby Hill, which were the richest of five mineralized blocks in the district. Water is found at the 2500 foot level in the underground workings, below which sulfide ore occurs. Some ore occurred as pods, replacement veins and irregular replacement bodies in brecciated zones at intersections of faults and fissures, and associated with a system of caves.

Comment (Economic Factors): Production of the Eureka District Mines between 1866 and 1964 was reported to be 2,000,000 short tons of ore containing 615,000 ounces of gold, 14,400,000 ounces of silver, 2,084,360 pounds of copper, 625,000,000 pounds of lead, and 14,387,791 pounds of zinc. In 1964, the remaining resource was reported to be 3,132,500 short tons of ore grading 0.16 ounces of gold per ton, 5.65 ounces of silver per ton, 3.7% lead, 8.3 % zinc, and an unknown % copper.

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: quartz, halloysite, goethite, calcite, dolomite, aragonite, siderite, hematite, pyrite, limonites, iron oxides,

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: argentiferous and auriferous galena, pyrite, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, plumbojarosite, wulfenite, azurite, malachite, arsenopyrite, tetrahedrite, scorodite, anglesite, cerussite, smithsonite, bindheimite, mimetite, hemimorphite, auriferous pyrite, native gold, cerargyrite, molybdenite, cerussite, native gold, anglesite, wulfenite

Comment (Geology): Ore occurs in the upper plate of the Ruby Hill thrust, at intersection with Ruby Hill normal fault (N 40 deg W) in limestones with late Mesozoic deformation.

Comment (Identification): This record includes information from earlier records for the major mines of the central portion of the Eureka District: #K003373, M232372, M232364, M232361, M232359, W002902, M232358, M232388, M232349, M232348, M232394, M232347, M232408, M232409, M232341, and M232336 as well as additional information.

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References

Reference (Deposit): Curtis, J S, 1884, Silver-Lead Deposits, Eureka, Nev.; USGSMon. 7, 200 p.

Reference (Deposit): Molinelli, Lambert, 1879, Eureka and its Resources; Eureka, Nev., Molinelli, Lambert, and co.

Reference (Deposit): Campbell, Michael D; Foss, Ted H, 1988, The rediscovery of precious metals in the Eureka mining district, Nevada and associated economic analysis; in Bulk mineable precious metal deposits of the Western United States; symposium proceedings, Schafer, Robert W; Cooper, James J; Vikre, Peter G., eds.

Reference (Deposit): Sharp, William, 1947, The Story of Eureka: Am. Inst. Mining Eng. Tech. Pub. 2196, 12 p.

Reference (Deposit): Lincoln, F C, 1923, Mining Districts and Mineral Dep. of Nev: Reno, Nevada Newsletter Pub. Co. p. 88-93.

Reference (Deposit): Roberts, R. and others, 1971 Gold Bearing Deposits in NE Nev and SW Idaho: Econ Geol vol. 66, no 1 p. 14-33.

Reference (Deposit): Nolan, T. B., 1978, The Eureka Mining District, Nevada; NBMG Report No.32, p.51-54.

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): McKnight, E.T., Newman, W.L., and Heyl, A.V., Jr. (compilers), 1962, Zinc in the United States, exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii: USGS Mineral Inventory Resource Map MR-19, Separate Text, 18 p.Hague, A, 1892, Geol. of the Eureka Dist., Nevada: USGS Mon. 20, 419 p.

Reference (Deposit): Nolan, T. B, 1962, The Eureka Mining District; USGS Prof. Paper 406, 78 p.

Reference (Deposit): Koschmann, A H and Bergendahl, M H, 1968, Principal Gold-Producing Districts of the U.S.,: USGS Prof. Paper 610, p. 179

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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.