Adelaide Crown Mines

Site Name

Primary: Adelaide Crown Mines
Secondary: Crown Mine
Secondary: North Pit
Secondary: South Pit

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver
Primary: Lead
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Zinc
Tertiary: Molybdenum
Tertiary: Manganese
Tertiary: Iron

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Humboldt
District: Gold Run (Adelaide) 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: Winnemucca BLM Administrative District

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: Franco-Nevada Mining Corp, Ltd.
Info Year: 2001

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: shear zone/vein
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1860
Year Last Production: 1980
Discovery Year: 1860
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: M

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Polymetallic veins

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Orebody

Form: tabular

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Structure

Type: R
Description: thrust faults, N-trending faults

Type: L
Description: Country rocks strike N-S and dip steeply east and are strongly crumpled.

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: silicification

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Rocks

Name: Shale
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Ordovician

Name: Quartzite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Ordovician

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

Name: Slate
Role: Host
Description: interbedded calcareous
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Cambrian
Age Old: Middle Cambrian

Name: Schist
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Ordovician

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Calcite
Ore: Orthoclase
Ore: Quartz
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Limonite
Ore: Chalcedony
Ore: Sericite
Ore: Hematite
Ore: Vesuvianite
Ore: Diopside
Ore: Galena
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Pyrrhotite
Ore: Molybdenite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Garnet
Ore: Limonite

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Comments

Comment (Economic Factors): Adelaide Crown reserves in 1989 were: south pit?585,000 tons of ore grading 1.313 ounces of silver per ton and 0.043 ounces of gold per ton; additional area: 165,000 tons of ore grading 0.015 ounces of gold per ton, and1.10 ounces of silver per ton. From 1907 to 1936, the Adelaide mines produced more than a half million dollars worth of copper, lead, silver, gold ore. From 1878-1914, the Adelaide Mine produced 21,009 tons of ore worth $119,491. In 1940 the Adelaide Crown Mine produced 27,886 tons of ore worth $73,116. Production in 1990-91 was 4917 ounces of gold and 53,474 ounces of silver.

Comment (Identification): This record incorporates all material from MRDS records for Gold Run District historic mines described by MRDS # M231274, W016348, D011109, and M242591 and as well as additional material describing the more recently identified gold deposits .

Comment (Location): The mines are situated on both sides of Layson Creek south and southwest of Adelaide historic townsite on the east side of the Sonoma Range.

Comment (Development): The Gold Run- Adelaide area was first prospected in the 1860s, and the district was organized in 1866. In 1868, an 8-stamp amalgamation mill was built to treat ore from nearby mines and in 1889, some copper was produced at Adelaide. In 1897, Glasgow and Western Exploration Co. acquired the main Adelaide mines and built a narrow gauge railroad from Adelaide to Golconda, and a concentrator and smelter were built at Golconda. The smelter operated continuously from 1898 to 1905 and the mill ran for 1 1/2 years, but both mill and smelter were scrapped in 1911. The original town of Adelaide was 1.5 miles east of its present location, moved in the 1930s. The Adelaide mines were bought by Yerington Mountain Copper Company, who operated ifor several years during W.W.I and intermittently until after 1937. Placer gold was discovered along Goldrun Creek in 1886, and the placers were sporadically worked for many years. The Adelaide mine operated from 1860s to 1940 and yielded the major portion of the gold, silver, copper and lead produced in the district. There was a flurry of exploration activity in the mid-1960s, by Bear Creek, and Union Carbide, among others. The district was prospected for molybdenum in early 1970s. Gold, silver, and copper production began again in 1980, with Bullion Monarch Company owning a 50% interest in M. and B. Mining Co. In October 1980, about 1000 tons of ore had been recently mined, stockpiled, and readied for delivery to Monarch's 200 tpd flotation mill at Austin. The district mines were inactive again when inspected in 1984, but a considerable amount of recent drilling had been done in the area south of the Adelaide mining by Exxon for precious metals. Shallow stopes indicate probable small gold production. Exploration interest in the district revived in the 1990s. Icarus Exploration Company mined and heap-leached ore - probably in 1990-1991 from Adelaide mines. Operators in 1990 as Gold King Nevada, Inc. employing a total of 42 employees and producing 3068 ounces of gold and 37,537 ounces of silver. In 1997, Altaur Gold took an option to purchase the Adelaide Crown gold property, at that time an advanced stage, fully permitted project with a proven reserve of 25,000 oz of gold and a drill-inferred resource of about 200,000 oz. Altaur planned to confirm the in-ground resource and increase its land holdings in the area before making a production decision. Also in 1997, White Knight Resources secured an agreement with North Mining to explore their Rock Creek Ranch property located between the Adelaide Crown Mine and Kramer Hill to the northeast. This area contains large areas of silicification and jasperoid development. In 1999, North Mining Inc. drilled two core holes in the property, designed to test geochemical targets identified by earlier trenching and rotary drilling. Both holes targeted more receptive host rocks of the Comus and Preble Formations beneath Valmy Formation rocks with the potential for a deeper sediment-hosted deposit. Also in 1999, Western Exploration planned 11 reverse circulation drill holes and 4,800 feet of road construction on its LNL claims near Adelaide. In 2000, Aur Resources optioned a part of Franco-Nevada's Adelaide claims on the southern part of the Getchell trend and, following mapping and sampling last year, planned a drilling program on the property. Newmont acquired Franco-Nevada Mining in 2002, and assumed ownership of that company's properties.

Comment (Workings): The historic Adelaide mines were developed by numerous shafts, adits and underground workings totaling more than two miles as well as many prospect pits and a small open pit. More recent work consists of several kilometers of drill roads and several rotary and core drill holes.

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: garnet, diopside, vesuvianite, calcite, orthoclase, quartz, pyrite, limonite, chalcedony, iron-manganese oxides, sericite, hematite, limonite

Comment (Deposit): Silicified fault zone mineralized with gold and silver values in a brecciated, iron-stained, manganese-stained quartz gangue. In 1908, Ransome described the Adelaide Mine ore as a replacement of limestone by pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite , and minor galena in a skarn gangue of garnet, diopside, vesuvianite, calcite, orthoclase and minor quartz. There was a large body of ore averaging about 3 % copper. About 45,000 tons of this material was subsequently mined. The Crown Vein in the Adelaide Crown Mine trends N-S, dipping 70 west and was up to 80 feet thick. Gold and silver occur within the iron-manganese-stained brecciated quartz vein. This deposit may actually be more like a sediment-hosted, quartz-adularia precious metal deposit.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: gold, silver sulfides, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, molybdenite, oxide copper minerals, tetrahedrite, chalcocite, manganese oxides

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References

Reference (Deposit): Willden, Ronald, 1964, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Humboldt County Nevada: Nbmg Bull. 59

Reference (Deposit): Garside, L. J., 1984, Field Examination Notes: NBMG Unpublished mining district files.

Reference (Deposit): Couch, B.F., and Carpenter, J.A., 1943, Nevada's Metal and Mineral Production (1859-1940): NBMG Bull. 38.

Reference (Deposit): Altaur Gold press release, 3/6/97.

Reference (Deposit): BLM Files, Winnemucca District, 4/12/1999.

Reference (Deposit): Denver Mining Record, 3/4/98, 11/10/99

Reference (Deposit): White Knight Resources news release, 2/19/99, 11/2/99.

Reference (Deposit): www.franco-nevada.com, 9/11/2000.

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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.