Daisy Gold Mine

The Daisy Gold Mine is a gold, silver, and fluorine-fluorite mine located in Nye county, Nevada at an elevation of 4,396 feet.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

Name: Daisy Gold Mine  

State:  Nevada

County:  Nye

Elevation: 4,396 Feet (1,340 Meters)

Commodity: Gold, Silver, Fluorine-Fluorite

Lat, Long: 36.87667, -116.69639

Map: View on Google Maps

Satelite View

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Satelite image of the Daisy Gold Mine

Daisy Gold Mine MRDS details

Site Name

Primary: Daisy Gold Mine
Secondary: Crowell Mine
Secondary: Daisy Fluorspar Mine
Secondary: Beatty Fluorspar Mine
Secondary: Lige Harris-Enif Area
Secondary: Yellow Spar
Secondary: Bullmoose North Pit
Secondary: Bullmoose South Pit
Secondary: Daisy
Secondary: Gold Ace
Secondary: Good Hope Pit
Secondary: Mother Lode
Secondary: Reward
Secondary: Secret Pass Zone
Secondary: South Zone
Secondary: Sunday Night Zone (Joshua)
Secondary: West Zone


Commodity

Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver
Primary: Fluorine-Fluorite
Tertiary: Copper
Tertiary: Molybdenum
Tertiary: Thallium
Tertiary: Mercury
Tertiary: Arsenic
Tertiary: Clay
Tertiary: Uranium


Location

State: Nevada
County: Nye
District: Fluorine District


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.


Holdings

Not available


Workings

Not available


Ownership

Owner Name: Canyon Reources Inc.
Info Year: 2006

Owner Name: Glamis Gold, Ltd.
Info Year: 2004


Production

Not available


Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: sediment-hosted gold; volcanic-hosted veins; hydrothermal replacement
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1919
Year Last Production: 2001
Discovery Year: 1918
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: M


Physiography

Not available


Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sediment-hosted Au
Model Name: Epithermal vein, Comstock


Orebody

Form: Gold is disseminated in tabular to irregular bodies. Fluorite occurs as lenticular irregular masses, irregular veins, small masses, disseminated grains, pipe-like.


Structure

Type: L
Description: Significant local structures are the Bullfrog Hills Caldera, Fluorspar Canyon detachment fault, northeast-trending, steep dipping, right lateral tear faults and gently northwest dipping thrust faults. The principal structural ore control for all three gold mineralized zones is normal faulting. The highest grade ore zones are associated with intersections of high-angle and low-angle faults. A low-angle fault forms the footwall of the gold mineralization in the favorble host rocks at the West Zone. In the South Zone, disseminated gold mineralization occurs in favorable host rocks in the footwall of a low-angle fault.

Type: R
Description: A low-angle structure called the Fluorspar Canyon Detachment separates mineralized volcanic rocks in the hanging wall from unmineralized Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the footwall of the fault and is thought to be part of a large-scale fault bounding the base of a regional allochthonous terrane.


Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: The highest gold values in the West Zone are associated with intense silicification and fluorite occurrence. Gold mineralization in the Halfpint member is accompanied by anomalous concentrations of arsenic, antimony, mercury, and thallium. Alteration in the Carrara Formation occurs as subtle decalcification, accompanied by anomalously high arsenic and silver, copper, molybdenum and thallium values correlating with gold. In the Secret Pass Zone, disseminated gold mineralization occurs in strongly propylitized, argillized, and silicified Miocene rhyolitic ash-flow tuffs.


Rocks

Name: Siltstone
Role: Host
Description: limey
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Middle Cambrian
Age Old: Early Cambrian

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Description: silty
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Middle Cambrian
Age Old: Early Cambrian

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

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Host
Description: welded tuff
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Miocene

Name: Welded Tuff
Role: Host
Description: rhyolitic
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Miocene

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


Analytical Data

Not available


Materials

Ore: Cinnabar
Ore: Gold
Ore: Kaolinite
Ore: Sericite
Ore: Montmorillonite
Ore: Quartz
Ore: Dolomite
Ore: Calcite
Ore: Clay
Ore: Fluorite
Gangue: Silica


Comments

Comment (Development): The original Daisy Fluorspar Mine owner and operator was J. Irving Crowell, Jr. The USBM in 1945 drilled 12 diamond-drill holes totaling 3,661 feet in order to define the limits of the fluorite deposit. Exploration of the Daisy Mine area for gold began in the 1970s by Cordex Exploration Company after discovery of the Stirling (Sterling) Mine farther to the south. Cordex discovered gold mineralization in the Nopah shale-limestone sequence in the vicinity of the old Daisy Fluorspar Mine. Meanwhile, based on a 1981 report by Ahern and Corn, U.S. Borax located claims in the Fluorspar Canyon area and drilled the volcanic-hosted mineralization at the Secret Pass Zone. Both of these independent exploration programs led to the led to the delineation of mineable gold resources by 1994. Rayrock Mines Inc. began production in 1997 at the Daisy Gold Mine and by its second year of operation produced and sold 32,504 ounces of gold. Glamis Gold, Ltd. acquired the Daisy mine via its merger with Rayrock Resources in February 1999 and mined it that year until mining was completed in December 1999. Gold production continued over the next two years with concurrent rinsing and reclamation activity during which time an additional sulfide resource was delineated at the Daisy Mine. The Reward Project was subsequently developed at the Daisy Property with gold production planned for late 1999. The Reward Project was anticipated to extend Daisy's mine life to 2002. In 2004, the Daisy Mine was listed by Nevada Dept. of Environmental Protection as in active reclamation status, and in 2006 was still listed by the BLM as a closed mine in reclamation status. In January 2005, Canyon Reources Inc. acquired the Reward gold property near Beatty through mineral leases with several private owners In 2006, Canyon Resources Inc. announced that based on recent drill results at the Reward Project, resources aggregate 2,640,000 tons @ 0.032 opt Au measured+indicated. (was 689,000 tons @ 0.062 opt Au)

Comment (Commodity): Commodity Info: Fluorite is purple to very light gray and finely granular. Clay is in the form of montmorillonite, sericite, and kaolinite.

Comment (Economic Factors): At the time of the 1994 discovery of the Daisy deposit, the gold resource was listed as 1,080,800 ounces. Proven and probable reserves at Daisy in 1998 were 4,162,000 tons of ore grading 0.0333 ounces of gold per ton for a total of 138,000 ounces of gold. Production from the Daisy deposit 1997-2001 was 104,251 ounces of gold. In 2006, Canyon Resources Inc. announced that based on recent drill results at the Reward Project (pert of Daisy), resources aggregate 2,640,000 tons grading 0.032 ounces of gold per ton measured+indicated. (earlier resource was 689,000 tons grading 0.062 ounces of gold per ton)

Comment (Deposit): Two Carlin-type mineralized zones occur: the West Zone is hosted by limestone of the Halfpint member of the Nopah Formation, and the South Zone is hosted by silty limestones of the Carrara Formation. The highest gold values in the West Zone are associated with intense silicification and fluorite occurrence. Gold mineralization in the Halfpint member is accompanied by anomalous concentrations of arsenic, antimony, mercury, and thallium. Alteration in the Carrara Formation occurs as subtle decalcification, accompanied by anomalously high arsenic and silver, copper, molybdenum and thallium values correlating with gold. In the Secret Pass Zone, disseminated gold mineralization occurs in strongly propylitized, argillized, and silicified Miocene rhyolitic ash-flow tuffs. The principal structural ore control for all three gold mineralized zones is normal faulting. The highest grade ore zones are associated with intersections of high-angle and low-angle faults. A low-angle fault forms the footwall of the gold mineralization in the favorble host rocks at the West Zone. In the South Zone, disseminated gold mineralization occurs in favorable host rocks in the footwall of a low-angle fault. At the Secret Pass Zone, a low-angle fault separates mineralized volcanic rocks in the hanging wall from unmineralized Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the footwall of the fault. This low-angle structure at the Secret Pass Zone is called the Fluorspar Canyon Detachment, partof a large-scale fault bounding the base of a regional allochthonous terrane. The Reward property contains a north-south shear zone and associated veins. Gold mineralization has been encountered over a strike length of more than 2,400 feet and to a depth of 400 feet along the Reward structure. The width of mineralization within the structural zone ranges from a few feet to up to 200 feet.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: free gold, fluorite, unknown uranium mineral, cinnabar, clay

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: silica, clay gouge, calcite, dolomite, quartz, iron oxide. Fluorite is purple to very light gray and finely granular. Clay is in the form of montmorillonite, sericite, and kaolinite.

Comment (Identification): The Daisy Gold Mine was developed on the site of the earlier Daisy Fluorspar mine for which two MRDS records already exist, W006927 and M241867. The Daisy Mine encompasses the following ore zones for which other records exist: Secret Pass RE00048, West Zone RE00046, South Zone RE00047. The current record includes all pertinent material from those earlier records as well as new material pertinent to the Daisy/Reward gold deposit.

Comment (Location): The Daisy Mine is located at the north end of Bare Mountain in Fluorspar Canyon. The Reward orebody is adjacent to the Daisy orebodies.

Comment (Workings): The original Daisy fluorite mine workings were a complex maze with 14 levels and sublevels in an area 270 m. long and 100 m. wide. Subsequent development of the gold deposit by several open pits obliterated many of the old underground workings.

Comment (Geology): The dolomite hosting the original fluorite deposit is white, medium-crystalline and medium-dark-gray finely crystalline.


References

Reference (Deposit): Cornwall, H. R. and Kleinhampl, F. J., 1964, Geology of Bullfrog Quadrangle and Ore Deposits related to Bullfrog Hills Caldera, Nye County, Nevada and Inyo County, California: USGS Prof. Paper 454-J.

Reference (Deposit): Cornwall, H. R. and Kleinhampl, F. J., 1961, Geology of Bare Mountain Quadrangle, Nevada: USGS Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ-157

Reference (Deposit): Geehan, R. W., 1946, Exploration of the Crowell Fluorspar Mine, Nye County, Nevada: U.S. Bur. Mines Rept Inv. 3954, 9 p.

Reference (Deposit): Garside, L.J., 1973, Radioactive Mineral Occurrences in Nevada: NBMG, Bull. 81, p. 92.

Reference (Deposit): Papke, K.G., 1979, Fluorspar in Nevada: NBMG Bull. 93, p.40-43.

Reference (Deposit): Cornwall, H.R., 1972, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Southern Nye Co.: NBMG Bull, 77, p. 35.

Reference (Deposit): NBMG, 1991, The Nevada Mineral Industry 1990, NBMG Special Publication MI-1990, p. 24.

Reference (Deposit): NBMG, 1994, MI-1993.

Reference (Deposit): Union Pacific RR. Co., 1952, Fluorspar Resources of CA., NV, OR, ID., CO.

Reference (Deposit): Kral, V.E., 1951, Mineral Resources of Nye Co.: NBMG Bull. 50, p. 61-62.

Reference (Deposit): USGS, 1949, Strategic Minerals Investigations Preliminary Rept 3-209

Reference (Deposit): Smith, A.M., 1931, Inspection Trip Notes, NBMG, File 228, Item 8

Reference (Deposit): Lincoln, F.C., 1923, Mining Dist and Mineral Resources of Nev; Nev. Newsletter Pub. Co., Reno, NV.

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): Glamis Gold Ltd., company press release, 2/28/2000.

Reference (Deposit): Yahoo Mining/Metals News, 11/8/1999.

Reference (Deposit): Glamis Gold website, 1998.

Reference (Deposit): Thurston, W.R., et. al., 1949, Daisy Fluorspar Deposit: USGS Strat. Min. Inv. Prelim. Rept. 3-209.

Reference (Deposit): Quade/Smith, 1982, Field Examination, NBMG, 4/21/82

Reference (Deposit): Papke, K.G., 1983, Directory of Nev. Mine Operations Active in 1982; NBMG Report

Reference (Deposit): Avon, 1974, Daisy Mine Report, NBMG File 228, Item 1

Reference (Deposit): Greybeck, J. D., and Wallace, A. B., 1991, Gold mineralization at Fluorspar Canyon near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada, in Raines, G. L., et al, eds., Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin, the Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, p. 935-946.

Reference (Deposit): Ahern, R. and Corn, R. M., 1981, Mineralization Related to the Volcanic Center at Beatty, Nevada: Arizona Geological Society Digest XIV, p. 283-286.

Reference (Deposit): Mapa, M.R., 1990, Geology and mineralization of the Mother Lode Mine, Nye County, Nevada, in Schafer, R., et al, eds., The Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin, Field Trip Guidebook #9, the Geological Society of Nevada, Reno.


Nevada Gold

Gold Districts of Nevada

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.