Wood Gulch Mine

The Wood Gulch Mine is a gold mine located in Elko county, Nevada at an elevation of 7,513 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

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Site Name

Primary: Wood Gulch Mine

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Nevada
County: Elko
District: Bull Run

Land Status

Land ownership: National Forest
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: Elko District U S Forest Service

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Type: Surface

Ownership

Owner Name: Independence Mining Company Inc.
Info Year: 1993

Owner Name: Homestake Mining Co.
Years: 1987 - 1991

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: hydrothermal stockwork, disseminated
Operation Type: Surface
Year First Production: 1988
Year Last Production: 1990
Discovery Year: 1986
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sediment-hosted Au

Orebody

Form: The shape of the deposit is irregular.

Structure

Type: R
Description: low-angle thrust faults

Type: L
Description: The mine area is cut by high-angle faults along N-S, NW, and NE trends. The Tomasina fault is the major structural feature in the mine area.

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: The rocks are argillically altered on a microcopic scale. Schoonover sediments have been silicified and dacites have been argillized. The altered dacitic volcanic rocks were not as good host rocks for mineralization as the brittle, siliceous, Schoonover lithologies.

Rocks

Name: Andesite
Role: Associated
Description: sills
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Tertiary

Name: Dacite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Tertiary

Name: Sedimentary Breccia
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Pennsylvanian
Age Old: Mississippian

Name: Argillite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Pennsylvanian
Age Old: Mississippian

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Pyrite

Comments

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: gold

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: quartz, pyrite, iron oxides

Comment (Development): Homestake applied for permits and began exploring area in 1983, staked claims from 1983 through 1984, drilled from 1984 through 1986, made a road into the project area, and discovered a small mineable ore body in 1986. The property consisted of 395 unpatented claims. Production began in 1988, and the first pour was in November of 1988, after which the mine closed for the winter, resuming operations in April, 1989. The proposed mine life was only two years a with possible extension from nearby Doby George area to the west. The strip ratio was planned to be 5:1 for the open pit. Processing at Homestake?s Wood Gulch Mine ceased in 1990 after the ore deposit was exhausted. Mine reclamation began shortly thereafter and was scheduled for completion in 1992. Independence Mining Company acquired the property by 1993.

Comment (Economic Factors): the reported resource in 1988 was 500,000 short tons of ore grading 0.098 ounces per ton Au and 0.4 ounces per ton Ag. The mine produced 34,700 ounces of gold and 66,496 ounces of silver from 1988 to 1990.

Comment (Deposit): Gold values are generally erratic occurring with quartz, pyrite and iron oxides in stockworks of veins and veinlets and as disseminations in silica-flooded zones. Samples were taken from areas of brecciated, silicified argillite, and rubble breccia, laced with quartz veinlets, quartz matrix to breccia, stained red with hematite. Ore-grade gold-silver mineralization was restricted to the vicinity of the Tomasina fault and associated structures. Higher grades were associated with siclicified, quartz-veined structures and breccia zones up to ten feeet thick Lower grade mineralization occurs in moderately broken and veined zons in the hanging wall and near structural intersections.

Comment (Geology): The dominanat host rocks are argillite and a rubble breccia. Sediments range from fine-grained to sandy silliceous clastics to calcareous in composition. sill of dacite and andesite are present as well as dacitic tuff and volcaniclastic rocks.

Comment (Identification): New record modified from old MRDS record No. M242965. The MRDS record No. M242965 should be deleted and replaced by this record.

Comment (Location): The deposit is located near the headwaters of Wood Gulch.

Comment (Workings): The mine was developed as an open pit, heap leach operation. Dimensions of the open pit were about 1300 feet long by 500 feet wide and 470 feet deep.

References

Reference (Deposit): USDA Forest Service, 1988, Environmental Assessment - Wood Gulch Project Gold Mine Operation, Elko County, Nevada.

Reference (Deposit): NBMG, 1992, The Nevada Mineral Industry 1991, NBMG Special Publication MI-1991.

Reference (Deposit): Rocky Mountain Pay Dirt, June, 1989.

Reference (Deposit): The Mining Record, 2/8/89

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): Tingley, J. V., 1989, NBMG field examination and sample analyses; NBMG files

Reference (Deposit): Homestake Mining Company, 1987, Wood Gulch Project Plan of operations, NBMG File 44, item 13.

Reference (Deposit): Baker, D. J., Stanley, W. R., and Dickerson, R. B., 1990, Geology of the Wood Gulch Mine Area and the Doby Prospect, Northern Independence Range, Elko Co., Nevada, unpublished report, NBMG file 44.

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.