Ken Snyder Mine

Site Name

Primary: Ken Snyder Mine
Secondary: Midas deposit
Secondary: Rex-Grande
Secondary: Midas Joint Venture

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Elko
District: Gold Circle (Midas) 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: Elko BLM Administrative District

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: Newmont Mining Company
Info Year: 2003

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: fissure veins, lodes; replacement
Operation Type: Underground
Year First Production: 1908
Year Last Production: 2006
Discovery Year: 1907
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: Epithermal vein, Comstock

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Orebody

Form: Tabular to irregular

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Volcanic centers of several ages occur in the region of the deposit.

Type: L
Description: NW-trending faults

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: A zone of hydrothermally bleached country rock covers a 3 square mile area surrounding the deposit. Host rocks are silicified.

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Rocks

Name: Limestone
Role: Associated
Description: shaley
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Paleozoic

Name: Porphyry
Role: Associated
Description: quartz
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 12.200000+-
Age Young: Middle Miocene

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Associated
Description: tuff
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 12.200000+-
Age Young: Middle Miocene

Name: Tuff
Role: Associated
Description: rhyolite
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 12.200000+-
Age Young: Middle Miocene

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Associated
Description: flows
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 12.200000+-
Age Young: Middle Miocene

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

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

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Adularia
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Proustite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Stromeyerite
Ore: Quartz
Gangue: Calcite

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Comments

Comment (Geology): Although post mineral slickensiding is evident, the occurrence of some ore in gouge indicates that faulting and mineralization were perhaps contemporaneous.

Comment (Identification): The Ken Snyder mine is a new discovery in the heart of the old Gold Circle or Midas District, and developed upon more recently discovered segments of the same veins as the historic mines of the district.

Comment (Location): The mine is located east of the town of Midas, 50 miles northeast of Golconda, and 35 miles west of Tuscarora, in the heart of the old Gold Circle or Midas district.

Comment (Deposit): Deposit is a sheeted quartz-adularia vein system. Most of the veins follow NW-trending shear zones in older rhyolite and the fractured contact between rhyolite and andesite.High grade ore occurs in veins; low grade breccia zones iron-stained veins in rhyolite; country rock leached.

Comment (Development): The current mine was initially operated by the Midas Joint Venture, later taken over by Newmont Mining Company (2003).

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: pyrite, stromeyerite, native gold, tetrahedrite, proustite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: silicified breccia, calcite, adularia, quartz

Comment (Economic Factors): From 1908 to 1965, the mines of the Gold Circle district produced 4.025 tonnes of gold and 51.5 tonnes of silver from 365 kilotonnes of ore (with negligible amounts of copper, lead, and zinc). In 1995, the Ken Snyder mine deposit was estimated to contain a remaining resource of 11800 kilotonnes of ore containing 65 tonnes of gold and 1092 tonnes of silver (Long and others, 1998). In 1998, mineable reserves were 2.726 Mt grading 1.115 opt Au and 12.82 opt Ag containing 3.04 M oz Au and 35 M oz Ag or 3,738,500 M oz Au equivalent. In 1998, the modern Ken Snyder Mine produced 4,357 oz Au and 55,329 oz Ag. In their 2005 annual report, Newmont Mining Corp. announced that remaining reserves at the Midas Mine aggregate 1,500,000 tons of ore grading 0.580 ounces of gold per ton and 7.33 ounces of silver per ton proven+probable.

Comment (Environment): Creede, Comstock and Sado epithermal vein.

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References

Reference (Deposit): Tuscarora Land Status Map, 1979

Reference (Deposit): MASMILS 0320070203, 0320070642

Reference (Deposit): GSN SP29

Reference (Deposit): Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 90-206A, 33 p.; 98-206B. one 3.5 inch diskette.

Reference (Deposit): Rott, E H. 1931, Ore deposits of the Gold Circle Mining District, Elko Co., Nev.: Nevada Univ: Bull., V. 25, No. 5, 30 p.

Reference (Deposit): Koschmann, A. H. and Bergendahl, M. H., 1968, Principal gold producing districts in the U.S.: USGS Prof. Paper 610, p. 176

Reference (Deposit): Emmons, W. H., 1910, Reconnaissancce of Mining Camps in Elko, Lander, Eureka Cos., Nevada: USGS Bull. 408, p. 48

Reference (Deposit): Roberts et al., 1971, Gold bearing deposits, Nevada and Idaho: Econ. Geol., Vol. 66, No 1 p. 30

Reference (Deposit): LaPointe and others, 1991, NBMG Bull. 106

Reference (Deposit): NBMG MI-94 thru MI-98

Reference (Deposit): NBMG Map 91, 1st, 2nd, 3rd editions

Reference (Deposit): Amer. Mines (1996), 1995 thru (2000), 1999

Reference (Deposit): Patrick Goldstrand, oral communication, 1999

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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.