Hilltop-Slaven Gold Property

Site Name

Primary: Hilltop-Slaven Gold Property
Secondary: Independence Mine
Secondary: Victoria Resource Corporation?s property
Secondary: Hilltop Gold Mine

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver
Tertiary: Zinc
Tertiary: Antimony
Tertiary: Tin
Tertiary: Lead
Tertiary: Copper

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Lander
District: Slaven Canyon

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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.

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: Victoria Resource Corporation (surrounding area)
Info Year: 2003

Owner Name: Placer Dome
Info Year: 2003

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: fault zone
Operation Type: Surface
Year First Production: 1907
Year Last Production: 1919
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Distal disseminated Ag-Au

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Orebody

Form: tabular

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Structure

Type: L
Description: Hilltop Mine Fault

Type: R
Description: The Hilltop deposit falls within the Battle Mountain-Eureka mineral belt.

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: There have been two main alteration episodes: one pre-ore consisting of pervasive quartz-sericite-pyrite, and one coeval with gold deposition pervasive silicification, bleaching, baritization, and alunitization. Hydrothermal alteration of the Valmy Formation is predominantly bleaching (removal of organic carbon) and recrystallization/silicification resulting from the emplacement of Tertiary igneous intrusions. Tertiary igneous units exhibit typical phyllic alteration with local argillic alteration.

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Rocks

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

Name: Siltstone
Role: Host
Description: minor
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Ordovician

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

Name: Chert
Role: Host
Description: brecciated
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Ordovician

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Marcasite
Ore: Cassiterite
Ore: Arsenopyrite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Stibnite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Jasper
Ore: Fluorite
Ore: Barite
Ore: Calcite
Ore: Pyrite
Gangue: Quartz

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Comments

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: free gold, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, tetrahedrite, stibnite, auriferous pyrite, auriferous arsenopyrite, cassiterite

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: quartz, pyrite, barite, marcasite, , calcite, fluorite, jasper, iron oxide

Comment (Economic Factors): There was a small amount of early production from 1907 until about . In 2003, the Hilltop Mine property of Placer Dome was estimated to contain nearly a gold resource of almost 2 million ounces in material with an average grade of approximately 0.028 ounces of gold per ton. There was an open pit heap leach operation begun on the property, but the amount of production, if any, is unknown.

Comment (Identification): The current record describes an area covered by the Hilltop historic mine deposits described in part by earlier MRDS records M231404 and W702077 from which all material has been incorporated into the current record, as well as additonal new material.

Comment (Deposit): Gold mineralization is associated with sulfide minerals, which are hosted by a brecciated chert unit occupying the hanging wall of a fault. Deposit occurs in both concordant and discordant breccias and in narrow quartz veins. The deposit is distinguished by the occurrence of gold mineralization in quartz-carbonaceous matter-sulfide breccia matrix in a non-calcareous host rock. Veins strike N-S and dip steeply west. In the historic Hilltop workings, the deposit was described as shattered quartzite seamed with stringers of quartz and iron oxide carrying a large amount of free gold. Locally small bodies of pyrite and galena occur in the fracture planes of quartzite and minute stringers of a gray metallic mineral said to contain bismuth. Assays show silver equal by weight to gold. The quartzite near the ore is impregnated with pyrite and locally decomposed to a soft white claylike substance carrying high values in gold. Two sub-parallel west-dipping faults served as conduits for mineralization. Thrust faulting followed by Basin-and-Range style extension along both faults before and during mineralization created a highly permeable megabreccia (the main zone) which received later igneous intrusions and hydrothermal fluid deposition. A discordant quartz breccia pipe hosts both main zone and porphyry-related(?) mineralization. Initial weak porphyry-style Cu-Mo-Au mineralization throughout the Hilltop area was probably associated with a 41.2?0.5 Ma west-northwest trend of diorite-granodiorite intrusions. The porphyry mineralization is localized around the periphery of the intrusions. Precious metal mineralization within the main zone followed the porphyry event and consists of at least six temporally distinct but spatially overlapping events. Main zone mineralization exhibits characteristics of both high- and low- sulfidation epithermal systems. Gold is associated with silica and arsenopyrite in three of six main zone mineralization events and shows no affinity for a particular host rock type

Comment (Location): The Hilltop Gold Mine is located on the east side of Hilltop Ridge in the Northern Shoshone Range.

Comment (Workings): The historic mine area was developed by numerous shafts, adits and prospect pits and trenches. The Hilltop Mine has been developed as an open pit, heap leach project.

Comment (Development): In 1907, high-grade gold ore was discovered in Hilltop Canyon and the Hilltop Mine was located about the same time. Hilltop Mining and Reduction Company built a 10-stamp mill in 1910; in 1914 it was converted to a cyanidation mill. Gulf drilled the Hilltop Property from 1981 to 1983 on 200-ft spacings. Ruskin Developments acquired the property from Gulf Mineral Resources Co. in May, 1984 with intentions of proving up drill-indicated reserves and do a feasibility study based on findings. In summer of 1986, U.S. Precious Metals, Inc. of Vancouver decided to exercise its option to earn 50% of the Hilltop Property with an open pit heap leach project. Noranda became involved in the development in 1987 with an option to earn a 50% interest by drilling and producing a feasibility study over the next 12 months while U.S. Precious Metals, Inc. of Vancouver maintained a 25% ownership and Ruskin Developments a 75% interest. The Hilltop-Slaven property consists of 32 complete and 18 partial sections, plus 19 unpatented mining claims, which constitutes a large portion (approximately 45 square miles or 11,600 hectares) of Newmont's checkerboard private landholdings. Checkerboard refers to every odd-numbered section for 20 miles on either side of the original Central Pacific Railroad route, which traverses the state of Nevada generally east to west. These sections cover much of the NW trend of the Battle Mountain Gold Belt where it crosses the Northern Shoshone Range. Several sections of the Hilltop-Slaven property are adjacent to and partially surround the Hilltop Mine property of Placer Dome, which has a gold resource of almost 2 million ounces at approximately 0.028 ounces of gold per ton. The Battle Mountain Gold Belt is made up of a myriad of historic mines, which cover every section of the area. During 2003, Victoria will focus on structural mapping and mapping of the Eocene dikes that are abundant as N-S, WNW, and NW swarms within the Battle Mountain Gold Belt. These dike swarms are spatially, if not genetically, associated with gold concentrations at Hilltop, Cortez, Gold Acres, and other mines within the gold belt.

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References

Reference (Deposit): Bonham, H.F., 1986, NBMG Map 91

Reference (Deposit): Bonham, H.F., 1988, in NBMG MI-1987

Reference (Deposit): NBMG Mining District File 153, Numerous press clippings

Reference (Deposit): Lisle, R.E. and Desrochers, G.J., 1988, Geology of the Hilltop Gold Deposit, Lander County, Nevada in GSN Precious Metals Symposium Technical Volume.

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

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): http://www.arizonastar.com/337/Hilltop-Slaven_Property.htm
URL: http://www.arizonastar.com/337/Hilltop-Slaven_Property.htm

Reference (Deposit): Kelson, C.R., Keith, J.D., Christiansen, E.H., and Meyer, P.E., 2000, Mineral paragenesis and depositional model of the Hilltop gold deposit, Lander County, NV, in Cluer, J.K., Price, J.G., Struhsacker, E.M., Hardyman, R.F., and Morris, C.L., eds., Geology and ore Deposits 2000: The Great Basin and Beyond: Geological Society of Nevada Symposium Proceedings, Reno/Sparks, May 2000, p.1107-1132.

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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.