Emigrant Deposit

The Emigrant Deposit is a gold mine located in Elko county, Nevada at an elevation of 6,201 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: Emigrant Deposit
Secondary: Emigrant Springs Deposit

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Tertiary: Arsenic
Tertiary: Antimony
Tertiary: Barium-Barite

Location

State: Nevada
County: Elko
District: Bullion 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: Newmont Mining Corp.
Info Year: 2006

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Prospect
Deposit Type: Replacement; sediment-hosted Au
Operation Type: Surface
Discovery Year: 1981
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sediment-hosted Au

Orebody

Form: stratiform

Structure

Type: L
Description: The Emigrant Springs fault is filled with jasperoidal breccia over a 50-foot width for 2200 feet along strike. The sense of movement on the fault is reverse.

Type: R
Description: The property lies just beyond the easternmost limit of the Roberts Mountains Thrust. Emigrant Springs occurs on the NW limb of the Pinon Range anticline.

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: The north-trending Emigrant fault zone hosts the Emigrant Springs deposit in mudstone of the Webb Formation along the contact of the Devils Gate Limestone. The Emigrant Springs fault is highly silicified with minor barite, alunite, jarosite, and kaolinite. The bedding parallel jasperoid which constitutes the ore zone is typically massive, waxy, tan to maroon, and fine-grained. Liesegang banding of unsilicified Webb Formation rocks above the jasperoid is common.

Rocks

Name: Sandstone
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Mississippian
Age Old: Early Mississippian

Name: Mudstone
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Mississippian

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Description: interbedded
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Devonian
Age Old: Middle Devonian

Name: Monzonite
Role: Associated
Description: altered dike
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 37.500000+-0.800000
Age Young: Middle Eocene

Name: Quartzite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Mississippian
Age Old: Early Mississippian

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold
Gangue: Barite
Gangue: Alunite
Gangue: Jarosite
Gangue: Kaolinite
Gangue: Limonite

Comments

Comment (Location): The Emigrant deposit is located 2.5 miles east of the Rain mine and 10 miles southeast of the town of Carlin. The proposed Emigrant Mine and associated facilities will cover approximately 1172 acres of public land and 260 acres of private land.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: gold

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: barite, alunite, jarosite, kaolinite, limonite

Comment (Deposit): Emigrant is an oxide gold deposit exposed at the surface with a low strip ratio. Newmont?s current feasibility study assumes simple processing by run-of-mine heap leaching. The north-trending Emigrant fault zone hosts the Emigrant Springs deposit in mudstone of the Webb Formation along the contact of the Devils Gate Limestone.

Comment (Workings): surface exploration, drilling

Comment (Economic Factors): In 1989, reserves were reported as 30.3 Mt of ore grading 0.021 opt Au. In 1993, the Emigrant deposit was estimated to contain a remaining resource of 60,000 kilotonnes of ore containing 35 tonnes of gold and an unknown amount of silver. Emigrant increased its reserves from 344,000 ounces to 1.2 million ounces at year-end 2002, plus additional mineralized material not in reserves: 3 million tons grading 0.016 ounces of gold per ton.

Comment (Identification): This record supersedes MRDS record RE00037, which should be deleted, as this record contains all information in RE00037 plus additional updates.

Comment (Development): For the portion of the deposit in section 26: Homestake Mining was the first to conduct exploration on the property. Activities in 1981 consisted of grid soil and rock chip sample surveys, and two outcropping gold-bearing jasperoid zones were tested with rotary drilling. Homestake terminated their lease and the property then passed to Tarpon Oil Company who drilled an additional 22 holes in 1983 and 1984. Western States Minerals Company optioned the property in 1985 and drilled 20 holes in an effort to expand the known mineralization. Teck Resources acquired the property in 1987 and conducted detailed geologic mapping, soil sampling, and IP geophysical surveys. 41 holes were drilled between 1987 and 1989, both to fill in the known mineralization and to test new targets. A total of 136 holes had been drilled by 1989. For the portion of the deposit in section 35: this portion of the deposit was discovered by Newmont in the early 1980s during exploration peripheral to the Rain deposit 1.5 miles to the west. In 2002, Newmont Mining Corp. continued to evaluate the Emigrant project on the Carlin trend, where they feel there is potential for expanding the old Emigrant Mine. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has been working on an environmental assessment of a proposed project there for several years, and Emigrant is scheduled to be in production in 2008, with a 7 year mine life. In spring 2004 BLM publicized a notice that Newmont Mining Corporation has submitted a Plan of Operations to open the Emigrant Mine which would include developing and operating an open pit mine; constructing a waste rock disposal facility, storing oxide waste in mined areas of the pit; developing an oxide heap leach pad; and constructing ancillary facilities and concurrent reclamation. Proposed mining operations would last for approximately 9 years through the year 2013. In 2005, a reverse-circulation drilling program of more than 60 holes was aimed at delineating potential mineralization to the east of the defined Emigrant deposit.

References

Reference (Deposit): NBMG MI-88 thru MI-02

Reference (Deposit): NBMG Bull. 106

Reference (Deposit): Elko Land Status Map 1978

Reference (Deposit): Amer. Mines (1996), 1995

Reference (Deposit): Thompson, 1999

Reference (Deposit): Newmont Ann. Rept. 1988

Reference (Deposit): Jackson, P., 1992, Geology and mineralization of the Emigrant Springs Project, Elko County, Nevada, in Buffa, R. and Coyner, A., eds., The Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin-Field Trip Guidebook Compendium, The Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, p. 125-130.

Reference (Deposit): Thoreson, R., 1991, Geology and gold deposits of the Rain subdistrict, Elko County, Nevada, in Raines, G.L., et al., eds., Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin, The Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, p. 635-643.

Reference (Deposit): Thoreson, R., 1990, Geology and Ore Deposits of the Rain Subdistrict, Elko County, Nevada, Oral Presentation at Great Basin Symposium, The Geological Society of Nevada, Reno/Sparks, April 4.

Reference (Deposit): Nevada Dept.of Minerals, 1994

Reference (Deposit): Newmont Gold 1993 Sec Form 10k;

Reference (Deposit): Jackson, 1991

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): Adella Harding, Elko Daily Free Press, 10/4/02.

Reference (Deposit): Newmont 5-Year Business Plan Update (September 24, 2003) ? Supplemental Information.

Reference (Deposit): Anthony A. Longo, Tommy B. Thompson, and J. Bruce Harlan, 2002, Geologic Overview of the Rain Subdistrict, in NBMG Bull 111.

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.