South Eureka Property

The South Eureka Property is a gold mine located in Eureka county, Nevada at an elevation of 8,005 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: South Eureka Property  

State:  Nevada

County:  Eureka

Elevation: 8,005 Feet (2,440 Meters)

Commodity: Gold

Lat, Long: 39.45, -115.97694

Map: View on Google Maps

Satelite View

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Satelite image of the South Eureka Property

South Eureka Property MRDS details

Site Name

Primary: South Eureka Property
Secondary: Eureka-Windfall-Rustler Mine
Secondary: North Paroni pit
Secondary: South Paroni pit
Secondary: Lookout Pit
Secondary: Lookout Mountain
Secondary: Norse-Windfall Mine
Secondary: Western Windfall Open Pit Mine
Secondary: Windfall Venture
Secondary: New Windfall Shaft
Secondary: Windfall-Rustler Mine
Secondary: Rustler (adjoins the property to the south)


Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Lead
Tertiary: Arsenic
Tertiary: Antimony


Location

State: Nevada
County: Eureka
District: Eureka District


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: Battle Mountain BLM Administrative District


Holdings

Not available


Workings

Not available


Ownership

Owner Name: Staccato Gold Resources, Ltd.
Info Year: 2006


Production

Not available


Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: disseminated, stratabound, sediment-hosted gold
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1908
Year Last Production: 1989
Discovery Year: 1904
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: M


Physiography

Not available


Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Distal disseminated Ag-Au
Model Name: Sediment-hosted Au


Orebody

Form: tabular


Structure

Type: R
Description: The deposit is situated at the southern end of Dunderberg-Windfall belt.

Type: L
Description: northeast-striking fissures


Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Dolomite has been "sanded" due to intergranular corrosion.


Rocks

Name: Rhyodacite
Role: Associated
Description: intrusive
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Oligocene
Age Old: Eocene

Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Late Cambrian

Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Middle Cambrian

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


Analytical Data

Not available


Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Cerussite
Ore: Smithsonite
Gangue: Scorodite
Gangue: Limonite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Dolomite


Comments

Comment (Deposit): Gold occurs as disseminated, low-grade ore in Hamburg Dolomite, forming a number of shoots controlled by intersection of NE-striking fissures or faults with the Hamburg Dolomite. Ore occurs primarily in the dolomite, adjacent to the faulted contact with a rhyodacite intrusive body. Mineralization here is unique from that in the rest of district in the paucity of lead and silver. The Rustler deposit, an extension of the Windfall deposit 0.5 mile south was found and put into production. Much of the Rustler ore occurs in zones that have been thoroughly silicified and somewhat brecciated. Drilling has shown that ore grade material extends from the south end of the Windfall pit to the north end of the Rustler pit. The Windfall ore bodies differ markedly from the other mineralized bodies in the district in that they are low-grade gold ore shoots with indistinct assay walls. The shoots exhibited marked structural and stratigraphic control , localized by the intersection of NE-striking fissures or faults with the Hamburg Dolomite. Staccato completed a Phase One 3-hole core drill program on the Lookout portion of the property in November 2005. Each of the three holes intercepted high-grade gold over significant interval lengths. A nine-hole follow up core drill program was underway in 2006. The nine-hole drill program will complete each hole to a depth of at least 300 meters (1,000 feet), and is designed to follow-up the November, 2005 drill program. Using the newly identified mineral model, the nine new holes are designed to extend the high-grade breccia-hosted mineralization along strike as well as laterally to the feeder structures. The structures are part of the Ratto Ridge Fault system which has been traced for a length of more than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) by previous drilling, mapping and sampling. The Ratto Ridge Fault system represents a small portion of Staccato's 100% owned South Eureka property, which comprises an area of over 17,600 acres (27 square miles).

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: native gold, cerussite, smithsonite

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: scorodite, limonite, quartz, calcite, dolomite

Comment (Economic Factors): From 1908 to 1916, reported production was 24,000 ounces of gold from 65,320 tons of ore valued at $349,428. From 1975-84 and 1988 reported production was 96,380 ounces of gold. Also, 59 ounces of silver were produced in 1988. In 1986, drill inferred reserves for the South Rustler Zone were reported at 584 kilotonnes of material grading 0.02 ounces of gold per ton. In 1988 there was a reported 3 million tons of material grading 0.03 ounces of gold per ton at the Windfall-Rustler deposit. Mine Development Associates of Reno, Nevada has estimated a total resource of over 445,000 ounces of gold on the Lookout Mountain portion of the property as follows: Measured Mineral Resource of 4.753 million tons at 0.020 ounces per ton gold. (95,070 oz.) Indicated Mineral Resource of 8.269 million tons at 0.021 ounces per ton gold. (173,649 oz.) Inferred Mineral Resource of 9.309 million tons at 0.019 ounces per ton gold. (176,871 oz.) As a result of drilling in 2006, these numbers were upgraded to 5,490,000 tons at 0.044 ounces per ton gold

Comment (Geology): Gold occurs as disseminated low-grade ore in Hamburg Dolomite. The ore forms a number of shoots, that were controlled by the intersection of northeast striking fissures on faults w/the upper Hamburg Dolomite. The mineralization here is unique in regards to the rest of the district, by the absence of the lead and silver

Comment (Identification): This record encompasses the area described by two earlier incomplete records, M232576, and M232201. The current record includes all material from those records plus additional information.

Comment (Location): The old Windfall (Norse-Windfall) Mill Site is located approximately 5 miles south of Eureka, Nevada at the north end of the Fish Creek Range. The South Eureka property is another mile to 2 miles south. Access to the site is south 1.2 miles from Eureka on U.S. Highway 50 and then west 2.3 miles on Windfall Canyon Road.

Comment (Workings): In 1981, the open pit was irregular in shape, very deep and narrow. Geologists visiting the operation said it looked like more mining was probably being carried out farther up (south) in the canyon, but the entire operation was not visible from the road. There was a heap leach recovery plant on site. Early work was underground.

Comment (Development): Mineralization was discovered in the Windfall area in1904, and an underground mine and cyanide vat leach recovery facility produced and treated 65,132 tons of ore valued at $349,428 from 1908 to 1916. Production continued intermittently until about 1940. The property was acquired by Idaho Mining Corp. in 1968, which developed and tested it from 1972 to1974, built a plant in 1975 and began production in 1976, mining the same ore body via open pit methods. Between 1975 and 1978 the Windfall Pit, and associated cyanide heap-leach piles, waste dumps, mill process building, office and laboratory were constructed. Because the ore body contains anomalous amounts of mercury, a retort was constructed to recover mercury as a by-product. The Windfall Venture group conducted the bulk of exploration during the period 1970-1980 in an attempt to expand on their Windfall Mine reserves. Work on the immediate Hoosac property consisted of soil and rock chip sampling, limited geologic mapping, and drilling 63 shallow rotary drill holes. Six of the holes intersected shallow mineralization in excess of 700 ppb Au. Amselco Exploration leased the claims in the mid-1980s and drilled eight holes on the east side of the property Windfall Ventures continued mining until about 1989, employing 35-46 workers. The last operator of the site was Norse Windfall Mines, Inc. in 1990, after which the site was abandoned with little or no reclamation. In 1994 and 1995, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and subcontractors conducted several inspections and evaluations of the Windfall Mine site and noted that unmaintained process components and materials left on the property had the potential to degrade waters which constituted part of the water supply for the town of Eureka. In 2001, two underground storage tanks and over 300 mostly empty chemical drums were removedfrom the site. Periodic sampling and monitoring of the water in existing wells was begun, and two monitoring wells were drilled, mercury and arsenic contaminated soil around the old mercury retort and mill building were removed. Tenneco Minerals drilled the property in 1989-1991. Pathfinder Exploration explored the property in 1992 and 1993. Activities by Pathfinder consisted of collection of BLEG samples, geologic mapping, collection of rock and soil samples, ground magnetics/VLF surveys, and completion of 18 reverse circulation holes for a total of 3,284 m drilled. Six of the holes intercepted thick intervals of anomalous gold mineralization ranging upwards of 24 m of 822 ppb Au. The property was joint ventured to Cambior Exploration in 1994. Cambior mapped approximately 2,071 ha, collected rock chip and soil samples, and completed 26 reverse circulation drill holes for a total of 5848 m drilled. Intercepts in the 1995 program consisted of 13.7 m of 445 ppb Au, 7.6 m of 692 ppb Au, and 51.8 m of 450 ppb Au. The fourteen-hole 1996 drilling program encountered widespread alteration and anomalous trace element geochemistry, but little gold (10.6 m of 0.116 g/t Au). Detailed mapping and sampling identified ore controlling structures and Archimedes-type host rocks on the west side of Hoosac Mountain as drill targets. By 2006, Staccato Gold Resources, Ltd. had consolidated several earlier mined adjacent producing properties over 17,600 acres (27 square miles) into their "South Eureka property" which includes the Windfall Mine, the Rustler pit, North and South Paroni pits and the Lookout Pit as well as five claim blocks: Lookout Mountain, Hiero/Syracuse, Windfall Patents, South Ratto and Hoosac, as well as a separate bloc at New York Canyon. Staccato increased its gold resource for the combined property to 545,000 ozs Au measured and indicated, and 336,000 ozs Au inferred, including a coherent high-grade deposit of more than 200,000 ozs, averaging .24 ozs per ton.


References

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): Couch, B. F. and Carpenter, J., 1943, NBMG Bull 37, no. 4, Ser. 38, p. 64.

Reference (Deposit): Division of Mine Inspection, 1983, Directory of Nevada Mine Operations active During Calendar Year 1983.

Reference (Deposit): http://www.staccatogold.com/s/SouthEureka.asp
URL: http://www.staccatogold.com/s/SouthEureka.asp

Reference (Deposit): BLM site remediation website: http://www.nv.blm.gov/AML/Future%20Projects/NorseWindfall/Norse-Windfall%20Mill.htm.
URL: http://www.nv.blm.gov/AML/Future%20Projects/NorseWindfall/Norse-Windfall%20Mill.htm

Reference (Deposit): Wilson, W.L., 1986, Geology of the Eureka-Windfall and Rustler gold deposits, Eureka County, Nevada; in Sediment-Hosted Precious Metal Deposits of Northern Nevada, NBMG Report 40, p. 81-84.

Reference (Deposit): Bentz, J.and Garside, L. J., 1981, Field Examination Report, Aug 31, 1981.

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

Reference (Deposit): NBMG Spec Pub. MI-1980 through NBMG MI-84; NBMG MI-86 through MI-95, NBMG MI-99, NBMG MI-00.

Reference (Deposit): Nolan T.B., 1962,The Eureka Mining District, Nev., USGS PP.406

Reference (Deposit): Vanderberg W.O., 1938, Reconnaissance of Mining Districts in Eureka Co., USBM IC.7022.

Reference (Deposit): Roberts R.J.,et al., 1967,Geology and Mineral Resources of Eureka Co., Nev; Nev. Bureau of Mines Bull 64

Reference (Deposit): USBM (Ely) Mils No.111, Reference No 3201100142


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.