Olinghouse Placers

The Olinghouse Placers is a gold mine located in Washoe county, Nevada at an elevation of 4,921 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: Olinghouse Placers
Secondary: Olinghouse-Frank Free-Tiger Canyons
Secondary: Green Hill Mining Venture
Secondary: New Gold Inc. Mine

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Nevada
County: Washoe
District: Olinghouse (White Horse) 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: Carson City BLM Administrative District

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Owner Name: New Gold Inc. (1994) (Lower Olinghouse placers)
Info Year: 1994

Owner Name: Canaustra Resources, Inc. (upper Olinghouse placers)
Info Year: 1988

Owner Name: Cliff Resources Inc. (upper Olinghouse placers)
Info Year: 1988

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Placer
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Year First Production: 1860
Year Last Production: 1993
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: M

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

Orebody

Form: Channels, blanket

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Name: Conglomerate
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Quaternary

Name: Gravel
Role: Host
Description: alluvial fan
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Quaternary

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Electrum
Gangue: Gravel

Comments

Comment (Development): Placer mining of the gravels below the Olinghouse vein deposits probably began about the same time as the hard-rock mining in the late 1860s and continues in to the present time. From 1897 to about 1907, miners worked placers from surface deposits and shallow diggings on the flanks of Green Hill. Mining peaked in 1907 and declined thereafter with a few exploratory ventures. There was some minor placer mining of the eluvial placer deposit south of Green Hill and in the alluvial gravels east of the mouth of Olinghouse Canyon. Most of production came from small, shallow placers located in Olinghouse Canyon and its smaller tributary canyons. A larger inferred reserve was located at the mouth of Olinghouse and Frank Free Canyon. This area was prospected by Gold Hill Dredging Co. in 1947 and by Natomas Co (1939-54), who conducted a churn drilling program that outlined 10,391,000 cubic ards of placer material to a 75 foot depth, averaging 24 cents per cubic yard ( at $35 an ounce gold prices). Another operator in 1963-1964 transported the placer gravels from Green Hill to a washing plant in Olinghouse Canyon, and in 1965, a small floating dredge was installed at the Green Hill placer, but all operations failed after a short time. The limits of the deposit were not tested until interest in the area was renewed in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1983, Nevada Pacific Mining Company ran two drillijng programs to define the extent and grade of the Green Hill Mining Venture reserves. More than 7 million tons of eluvial placer material were identified, constituting the later Green Hill Mine open pit area. Olinghouse Mining Company was the first to expoit this low-grade placer reserve in 1985, but operations were discontinued in 1987 due to depressed gold prices and high mining costs. The property was then taken over by Cliff Resources Inc., and Canaustra Resources, Inc. as the Green Hill Mining Venture. Their plan was to install a processing plant and mine 20,000 ounces of gold per year for a mine life of three years, with an additional probable and indicated reserves in the pit area and adjacent mine area that were expected to extend the mine life to ten years. A drilling program was planned for 1988 to evaluate these potential reserves. A ten cubic yard Bucyrus dragline was installed to mine the open pit area and feed the washing and classifying plant. The amount of gold produce by this short-lived operation is unknown. More small-scale placering was done in 1990-1991. The deposit was still being evaluated in the mid- to late 1990s.

Comment (Economic Factors): Johnson suggests that $218,000 to $500,00 worth of placer gold was produced from the Olinghouse placers before 1900, which would probably represent 10,000 to 20,000 ounces of gold, and an additional 10,000 to 20,000 ounces have probably been produced in recent history for an estimated total placer production of at least 20,000 to 40,000 ounces of gold, which is probably a low estimate.

Comment (Identification): This record is an updated version of MRDS record # M231130 including all information from it plus additional information.

Comment (Location): The Upper Olinghouse placer deposits formed along the channels of Tiger, Frank Free, and Olinghouse Canyons below the Olinghouse vein deposits, and the Lower Olinghouse placers are in the alluvial fan formed from the coalescing of the alluvial fans from the three canyons. The Olinghouse placer deposits are located on the southeast flank of the Pah Rah Range.

Comment (Workings): Most of production has come from small, shallow placer shafts and pits as well as larger dredged areas located in Olinghouse Canyon and its smaller tributary canyons.

Comment (Deposit): The Upper Olinghouse placer deposits deposits formed along the channels of Tiger, Frank Free, and Olinghouse Canyons below the Olinghouse vein deposits, and the Lower Olinghouse placers are in the alluvial fan formed from the coalescing of the alluvial fans from the three canyons. Gold is concentrated in a lower conglomeratic-gravel unit with a reddish clay matrix, which distinguishes ithe economic unit from non-productive greenish-gray gravels of the overburden. The most productive horizon occurs just above underlying bedrock and has not yet been fully developed. Recent fault movement and tilting of fault blocks back toward the west along strands of the Olinghouse Fault Zone appears to have contributed to some placer concentrations. Three faults, the ?Pit Fault?, ?Road Fault? and ?Line Fault? of Robyn cut the gold-bearing gravels on the alluvial fan below Frank Free Canyon and have had mostly dip slip down to the east as well as a left-lateral strike-slip component. East of these faults, the ?Butte fault? has down-to-the west movement, forming a graben which acted as a trap for gold-bearing alluvium. The economic unit is 15 to 70 feet thick. The gold occurs as two types: one showing much flattening and rounding evidence of substantial transportation and one type exhibiting delicate wire-like structures typical of little transport indicating a possible second source of lode mineralizationj inj one of the faults crossed by the stream channels.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: free gold, electrum

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: gravel

References

Reference (Deposit): Johnson, 1977, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Pershing County, Nevada: NBMG Bull. 89

Reference (Deposit): Bonham, H. F., 1969, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Washoe and Storey Counties, Nevada, NBMG Bull. 70.

Reference (Deposit): Vanderberg, W. O., Placer Mining in Nevada, NBMG Bull. 27, 1936

Reference (Deposit): Robyn, T. L. 1994, Geology and Ore Controls of the Lower Olinghouse Placer Gold Mine, Nevada; Economic Geology vol. 89, no. 7 p. 1614-1622.

Reference (Deposit): Geasan, Dennis, 1980, The geology of a part of the Olinghouse Mining District, Washoe County, Nevada; M. S. Thesis, University of Nevada, Reno, 118 p.

Reference (Deposit): Garside, L.J., and Bonham, H.F., Jr., 1992, Olinghouse Mining District, Washoe County, Nevada; in Reno Area - Northern Walker Lane Mineralization and Structure; GSN Special Pub. No. 15.

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.

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.