Corcoran Canyon Project

The Corcoran Canyon Project is a silver mine located in Nye county, Nevada at an elevation of 7,612 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: Corcoran Canyon Project
Secondary: Silver Reef Prospect
Secondary: Silver Reef claims
Secondary: NBMG sample site 3187

Commodity

Primary: Silver
Secondary: Gold
Tertiary: Molybdenum
Tertiary: Antimony
Tertiary: Arsenic
Tertiary: Mercury

Location

State: Nevada
County: Nye
District: Barcelona District

Land Status

Land ownership: National Forest
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: Brancote U. S., Inc.
Info Year: 2004

Owner Name: Corcoran Canyon Mining Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bullion River Gold Corp.
Info Year: 2004

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: vein
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Epithermal vein, Comstock

Orebody

Form: tabular

Structure

Type: L
Description: A northeast-trending structural zone defined by alteration, veining, gold-silver mineralization, faulting and intrusions.

Type: R
Description: fractures associated with the margin of the Mount Jefferson caldera

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Host rocks have been silicified, argillized, and sericitized.

Rocks

Name: Rhyolite
Role: Host
Description: altered tuff
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Oligocene

Name: Tuff
Role: Host
Description: altered rhyolitic volcanic
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Oligocene

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Pyrargyrite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Alunite
Ore: Clay
Ore: Sericite
Gangue: Quartz

Comments

Comment (Development): The first mining of the Corcoran Canyon property for silver was said to have been done by native Americans. Bob Bottom held the ground in 1986 and various companies held it in the last 35 years. Considerable drilling and coring was ongoing in 1986, at which time Round Mountain Gold held the property. Corcoran Canyon was drilled to shallow depths between 1970 and 1988 and an "inferred resource" of about 9 million ounces of silver at a grade of about 5 ounces per ton silver and 0.025 ounces per ton gold was calculated by an independent consultant. The district contains a significant Ag-Au resource, the "Silver Reef" deposit, defined by drilling in the 1980s. An indicated and inferred resource calculated in 1988 using 50-foot cross sections is: 1.61 million metric tonnes grading 175 g/t Ag and 0.86 g/t Au (3.086 g/t Au eq.). In 2003 Senator Minerals Inc acquired an option on the 41 claim Corcoran Canyon property to explore the property for gold. In 2004, surface sampling and mapping by Bullion River identified a significant strike length of over 3 miles, which led to the staking of additional 80 claims by the company. Bullion River executed a drill program in conjunction with a three dimensional model to test strike and depth extensions. In 2004, the Corcoran Canyon property consisted of forty unpatented claims under lease and an adjacent 89 claims controlled 100% by Corcoran Canyon Mining Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bullion River Gold Corp.In 2004, Corcoran Canyon Mining Corp., backed by a loan from Bullion River, acquired an option from Golden Spike Mining to acquire a 100% undivided interest in 41 unpatented mineral claims on the Corcoran Canyon Property. They completed a 3-dimensional analysis of the existing silver-gold resource and initiated a phase 1 drilling program to test extensions of the known resource and a new target. Preliminary work indicates potential for additional mineralization down dip and to the west, northwest, and possibly northeast of the resource, and these extensions include areas concealed by alluvium and post-mineral volcanics. They expected to complete phase 1 drilling during the third quarter of 2005. If the results are positive, they plan to undertake an extensive second phase of further soil sampling, geophysical surveys, trenching or drilling to identify commercially viable reserves.

Comment (Economic Factors): There has been no known recorded production from the Corcoran Canyon property. The district contains a significant Ag-Au resource, the "Silver Reef" deposit, defined by drilling in the 1980's. The indicated and inferred resource calculated in 1988 using 50-foot cross sections is: 1.61 million metric tonnes grading 175 g/t Ag and 0.86 g/t Au (3.086 g/t Au eq.). In 1991 an estimated resource of 4 million tons of material grading 0.04 opt gold and 30.05 opt silver was reported. In 2004 a resource of 9 million ounces of silver and 33,000 ounces of gold was reported from material grading 4.24 opt Ag, and 0.026 opt Au.

Comment (Identification): This project encompasses the area covered by the earlier Silver Reef prospect described in MRDS record M042801, from which material has been incorporated into the current new record.

Comment (Location): The prospect is accessible via good road west of Monitor Valley.

Comment (Workings): The prospect area had been developed by one small adit, many roads, drill pad and considerable drilling and coring when examined in 1986.

Comment (Deposit): Corcoran Canyon is a volcanic-hosted, low-sulfidation, silver-gold, epithermal system extending for more than 5.5 km along a northeast-trending structural zone defined by alteration, veining, gold-silver mineralization, faulting and intrusions. Mineralization occurs in quartz-vein stockworks and breccias within sericitized, argillized and silicified volcanic rocks. Arsenic, mercury, thallium and antimony are strongly elevated with Au and Ag; base-metal contents are low. Silver mineralization is associated with veins and silicified zones in a Tertiary volcanic tuff. Geochemical sampling has revealed anomalous arsenic, mercury, molybdenum, antimony and spotty gold. Fine-grained pyrite is associated with brecciation in a silicified matrix of a vein bearing N45E, dipping 50NW in a hanging wall complex. Sample 3187 was from a narrow 6-12 inch vein bearingN25E. Quartz vein had visible ruby silver and other sulfides developed by a small adit in the hanging wall.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: ruby silver (pyrargyrite); other sulfides, gold

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: quartz, pyrite, alunite, clay, sericite

References

Reference (Deposit): NBMG MI-2003-2004

Reference (Deposit): Senator Minerals Inc. press release, 3/31/2003

Reference (Deposit): Gardiner, 1989, 1990

Reference (Deposit): Davis and Tingley, 1999

Reference (Deposit): Kleinhampl, F.J. and Ziony, J.I., 1984, NBMG Bull 99B.

Reference (Deposit): Boden, 1992;

Reference (Deposit): Bonham, 1986, 1989, 1991; Bullion River Gold Corp., 2004b;

Reference (Deposit): Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, 1998

Reference (Deposit): Gardiner and Giancola, 1991

Reference (Deposit): Landore Resources, Inc., 2001, 2004d

Reference (Deposit): Quade, Jack, 28 May 86, NBMG Field examination and sample analyses.

Reference (Deposit): Bullion River Gold Corp. website: http://www.bullionriver.com/mangaband.html
URL: http://www.bullionriver.com/mangaband.html

Reference (Deposit): Geologic map of the Corcoran Canyon quadrangle, Nye County, Nevada, USGS Map I-2680.

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): United States Geological Survey, 1971b.

Reference (Deposit): Tingley, 1998

Reference (Deposit): United States Bureau of Land Management, 1978p, 1999a

Reference (Deposit): Senator Minerals, Inc., 2003b

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.