Starvation Canyon-Waterpipe Deposit

The Starvation Canyon-Waterpipe Deposit is a gold mine located in Elko county, Nevada.

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: Starvation Canyon-Waterpipe Deposit
Secondary: one of Queenstake?s Jerritt Canyon gold properties

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Nevada
County: Elko
District: Jerritt Canyon 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: Queenstake Resources
Info Year: 2006

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: Sediment-hosted Au
Operation Type: Unknown
Discovery Year: 1988
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sediment-hosted Au

Orebody

Form: tabular to irregular

Structure

Type: R
Description: Roberts Mountains thrust fault

Type: L
Description: Starvation Canyon Fault

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Name: Sedimentary Rock
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Devonian
Age Old: Wenlock

Name: Sedimentary Rock
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Silurian
Age Old: Middle Ordovician

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Deposit): In 2004, Queenstake reported that mineralization at Starvation Canyon appears to be fairly typical of Jerritt Canyon gold deposits. High-grade gold mineralization occurs as pods at the intersections of northwest- and northeast-trending structures and is hosted primarily at the contact between Units 2 and 3 of the Hanson Creek Formation.

Comment (Development): Exploration was ongoing in 1987 by the Jerritt Canyon Joint Venture (AngloGold, Ltd, 70%; Meridian Gold Co., 30%) same in 2001.

Comment (Economic Factors): In 1987, Waterpipe and Starvation Canyon had a combined geologic resource of 1.25 Mt containing 150,000 ounces of gold. In 1988, the remaining resource in the Starvation Canyon deposit was estimated to be about 4.8 kilotonnes of gold and an unknown amount of silver contained in 900 tons of ore. Production data for the deposits was included in Jerritt Canyon Mines total production, and not released as separate production data for each deposit. About 1990 there was a reported 1.31 million tons grading 0.107 ounces of gold per ton for a total contained 140,170 ounces of gold. 2006 resource at the Starvation deposit was 676,400 tons of materialg rading 0.280 ounces of gold per ton (measured+indicated) - 189,392 contained ounces of gold.

Comment (Identification): One of the Jerritt Canyon Joint Venture gold properties.

Comment (Location): UTM is to Starvation Canyon orebody; Waterpipe is less than 1 km to the SE. The two are usually discussed together.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: gold

References

Reference (Deposit): Bratland, 1991

Reference (Deposit): BLM Claims Fiche, 1998

Reference (Deposit): Mining Record(?), 6/10/87

Reference (Deposit): NBMG Bull 106

Reference (Deposit): Jake Margolis, e-mail, 8/27/01

Reference (Deposit): Tuscarora Land Status, 1979

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): Queenstake Resources Ltd. press release, 12/16/2004.

Reference (Deposit): NBMGMI-2004.

Reference (Deposit): Schmauch and others, 1992

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.