1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Sierra Magnesite Mine

Past Producer in Nye county in Nevada, United States with commodities Magnesite, Tungsten, Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Alteration
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Ownership information
  18. Production statistics
  19. Links to other databases
  20. Bibliographic references
  21. General comments
  22. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10008840
MRDS ID D001283
Record type Site
Current site name Sierra Magnesite Mine
Alternate or previous names Betty O'Neal Pit, Greenstone Pit, June 1 Pit, June 2 Pit, Capella Pit,, Duplex Pit, Bluestone Claim, No. 1 & No. 2 Claims, Share Crop.
Related records 10271289

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -117.88427, 38.86659 (WGS84)
Elevation 1768
Relative position 2.3 MILES E-NE OF GABBS; RIDGE SOUTH OF TUNGSTEN CANYON.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nye(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Gabbs(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Ione Valley(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Tonopah(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Gabbs Valley(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Nye

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 012N 036E 36,35 Nevada

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Magnesite Primary
Tungsten Critical Secondary
Gold Secondary
Silver Secondary
Lead Secondary
Copper Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Magnesite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Forsterite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Serpentine Gangue
Talc Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) The Dolomite Has Been Altered By Thermal And Dynamothermal Metamorphism.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Dolomite
    Rock unit name Luning Formation
    Rock description Luning Formation

Nearby scientific data

(1) -117.88427, 38.86659
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description The Luning Formation Is The Upper Plate Of The Paradise Thrust Fault.

Ore body information

  • Thickness 1.22M
    Length 1524M
    Width 914.4M
    Depth to bottom 182.88M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • The Deposits Are On The Upper Plate Of The Paradise Thrust.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant No

Mining district

District name Gabbs District

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Basic, Inc.

Production statistics

  • Year 1956
    Period 1954-1956
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Minor Wo3 Tungsten Tungsten 3wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • SEVERAL EARLY REPORTS STATE THAT HIGH GRADE W ORE WAS PRODUCED IN THE EARLY 1920'S BUT THERE IS NO RECORD OF THIS PRODUCTION

Comments on the workings information

  • OPEN PIT.

Comments on development

  • EXPLORED BY NUMEROUS SHALLOW PITS, 50 FT. DEEP SHAFTS, 400 FT. LONG DRIFT ADIT. MOST WORK DONE BETWEEN 1927-1928 BY NEVADA-MASSACHUSETTS COMPANY. VEIN-BEARING SCHEELITE DISCOVERED IN 1926; LARGE BRUCITE/MAGNESITE DEPOSITS (FOR WHICH GABBS DISTRICT IS FAMOUS) DISCOVERED IN 1927. MUCH OF SCHEELITE IS HIGH-GRADE. GOLD AND SILVER HAVE BEEN KNOWN FROM THE IMMEDIATE AREA, BUT NOT NECESSARILY FROM THE SCHEELITE-BEARING VEIN. GOLD AND SILVER WERE ASSAYED FROM THE NEARBY, PERIPHERAL HILL SLOPES AND BEDROCK, I.E., THE WEST SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN (TINGLEY, 1990, PERS. COMM.). THEY HAVE NOT BEEN DIRECTLY (GENETICALLY?) ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF, OR FOUND WITHIN THE BRUCITE OR MAGNESITE DEPOSITS.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    LEMMON, D.M., UNPUBLISHED DATA.

  • Deposit

    LEMMON, D.M., AND TWETO, O.L., 1962, TUNGSTEN IN THE U.S., USGS MAP, MR-25.

  • Deposit

    NBMG BULL. 105, STAGER H.K. AND TINGLEY, J.V. (IN PREP. JAN. 1984)

  • Deposit

    CALLAGHAN, E, 1933, BRUCITE DEPOSIT=NBMG BULL. 19 (OLD VOLUME 27, PRIOR TO NUMBERING REVISION AS NBMG BULLETINS).

  • Deposit

    SCHILLING, JH, 1968, THE GABBS MAGNESITE-BRUCITE DEPOSITS IN RIDGE, J.D. (EDITOR), ORE DEPOSITS OF THE U.S., 1937-1967, V. 2, GRATON-SALES VOLUME, NEW YORK, AIMMPE, P. 1607-1622.

  • Production

    KLEINHAMPL, 1980; NBMG BULL. 105, STAGER, H.K. AND TINGLEY, J.V. (IN PREP. JAN. 1984)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit SCHEELITE OCCURS IN A VEIN COMPOSED MOSTLY OF LEUCHTENBERGITE; AND QUARTZ THAT CUTS MAGNESITE AND SOLOMITE. SCHEELITE OCCURS IN SMALL PODS AND ORE SHOOTS.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-1974 Elliott, James E. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-FEB-1984 Blaskowski, Michael J. (Elliott, James E.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-AUG-1990 Jones, David A. (Usgs-Mio) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Nevada resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.