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Chimney Creek Mine

Producer in Humboldt county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Arsenic, Antimony, Lead, Thallium, Mercury
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  10. Host and associated rocks
  11. Nearby scientific data
  12. Geologic structures
  13. Ore body information
  14. Controls for ore emplacement
  15. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  16. Mining district
  17. Land status
  18. Ownership information
  19. Reserves and resources
  20. Links to other databases
  21. Bibliographic references
  22. General comments
  23. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10037801
MRDS ID M042791
Record type Site
Current site name Chimney Creek Mine
Alternate or previous names Chimney Prospect
Related records 10084981

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -117.15763, 41.27961 (WGS84)
Elevation 1585
Relative position ABOUT 90 KM NE OF WINNEMUCCA, NEVADA. 10 KM NE OF GETCHELL DEPOSIT IN THE DRY HILLS, NORTHERN OSGOOD MOUNTAINS. ADJOINS RABBIT CREEK MINE TO THE NORTH.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Humboldt(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Dry Hills North(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Osgood Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

McDermitt(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle Humboldt(hydrologic unit)

Humboldt(hydrologic accounting unit)

Black Rock Desert-Humboldt(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Humboldt

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 039N 043E 07 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • LATITUDE/LONGITUDE PROVIDED BY CHIMNEY CREEK MINE AND CONVERTED TO UTM'S BY MRDS STAFF. . INFO FROM LAND.ST :972)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary
Sand and Gravel, Construction Secondary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary
Antimony Critical Tertiary
Lead Tertiary
Thallium Tertiary
Mercury Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • PRELIMINARY METALLURGICAL TESTS INDICATE THAT THE ORE WOULD BE AMENABLE TO CONVENTIONAL GOLD-MILLING PROCESSES WITH RELATIVELY HIGH RECOVERIES. POTENTIAL SDG.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Albite Gangue
Augite Gangue
Barite Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Chlorite Gangue
Epidote Gangue
Fluorite Gangue
Kaolinite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Sericite Gangue
Tourmaline Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Argillization, Carbonate Dissolution, Silicification, Sericite-Pyrite Argillic To Propylitic Alteration. See Geology Comments.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 172
USGS model code 26a
Deposit model name Carbonate-hosted Au-Ag
Mark3 model number 15

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
    Rock unit name Etchart Limestone;Etchart Limestone;Etchart Limestone;Etchart Limestone;Goughs Canyon Basalt
    Rock description Etchart Limestone;Etchart Limestone;Etchart Limestone;Etchart Limestone;Goughs Canyon Basalt

Nearby scientific data

(1) -117.15763, 41.27961
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Roberts Mountains Thrust (Below) And Golconda Thrust (Above), Intruded By Mid-Cretaceous Osgood Mt. Granodiorite And Related Trachyandesite Dikes.
Type of structure Local
Structure description Chimney Creek Mine Occurs Along A Northeasterly Range Front Lineament That Is Likely An Extension Of The Getchell Fault, The Dominant Structural Feature Of The Getchell, Pinson, And Preble Deposits.

Ore body information

  • General form COMPLEX
    Dip GENTLE
    Length 487.68M
    Width 243.84M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Alteration And Mineralization Were Channeled Into The Thick Bedded Lower Member Of The Etchart Limestone Along High Angle Fault Feeder Zones. Gold Deposition Is Spatially And Temporally Associated With Carbonate Dissolution And Bedding-Conformable Silicification. 90% Of Ore Is Hosted By Etchart Limestone, 10% By Underlying Goughs Canyon Basalt. The Highest Au-Ag Grades Are Coincident With The Most Severe Carbonate Dissolution Zones In The Etchart Limestone.

Comments on the geologic information

  • ALTERATION COMMENTS: ARGILLIZATION, CARBONATE DISSOLUTION, SILICIFICATION, SERICITE-PYRITE ARGILLIC TO PROPYLITIC ALTERATION. ARGILLIZATION, CARBONATE DISSOLUTION SILICIFICATION IN ETCHART LIMESTONE. SERICITE-PYRITE ARGILLIC TO PROPYLITIC ALTERATION OF GOUGHS CANYON BASALT ALONG FEEDER FAULTS. ARGILLIZATION HAS CONVERTED ILLITE TO SERICITE, KAOLINITE, DICKITE, ALUNITE, AND NATROALUNITE. DISSOLUTION AND REPLACEMENT OF CARBONATE BEDS IN ETCHART LIMESTONE CENTERED ON FEEDER FAULTS. EARLY SILICIFICATION (TERMED "BEDDED JASPEROID") IS MOST DIAGNOSTIC ALTERATION PHASE PRESENT AND IS INVARIABLY GOLD-BEARING. LATER SILICIFICATION IS LOCALIZED ALONG FAULTS THAT DISSECT THE CHIMNEY CREEK OREBODY. GEOLOGY COMMENTS: THE CHIMNEY CREEK DEPOSIT IS SANDWICHED BETWEEN THE MID-PALEOZOIC ROBERTS MOUNTAINS THRUST AND THE PERMO-TRIASSIC GOLCONDA THRUST. ALTERATION AND MINERALIZATION WERE CHANNELED INTO THE THICK-BEDDED LOWER MEMBER OF THE ETCHART LIMESTONE ALONG HIGH ANGLE FEEDER ZONES IN THE
  • GOUGH'S CANYON BASALT. MINERALIZING HYDROTHERMAL FLUIDS SPREAD OUT LATERALLY ALONG BEDDING TO FORM THE CONFORMABLE OREBODY, WITH GOLD GRADE DECREASING WITH DISTANCE FROM FEEDER FAULTS. GOLD-BEARING BEDDED JASPEROIDS FORM TABULAR BODIES FROM 30-50 M THICK EXTENDING AT LEAST 600 M OUTWARD FROM THE CENTER OF THE OREBODY.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Medium
Significant No
Discovery year 1985
Discoverer Gold Fields Mining Corp.
Year of first production 1987
Production years 1987 - PRESENT (2/92)

Mining district

District name Potosi District; Getchell District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Gold Fields Mining Corp., (A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of Hanson Plc) (Alan Wright, Project Manager) (

Comments on the production information

  • NBMG SPEC. PUB. MI-1990 STATES: 300,000 OZ AU PRODUCED IN 1987-1988; 222,556 OZ AU PRODUCED IN 1989; AND 220,000 OZ AU PRODUCED IN 1990.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1985
    Total resources 9000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 2.541 g/mt Gold Major 1985
  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1987
    Total resources 13000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 1.807 g/mt Gold Major 1987
  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1988
    Total resources 98367000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 1.92 g/mt Gold Major 1988

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • 1985 FIGURES INCLUDE 6 MILLION TONS OF 0.18 OZ/TON GOLD.

Comments on the workings information

  • OPEN PIT; HEAP LEACH; MILL

Comments on development

  • EXPL.COM: SINGLE BENCH; CYANIDATION; CONSTRUCTION; CRUSHING; SCREENING; LEACH PAD CONSTRUCTION; ROTARY DRILLING. CLAIMS COVER 53 SQUARE MILES. COMPREHENSIVE EXPLORATION PROGRAM WAS BEGUN IN 1985, INCLUDING GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS AND 180 RELATIVELY SHALLOW DRILL HOLES ON 100-FT CENTERS. FEASIBILITY STUDY SCHEDULED FOR 1986 COMPLETION. TEST LOT WAS MINED IN 1986. PLANNED PRODUCTION IS 11,000 TPD. IN 1987, PLANNED PRODUCTION IS 150,000 OZ AU PER YEAR. ; TOTAL$: 90 ; ECON.COM: CHIMNEY CREEK IS ONE OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY'S LOW-COST, HIGH-GRADE GOLD PRODUCERS.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    NEVADA MINING ASSOCIATION BULLETIN, OCTOBER - NOVEMBER, 1985

  • Deposit

    THE MINING RECORD, NOVEMBER 13, 1985, P. 3

  • Deposit

    RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 11, 1985

  • Deposit

    THE NORTHERN MINER NEWSPAPER, NOVEMBER 11, 1985

  • Deposit

    MINE SEARCH ANNUAL, 1984-85, METALS ECONOMICS GROUP, BOULDER, CO, V. VII, P. 93-94

  • Deposit

    ORAL COMMUNICATION FROM JIM DELONG, JULY 16, 1986, GEOLOGIST FORMERLY WITH GOLD FIELDS

  • Deposit

    OSTERBERG, M.W., ET AL, 1991, GEOLOGY, WALL-ROCK ALTERATION AND NEW EXPLORATION TECHNIQUES AT THE CHIMNEY CREEK SEDIMENT-HOSTED GOLD DEPOSIT, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, NEVADA, IN RAINES, G.L., ET AL, EDS., GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE GREAT BASIN, THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NEVADA, RENO, P. 805-819

  • Deposit

    MINING DATABASE, MINING JOURNAL/MONTAGU MINING FINANCE, NOVEMBER 1991

  • Deposit

    NEVADA BUREAU OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, 1991, THE NEVADA MINERAL INDUSTRY - 1990, NEVADA BUREAU OF MINES AND GEOLOGY SPECIAL PUBLICATION MI-1990

  • Deposit

    STAFF, 1988, DIRECTORY OF NEVADA MINE OPERATIONS ACTIVE DURING CALENDAR YEAR 1987: NEVADA DIVISION OF MINE INSPECTION, 84 P.

  • Deposit

    NBMG, 1994, MI-1993

  • Production

    MINING DATABASE, MINING JOURNAL/MONTAGU MINING FINANCE, NOVEMBER, 1991. MI-1993

  • Reserve-Resource

    NEVADA MINING ASSOCIATION BULL., OCT-NOV., 1985. MINING DATABASE, MINING JOURNAL/MONTAGU MINING FINANCE, NOVEMBER 1991. NBMG SPEC. PUB. MI-1990. MI-1993

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit ADDITIONAL GOLD MINERALIZATION WAS ENCOUNTERED IN SOME DRILL HOLES OUTSIDE THE MAIN MINERALIZED AREA, THOUGH THESE HOLES HAVE NOT BEEN INCLUDED IN ESTIMATING RESERVES.
Deposit THIS RECORD IS AN UPDATED VERSION INCLUDING INFORMATION FROM W700409 AND M242950, WHICH HAVE BEEN DELETED. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT; 5 PERS COMM

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAR-1986 La Pointe, D.D. (Tingley, J.V.) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-AUG-1988 Paidakovich, Matthew E. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-OCT-1988 La Pointe, D.D. (Tingley, J.V.) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-AUG-1991 Moyer, Lorre A. (Marcus, S.M.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-FEB-1992 Phinisey, J. D. (Marcus, S.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-SEP-1994 Li, Zhiping (Peters, S.) 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

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