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Kaolin Mercury Mine

Past Producer in Pershing county in Nevada, United States with commodities Mercury, Mica, Clay
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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. 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 10040468
MRDS ID M055267
Record type Site
Current site name Kaolin Mercury Mine
Alternate or previous names Walker Mine, Dixie Mine, Claybanks Mine, Duplex Mine
Related records 10296397

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.1393, 40.30157 (WGS84)
Elevation 1798
Relative position 3 MI SW OF FITTING, NEAR HEAD OF AMERICAN CANYON

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pershing(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Rochester(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Dixie Valley(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management NV)

Bureau of Land Management NV BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Pershing

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 028N 034E 11 SE Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • IN AMERICAN CANYON

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mercury Primary
Mica Tertiary
Clay Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Kaolinite Ore
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Tourmaline Gangue
Sericite Unknown

Alteration

  • (Local) Kaolinization

Analytical data

Result ALL OF THE ORE WAS PROBABLY OF LOW GRADE, AVERAGING PERHAPS A POUND OF QUICKSILVER PER TON, AND APPARENTLY ALL THE- ORE WAS CONCENTRATED BEFORE RETORTING.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 177
USGS model code 27a
Deposit model name Hot-spring Hg

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Permian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Trachyte

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.1393, 40.30157
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • Strike E - W
    Dip 25N

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Shear Zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • GEOL.DESC: ATTITUDE OF COUNTRY ROCK: EW/30N

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1908
Production years 1910-1917, 1927, 1941-1943, 1951, 1956

Mining district

District name Spring Valley District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner W. M. Fisk

Production statistics

  • Year 1957
    Period To 1957
    Material HG
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^10 Lb/Ton
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Mercury Mercury 4518g/mt

Comments on the production information

  • HOLMES INDICATES 150+ FL PRODUCED

Comments on the workings information

  • NUMEROUS OPEN CUTS, SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET OF NEAR SURFACE STOPES AND CONNECTING ADITS, A LONG HAULAGE ADIT ABOUT 100 FT BELOW THE STOPES.; DRIFTS AND SEVERAL INCLINED INTERCONNECTING PASSAGEWAYS.

Comments on development

  • DISCOVERED BY TRACING SOURCE OF CINNABAR IN PLACER WORKINGS FURTHER DOWN THE CANYON. ONE OF THE OLDEST MERCURY PROSPECTS IN THE STATE, HAVING BEEN MENTIONED BY BOUTWELL IN 1907 AND EXAMINED IN 1908 BY RANSOME. FROM 1910-11 IT WAS MINED BY E. P. WALKER WHO RECOVERED 78 FLASKS OF MERCURY FROM CONCENTRATED ORE, BUT SUBSEQUENT ATTEMPTS AT MINING HERE DURING THE HIGH PRICES OF WORLD WAR II PERIOD YIELDED LITTLE MERCURY. IN 1917, AN ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO EXPLOIT THE DEPOSIT FOR CERAMIC CLAY, BUT IMPURITIES RESULTED IN THIS BEING UNSUCCESSFUL. IN 1930, THE CLAYBANKS QUICKSILVER COMPANY OPERATED HERE BUT FAILED TO PRODUCE. ACCORDING TO HOLMES THE PROPERTY YIELDED 63 FLASKS IN 1941-43, BUT WHEN VISITED BY BAILEY IN 1943 IT APPEARED TO HAVE BEEN ABANDONED FOR MANY YEARS AND THIS PRODUCTION IS BELIEVED TO HAVE COME FROM ANOTHER DEPOSIT. THE KAOLIN CLAIM WAS RELOCATED IN 1945 BY W. K. SKEOCH, AND ALTHOUGH INVESTIGATED IN 1946 BY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MINERALS CO, NO MINING WAS DONE. RECORDS ARE
  • INADEQUATE TO DETERMINE THE TOTAL PRODUCTION OF THE MINE BUT IT PROBABLY IS OLY ABOUT 100 FLASKS, MOST OF WHICH WAS RECOVERED IN THE INITIAL PERIOD OF MINING

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    BAILEY, E. H., U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, PERSONAL FILES

  • Deposit

    BAILEY AND PHOENIX, 1944, QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS IN NEVADA: NBMG BULL. 41

  • Deposit

    HOLMES, 1965, MERCURY IN NEVADA: IN USBM IC 8252

  • Deposit

    WALLACE, ET AL, 1969, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE UNIONVILLE QUADRANGLE, PERSHING COUNTY, NEVADA: USGS MAP GQ - 820.

  • Deposit

    5) JOHNSON, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF PERSHING COUNTY, NEVADA: NBMG BULL. (IN PRESS)

  • Deposit

    RANSOME, 1909, MINING DISTRICTS IN HUMBOLDT CO., NEVADA; USGS BULL 414.

  • Deposit

    SCHRADER, 1914, THE ROCHESTER MINING DISTRICT, NEV., USGS BULL 580-M

  • Deposit

    OPF, 1924, ROCHESTER MINING DISTRICT, NEV., USGS BULL 762

  • Deposit

    VIKRE, P.G., 1978, GEOLOGY AND SILVER MINERALIZATIONOF ROCHESTER DISTRICT, PERSHING CO., NEV.; PHD THESIS, STANFORD UNIV.

  • Deposit

    BAILEY, E. H., RYTUBA, J. J., AND JONES, R. B., 1984, UNPUBLISHED DATA ON MERCURY DEPOSITS OF NEVADA.

  • Production

    USBM UNPUB DATA

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit DEPOSIT OCCURS IN A LARGE FAULT ZONE THAT BORDERS A PLUG OF RHYOLITE PORPHYRY. CINNABAR OCCURS AS VERY SMALL DISSEMINATED CRYSTALS AND PAINTY FILMS BENEATH THE SHEAR PLANE AND RELATED BRANCHING SHEARS. SCANT AMOUNTS OF CINNABAR COAT QUARTZ CRYSTALS IN SMALL VUGS IN THE ALTERED FELSITE. THE SERICITIZED FELSITE IS CUT BY QUARTZ-PYRITE-TOURMALINE VEINS. THE SHEARING IS POST-SERICITIZATION.. A PROMINENT SLICKENSIDED SHEAR ZONE THAT DIPS NORTH AT ABOUT 25 DEGREES IS EXPLORED BY THE NEAR-SURFACE WORKINGS-. THE ORE IS DEFINITELY LOCALIZED BY THE SHEAR ZONE, AND, AS T-HE SHEARING IS POST-SERICITIZATION, THE CINNABAR IS NOT GENETI-CALLY RELATED TO THE LATE JURASSIC SERICITIZATION AND SILVER M-INERALIZATION AS IS SUGGESTED BY KNOPF.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-SEP-1974 Bergquist, Joel R. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAY-1986 La Pointe, D.D. (Tingley, J.V.) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
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

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