Mercury King Prospect

Past Producer in Pershing county in Nevada, United States with commodity Mercury
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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Ownership information
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10040472
MRDS ID M055273
Record type Site
Current site name Mercury King Prospect
Alternate or previous names North Fork, Red Boy, Red Ore, Vermillion Fraction, Davis Quick, Payne Quick, Terry Quick, Harris Quick Claims.
Related records 10247380

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -117.55595, 40.3424 (WGS84)
Elevation 1829
Relative position 2 MI NW OF MOUNT TOBIN MINE

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pershing(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Needle Peak(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Fish Creek Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Winnemucca(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 029N 039E 35;25 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • . ON NORTH SIDE BUSHEE CANYON JUST WEST OF THE BLUEBIRD (LAST CHANCE) PROSPECT.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mercury Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Limonite Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Triassic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone
    Rock unit name Koipato Group
    Rock description Koipato Group
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Conglomerate
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff

Nearby scientific data

(1) -117.55595, 40.3424

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Shear Zone

Ore body information

  • Strike N 77 W
    Dip 47 N

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1941
Discoverer J. B. Davis
Production years TO 1942

Mining district

District name Mount Tobin District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner F. W. Gertz

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • PROBABLY NO RESERVES

Comments on the workings information

  • A SIDEHILL BULLDOZER CUT ABOUT 150 FT LONG, HAVING IN ITS CENTRAL PART ANOTHER CUT CROSSING IT AT RIGHT ANGLES TO -FORM A CROSS-SHAPED EXCAVATION. OTHER SMALL AND UNPRODUCTIVE C-UTS EXPLORE THE HILLSIDE ABOVE AND BELOW THIS ONE. ALSO SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET OF ADITS AND DRIFTS CONNECTED TO A 13-FT SHAFT.

Comments on development

  • THE ORIGINAL NORTH FORK CLAIMS WERE APPARENTLY HELD ALONG WITH THE RED BOY AND RED ORE CLAIMS BY DAVIS UNTIL 1949.- BUT THE ONLY RECORD OF PRODUCTION IS 10 FLASKS REPORTED TO HA-VE BEEN RECOVERED IN 1942 BY W. L. LOW BY RETORTING AT THE MT -TOBIN FACILITY SOME SORTED ORE OBTAINED AT THE NORTH FORK PROP-ERTY. ON THE ADJACENT VERMILLION FRACTION, WILLIAM SCHULTZ IS -CREDITED WITH PRODUCING 20 FLASKS IN 1944. AFTER A LAPSE, THE -GROUND WAS RESTAKED IN 1954 AS THE 2 MERCURY KING CLAIMS BY J.- D. DAVIS AND J. H. HICKS, AND 5 MORE CLAIMS WERE ADDED TO THE- GROUP BY J. V. QUIGLEY AND INEZ BUTLER IN 1956. IN 1957 THE M-ERCURY KING GROUND WAS EXPLORED BY DRILLING UNDER TOM MOLLERIN-G, JIM WALSH, AND WALTER GERTZ. UNTIL 1959, SPORADIC EXPLORATI-ON WAS DONE AND A VERY SMALL PRODUCTION WAS RECORDED. IN 1965,- THE SAME AREA WAS RESTAKED BY W. A. DAVIS AND H. E. HARRIS AS- THE DAVIS QUICK, HARRIS QUICK, PAYNE QUICK AND TERRY QUICK CL-AIMS. FROM 1966-1969, SOME ORE WAS RETORTED HERE TO DETERMINE
  • -ITS GRADE, BUT NO REAL PRODUCTION WAS ATTEMPTED. A SMALL ROTAR-Y FURNACE PLANT INSTALLED IN THE 1970'S REMAINS VIRTUALLY UNUS-ED.

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

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

  • Deposit

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

  • Deposit

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

  • Deposit

    NBMG STAFF, 1985, NBMG OFR 85-3

  • Deposit

    GARSIDE, L. J., 1984, FIELD EXAMINATION OF DISTRICT

  • Production

    USBM UNPUB DATA

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit VEINLETS, CRUSTS, AND PAINTY FILMS OF CINNABAR OCCUR LINING FRACTURES IN A SHEAR ZONE CUTTING SANDSTONE AND CONGLO-MERATE AND IN FRACTURES IN ARGILLIZED WELDED TUFF. LOCAL AREAS- ARE CRISSCROSSED WITH NARROW LIMONITE VEINS THAT APPEAR TO BE- UNRELATED TO THE MERCURY MINERALIZATION.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-SEP-1974 Bergquist, Joel R. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-JAN-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.

Authoritative Nevada resources

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