Pronto Plata Mine

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. Alteration
  9. Mineral occurrence model information
  10. Host and associated rocks
  11. Nearby scientific data
  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 10040476
MRDS ID M055277
Record type Site
Current site name Pronto Plata Mine
Alternate or previous names Includes Red Mill Claim, NBMG Sample Site 2362
Related records 10174771

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -117.74429, 40.50879 (WGS84)
Elevation 2042
Relative position 4 MI WNW OF GOLDBANKS

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pershing(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Leach Hot Springs(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Humboldt(hydrologic unit)

Humboldt(hydrologic accounting unit)

Black Rock Desert-Humboldt(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 030N;031N 038E;038E 06;31 NE (06); S2 (31) Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • ON NE FLANK OF TABLE MOUNTAIN

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mercury Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • ERRATICALLY DISTRIBUTED IN IRREGULAR OPALITE BEDS

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Argillization Of Adjacent Sediments

Analytical data

Result LOW GRADE ORE. SAMPLE 2362 OF SELECT CINNABAR-BEARING OPALITE CONTAINS 0.3 % FE, 0.02 % MG, 0.3 % TI, 150 PPM MN, 50 PPM B, 200-0 PPM BA, 1.5 PPM BE, 10 PPM CR, 50 PPM CU, 5 PPM NI, 100 PPM -SB, 15 PPM V, 150 PPM ZR.

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)
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pleistocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -117.74429, 40.50879

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form BLANKET

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1939
Discoverer Bob Beko And H. W. Baldwin

Mining district

District name Gold Banks District (Kennedy)

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner H. W. Baldwin

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • NO RESERVES SEEN

Comments on the workings information

  • MANY BULLDOZER CUTS, SHORT ADITS, SCATTERED PITS, SMALL OPEN PIT, DRILL HOLES.

Comments on development

  • IN 1940, THE PRONTO PLATA CLAIMS 1-9 AND THE RED HILL CLAIM WERE LOCATED, AND LATER ABOUT 50 MORE PRONTO PLATA CLA-IMS WERE ADDED. IN 1942 AND 1943, THE BRADLEY MINING COMPANY D-ID CONSIDERABLE EXPLORATION BY MEANS OF ABOUT 20 BULLDOZER CUT-S, SHORT ADITS, AND SCATTERED PITS OVER ABOUT 0.5 SQ MI. THE L-ARGEST CUTS ARE BELOW THE SMALL CABIN ON THE PROPERTY AND CONS-IST OF A 400-FT-LONG GASH ALONG THE HILLSIDE, AND 2 OTHER CUTS- ABOUT 140 FT LONG, DIVERGING FROM IT AND TRENDING AT RIGHT AN-GLES UP THE HILL. IN SPITE OF EXTENSIVE EXPLORATION, THE ONLY -PRODUCTION HAS COME FROM TEST RUNS OF ORE HAULED TO THE BRADLE-Y FURNACE AT OPALITE, AND BY AUG 1943, THE PROPERTY WAS IDLE. -TITLE TO THE PROPERTY WAS RETAINED BY H. W. BALDWIN UNTIL 1962- WITH ADDITIONAL EXPLORATION DONE UNDER LEASE BY STANLEY JOHNS-ON IN 1958, COLGATE CORP OF LOS ANGELES IN 1959, AND C. R. BIS-HOP AND T. R. MOXNESS IN 1961, BUT NONE OF THESE ACHIEVED ANY -PRODUCTION. BALDWIN DROPPED THE PROPERTY IN 1962, AND IT WAS
  • R-ESTAKED BY OTHERS (POSSIBLY KENNECOTT?). IN 1984, RECENT ROTAR-Y DRILLING AND ROADS NORTH OF THE OLD PIT 200+ M WERE NOTED, P-OSSIBLY BY KENNECOTT.

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

    GARSIDE, L. J., 9 OCT 84, NBMG FIELD EXAMINATION AND SAMPLE ANALYSIS.

  • Deposit

    BAILEY, E. H., RYTUBA, J. J. AND JONES, R. B., 1984, UNPUBLISHED DATA ON NEVADA HG DEPOSITS, NBMG FILES.

  • Deposit

    HOLMES, G. H., JR., 1965, USBM IC 8252, P. 241

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit DISSEMINATED AND STREAKY CINNABAR OCCURS IN LIGHT GREY OPALITE. THE OPALITE IS PROBABLY A REPLACEMENT OF TUFF AND -PEBBLY TUFF. THE FINE-GRAINED OPALITE UNIT MAY BE ONLY 1-2 M T-HICK, ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT ANYWHERE COMPLETELY EXPOSED. ARGILLIZ-ED OLIVE TUFFACEOUS SEDIMENTS ARE ADJACENT TO THE OPALITE. THE- OPALITE UNDERLIES A RIDGE-CAPPING TERTIARY BASALT FLOW UNIT. -ORE IS PRESUMABLY AT THE SAME STRATIGRAPHIC HORIZON AS THAT AT- THE GOLDBANKS MINE, AND IT HAS THE SAME GENERAL CHARACTER WIT-H FINELY DIVIDED CINNABAR COLORING FAVORABLE PARTS OF THE OPAL-ITE BLANKET. LOCALLY THE OPALITE IS UNUSUALLY VUGGY WITH IRREG-ULAR CAVITIES LINED WITH CLEAR CRYSTALS OF POST-CINNABAR QUART-Z. ORE LACKS CONTINUITY.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-SEP-1974 Bergquist, Joel R. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-OCT-1985 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.

External references

Authoritative Nevada resources

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