Potosi Mine

Past Producer in Storey county in Nevada, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Iron
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. Workings at the site
  19. Links to other databases
  20. Bibliographic references
  21. General comments
  22. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10043937
MRDS ID M231245
Record type Site
Current site name Potosi Mine
Alternate or previous names Julia Shaft On Same Claim.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -119.65378, 39.30379 (WGS84)
Elevation 1920
Relative position S. END OF DOWNTOWN VIRGINIA CITY

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Storey(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Virginia City(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Carson City(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Reno(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle Carson(hydrologic unit)

Carson(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Lahontan(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Storey

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 017N 021E 32 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • BETWEEN CHOLLAR & BULLION CLAIMS ON ORIG. LODE.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary
Lead Secondary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Iron Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Argentite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Pyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Propylitization, Oxidation, Pyritization

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 150
USGS model code 25c
Deposit model name Epithermal vein, Comstock
Mark3 model number 16

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock unit name Alta Andesite
    Rock description Alta Andesite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -119.65378, 39.30379

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Regional Dip To West And Northwest
Type of structure Local
Structure description Faults

Ore body information

  • General form V-SHAPED SHALLOW DEPOSIT
    Length 365.76M
    Width 91.44M
  • General form V-SHAPED SHALLOW DEPOSIT

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Comstock Fault

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant No
Discovery year 1860
Year of first production 1866

Mining district

District name Comstock Lode

Land status

Ownership category Private

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall depth 609.6M

Comments on the workings information

  • SURFACE WORKINGS, SHAFTS.

Comments on development

  • RICH, SHALLOW DEPOSIT MINED IN 1870'; DEEPER DEVELOPMENT IN 1880'S WAS UNPRODUCTIVE ORIGINAL CLAIM STAKED OVER 400 FEET OF ADJACENT CHOLLAR CLAIM

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    STODDARD, CARL, AND CARPENTER, J.A., 1950, MINERAL RESOURCES OF STOREY AND LYNN COUNTIES, NEVADA: NBMG BULL.49

  • Deposit

    BONHAM, H.F., 1969, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF WASHOE AND STOREY COUNTIES, NEVADA: NBMG BULL. 70

  • Deposit

    WPA STATE WRITER'S PROJECT, 1940-41, INDIVIDUAL HISTORIES OF THE MINES OF THE COMSTOCK; UNPUBLISHED OPEN-FILE REPORT, NEV. BUREAU OF MINES & GEOL.

  • Production

    STODDARD, C., AND CARPENTER, J.A., 1950.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit ORE IN HANGING WALL OF COMSTOCK FAULT.
Deposit A BONANZA STRIKE, SHALLOW RIDE DEPOSITS WERE MINED IN THE 1870'S. A DEEP SHAFT WAS SUNK IN THE 1880'S, BUT IN GENERAL THE LOWER LEVELS WERE UNPRODUCTIVE. VARIOU LEASERS EXTRACTED ORE FROM THE OUTCROP AND SHALLOW WORKINGS UNTIL 1923. THE NEAR-SURFACE ORE BODIES WERE V-SHAPED AND ABOUT 1200 FT LONG AND 300 FT. WIDE. THE ORE OCCURS IN THE HANGING WALL. THE FOOTWALL IS COMPOSED OF BARREN QUARTZ ORIG. CLAIM STAKED IN 1860, STAKED OVER 400 FEET OF ADJACENT CHOLLAR CLAIM. AFTER MANY COURT FIGHTS, THE TWO COMPANIES WERE INCORPORATED AS THE CHOLLAR-POTOSI MINING CO ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-SEP-1980 Flynn, Patricia Dodd Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology

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.