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Mercury Pit

Past Producer in Humboldt county in Nevada, United States with commodities Sulfur, 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. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Workings at the site
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10047460
MRDS ID M242770
Record type Site
Current site name Mercury Pit
Alternate or previous names May Cove R Area of Shoel Pit, Nevada Sulphur Co. Mine.
Related records 10295458

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.69071, 40.86988 (WGS84)
Elevation 1365

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Humboldt(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Sulphur(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Eugene Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Quinn(hydrologic unit)

Black Rock Desert(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 035N 029E 35 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • GOOD ROAD ACCESS . INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1972)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Sulfur Primary
Mercury Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • PRODUCED SCREENED SULFUR (UNKNOWN TONNAGE) PRIOR TO 1966-MOSTLY FORAGRICULTURAL USES

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Sulfur Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Strong Alteration; Silicification, Opalization; Argillization, Alunitization

Analytical data

Result AVERAGE GRADE MINED SAID TO BE 15-38% S. SAMPLE 2707 CONTAINS 0.5% TI, 10 PPM B, 500 PPM BA, 10 PPM CR, 5 PPM NI, 5 PPM SC, 15 PPM V, 10 PPM Y, 500 PPM ZR. SAMPLE 2708 CONTAINS 5% FE, 0.03% MG, 0.05% CA, 0.2% TI, 100 PPM MN, 50 PPM B, 500 PPM BA, 2 PPM BE, 20 PPM CR, 15 PPM CU, 100 PPM LA, 50 PPM PB, 10 PPM SC, 300 PPM SR, 100 PPM V, 50 PPM Y, 300 PPM ZR. SAMPLE 2709 CONTAINS 1.5% FE, 0.03% MG, 0.07% CA, 1% TI, 10 PPM MN, 20 PPM B, 700 PPM BA, 20 PPM CR, 5 PPM MO, 10 PPM SC, 30 PPM V, 15 PPM Y, +1000 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 Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.69071, 40.86988
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Sulfur-Producing Zone Bounded On East And West By Major Faults

Ore body information

  • Length 1981.2M
    Width 548.64M

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1875

Mining district

District name Sulphur District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface
    Overall depth 6.1M
    Overall length 121.92M
    Overall width 76.2M

Comments on the workings information

  • VERY IRREGULAR SHALLOW PIT ABOUT 400 FT N-S BY 250 FT, AVERAGE DEPTH ABOUT 20 FT. OTHER SMALLER PITS

Comments on development

  • INACTIVE WHEN EXAMINED IN 1984. EXTENSIVELY DRILLED IN 1966. PRODUCTION OF SULFUR PRIOR TO 1966.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    PAPKE, K.G., 11 SEP 84, NBMG FIELD EXAMINATION AND SAMPLE ANALYSES.

  • Deposit

    NBMG STAFF, 1985, NBMG OFR 85-3.

  • Deposit

    WILLDEM R., 1964, NBMG BULL 59.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit SULFUR OCCURS AS DISSEMINATED GRAINS, PREFERENTIAL REPLACEMENT OF CONGLOMERATE MATRIX, IRREGULAR VEINS AND MASSES, COATINGS ON FRACTURE SURFACES. IN THIS PIT, ALL ROCKS ARE ALTERED, WITH SILICIFICATION, OPALITIZATION AND SOME KAOLINIZATION THE PRINCIPAL TYPES. SULFUR OCCURS IN A NUMBER OF AREAS UP TO ABOUT 25 FT ACROSS; THE INTERVENING AREAS HAVE NO SULFUR. ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE PIT A RED-STAINED, KAOLINIZED TUFF-BRECCIA (SAMPLE 2708) CONTAINING SOME SULFUR OVERLIES WHITE MATERIAL (SAMPLE 2709) THAT CONTAINS NO SULFUR AND CONSISTS OF SILICA WITH MINOR ANHYDRITE AND PYROPHYLLITE (?) SAMPLE 2707 IS LESS ALTERED MATERIAL WITH ABUNDANT SULFUR.
Deposit Discovery Year: 1870'S

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-APR-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.