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Ruth Mine

Past Producer in White Pine county in Nevada, United States with commodities Copper, Molybdenum, Rhenium, Gold, Silver
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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. Controls for ore emplacement
  15. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  16. Mining district
  17. Land status
  18. Ownership information
  19. Production statistics
  20. Reserves and resources
  21. Links to other databases
  22. Bibliographic references
  23. General comments
  24. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10080427
MRDS ID W031574
Record type Site
Current site name Ruth Mine
Alternate or previous names Ruth Pit, Deep Ruth Shaft, New Ruth Copper Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -114.97198, 39.25772 (WGS84)
Elevation 2164
Relative position APPROXIMATELY FOUR MILES WEST OF ELY.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

White Pine(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Ruth(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Ely(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ely(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Spring-Steptoe Valleys(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada White Pine

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 016N 062E 10,;14 NE4 OF NE4 (10); NE4 (14) Nevada

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Molybdenum Secondary
Rhenium Secondary
Gold Secondary
Silver Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • GOLD IS IN LODE, OTHER MINERALS ARE IN SULFIDES.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Argentite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Limonite Gangue
Magnetite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Hydrothermal Alteration From Monzonite Intrusion. Ore Bodies Oxidized To Depth Of 100 - 400 Feet

Analytical data

Result 0.7- 0.8% CU FROM OPEN PIT WORKINGS.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 58
USGS model code 18a
Deposit model name Porphyry Cu, skarn-related
Mark3 model number 9

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Weary Flat Quartz Monzonite;Chainman Shale;Ely Limestone
    Rock description Weary Flat Quartz Monzonite;Chainman Shale;Ely Limestone

Nearby scientific data

(1) -114.97198, 39.25772
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description East-Trending Anticline With Moderate To Gentle Dipping Flanks, Faults, Igneous Intrusions.
Type of structure Local
Structure description Radar Ridge, Faults, Fractures. (Mineralization Follows Fractures)

Ore body information

  • General form IRREGULAR, MASSIVE
    Dip 60 N
    Thickness 460M
    Length 1830M
    Width 610M
    Depth to top 64.01M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Halo Around Porphryry Intrusion, Fracturing

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant No
Discovery year 1902
Discoverer Grey And Bartley
Year of first production 1925

Mining district

District name Robinson District (Ely, Ruth, Kimberly)

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Kennecott Copper Corp.
  • Type Owner
    Owner Kennecott Copper Corp.
    First year 1978

Production statistics

  • Year 1976
    Material ORE
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Ap_Grade: ^0.67 Wt-Pctcu.
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Ore Copper Copper 1wt-pct

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1905
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Copper Cu 2.6 wt-pct Copper Major 1905

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • SPENCER, 1917, USGS PROF. PAPER 96, P. 157 (1,2).

Comments on the workings information

  • OPEN PIT MINING BEGAN IN 1968, AFTER UNDERGROUND OPERATIONS. APPROXIMATELY 11,000 FT OF INDERGROUND WORK WAS DONE PRIOR TO 1917.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    WILSON, W. R., 1978, GEOLOGY OF THE ROBINSON MINING DISTRICT, NEVADA, NEVADA BUREAU OF MINES AND GEOLOGY REPORT 32, PP. 55 - 61.

  • Deposit

    SPENCER, A. C., 1917, THE GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF ELY, NEVADA, USGS PROFESSIONAL PAPER 96, 189 PP.

  • Deposit

    SPENCER, 1917

  • Production

    SPENCER 1917

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit DEPOSIT EXTENDS OVER ABOUT 30 ACRES.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1981 Zigler, Jan L. (Huber, Donald F.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-SEP-1994 Li, Zhiping (Moyer, Lorre A.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

  • Kennecott Copper Corp. — acquired by Subsidiary of Rio Tinto (1989)
    Acquired by RTZ (now Rio Tinto) in 1989. Continues to operate the Bingham Canyon mine and other assets under the Kennecott name.

Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.

External references

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.