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Lucerne Pit

Prospect in Storey county in Nevada, United States with commodities 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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Ownership information
  17. Reserves and resources
  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 10085011
MRDS ID W700442
Record type Site
Current site name Lucerne Pit
Alternate or previous names Lucerne Dump Project, Lucerne Deposit, South Comstock Gold Project, Oliver Hills
Related records 10055217, 10310466

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -119.651, 39.26657 (WGS84)
Elevation 1609
Relative position APPROXIMATELY 30 MILES SOUTHEAST OF RENO, OR 3 MILES SOUTH OF GOLD HILL ON NEVADA HIGHWAY 342.

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)

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 Storey

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 016N 021E 8 N2 OF NE Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • STATE PLANE COORDINATES ARE 198000, 164900. UTM COORDINATES ARE FOR CENTER OF PIT FROM TINGLEY (UNPUBLISHED DATA). REROUTING OF HIGHWAY 342 IS PLANNED.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Argentite Ore
Silver Ore
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Block Faulting

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR
    Strike N25W
    Dip 40-80E
    Thickness 103M
    Length 243.84M
    Width 21.34M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Silver City Fault Zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • TYPICAL OF SILVER CITY LODE, GOLD MINERALIZATION IS CONTAINED WITHIN BRECCIAS. THE HANGING WALL AND MINERALIZATION IS YOUNGER, TERTIARY VOLCANICS, WITH FOOT WALL COMPOSED OF MESOZOIC UNITS. LOCALLY, TERTIARY-AGED ROCKS ARE ALSO FOUND AS A FOOTWALL.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant No
Year of first production 1936

Mining district

District name Comstock

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Rea Gold
  • Type Owner
    Owner Rea Gold; Bmr Gold

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1993
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 1.976 g/mt Gold Major 1993
  • Type In-situ
    Name LUCERNE STARTER PIT
    Estimate year 1993
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 20.052 g/mt Gold Major 1993

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface
    Length 243.84M
    Overall depth 91.44M
    Overall length 121.92M

Comments on the workings information

  • LUCERNE STARTER PIT IS DESIGNED TO REMOVE 392,000 TONS OF ORE. THE MAIN PIT IS DESIGNED TO REMOVE 2,291,000 TONS OF ORE CONTAINING 0.050 OZ/TON AU. TRUCKS WILL TRANSPORT ORE TO HEAP LEACH PADS.

Comments on development

  • EARLIER WORKINGS CONSISTED OF A PIT AND DUMP. PIT HAS CONTINUED TO BE WORKED INTERMITTENTLY SINCE FIRST DISCOVERED. EXTENSIVE EXPLORATORY DRILLING HAS OCCURRED SINCE 1990. FOUR HOLES DRILLED IN 1993 SHOW .021 TO .20 OZ/T AU AND .17 TO 3.12 OZ/T AG. REA GOLD INTENDS TO MINE THE SMALLER, HIGHER GRADE LUCERNE STARTER PIT (SEE RESERVES) BEFORE MINING THE LARGER LUCERNE MAIN PIT. STRIPPING RATIOS ARE 1:1.34 IN THE STARTER PIT AND 1:1.65 IN THE MAIN PIT. REA'S ANTICIPATED OPERATING COSTS ARE $236.99 /OZ AU, NOT INCLUDING CAPITAL COSTS.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    STAFF, 1988, DIRECTORY OF NEVADA MINE OPERATIONS ACTIVE DURING CALENDAR YEAR 1987: NEVADA DIVISION OF MINE INSPECTION, 84 P.

  • Deposit

    "COMSTOCK DRILLING EXTENDS LUCERNE," THE NORTHERN MINER, MAY 24, 1993, P. 10.

  • Deposit

    STODDARD, C., AND CARPENTER, J.A., 1950, MINERAL RESOURS OF STOREY AND LYON COUNTIES, NEVADA: NBMG BULL. 49.

  • Deposit

    BECKER, G.F., 1882, GEOLOGY OF THE COMSTOCK LODE AND THE WASHOE DISTRICT: USGS MONO 3.

  • Deposit

    STAFF, 1888, MAP OF THE WASHOE DISTRICT (SHOWING MINING CLAIMS): USGS, PLATE III

  • Deposit

    GIANELLA, V.P., 1936, GEOLOGY OF THE SILVER CITY DISTRICT AND THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE COMSTOCK LODE, NEVADA: NBMG BULL. 29.

  • Deposit

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

  • Deposit

    BURGOYNE, A.A., APRIL 1993, REA GOLD CORP. OPERATING PLAN SUMMARY FOR SOUTH COMSTOCK JOINT VENTURE: UNPUBLISHED WRITTEN COMMUNICATION IN NBMG INFORMATION OFFICE FILE FOR COMSTOCK OR SILVER CITY MINING DISTRICT.

  • Deposit

    BURGOYNE, A.A., APRIL, 1993, REA GOLD CORP.

  • Reserve-Resource

    BURGOYNE, A.A., APRIL,1993, REA GOLD CORP.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit CONCENTRATED GOLD AND SILVER ARE CONTAINED WITHIN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL INTERLOCKING QUARTZ STOCKWORK AND IN MANGANIFEROUS-QUARTZ-CALCITE VEINS. OUTSIDE OF THE MANGANIFEROUS ZONE, SIGNIFICANT GOLD AND/OR SILVER VALUES GENERALLY CONFORM TO THE GEOMETRY OF THE SILVER CITY LODE.
Deposit THE SITE IS NAMED ON VIRGINIA CITY QUAD. THIS IS ONE OF SEVERAL MINING CLAIMS/WORKINGS AFFECTED BY NEW OPEN PIT OPERATIONS, INCLUDING MRDS RECORDS M231255, M231225, M231226, M231250 AND M231219. A SECOND PIT LOCATED IN THE AMERICANAVINE, THE BILLY THE KID PIT, IS A NEW MRDS RECORD (RE00291); IT IS SEPARATED TOPOGRAPHICALLY FROM THE LUCERNE PIT BY HARTFORD HILL.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-AUG-1988 Paidakovich, Matthew E. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-AUG-1993 Humphries, S. E. (Marcus, S.) 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.

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.