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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Potosi Mine

Plant in Clark county in Nevada, United States with commodities Copper, Gold, Lead, Silver, Zinc
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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. Nearby scientific data
  9. Ore body information
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Land status
  13. Ownership information
  14. Production statistics
  15. Links to other databases
  16. Bibliographic references
  17. General comments
  18. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10149828
MAS/MILS ID 0320030085
Record type Site
Current site name Potosi Mine
Alternate or previous names Comet, Potesi

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Main Entrance
Geographic coordinates: -115.53754, 35.96109 (WGS84)
Elevation 1986
Location accuracy 10(meters)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Clark(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Potosi(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Mesquite Lake(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Kingman(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Ivanpah-Pahrump Valleys(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Clark

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 023 S 057 E 12 NENESW Nevada

Commodities

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

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cerussite Unknown
Galena Unknown
Malachite Unknown
Smithsonite Unknown
Sphalerite Unknown

Nearby scientific data

Main Entrance (1) -115.53754, 35.96109
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • Field Value
    MAS Matrix # 1
    MAS Column # 1
    Type of Orebody #1 REPLACEMENT
    Shape of Orebody #1 IRREGULAR
    Type of Orebody #2 SHEAR ZONE
    Shape of Orebody #2 TABULAR
    Type of Orebody #3 DISSEMINATED
    Primary mode of Origin HYDROTHERMAL
    Secondary mode of Origin OXIDATION
    Primary Ore Control FAULTING
    Secondary Ore Control CONTACT ZONE
    Degree of Wallrock Alter. UNKNOWN
    Type of Wallrock Alter. #1 UNKNOWN
    Minimum Depth to Top 0
    Avg. Thick. Unconsol. Mat. 0
    Min. Thick. Unconsol. Mat. 0
    Date of Last Modification 830316

Comments on the geologic information

  • THE MAJOR ZINC ORE IS HYROZINCITE IN THE OXIDIZED ZONE, AND SPHALERITE IN THE UNOXIDIZED ZONE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Plant
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Discovery year 1855
Year of first production 1905
Plant type Leach

Mining district

District name Goodsprings District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Anaconda Co.
    Year 1938
  • Type Owner
    Owner Nevada Mineral Ventures
    Interest 100
    Home office Nevada
    Year 1988

Production statistics

  • Year 1914
    Description Hydrozincite 4273 M. Tons
  • Year 1915
    Description Hydrozincite 9964 M. Tons
  • Year 1916
    Description Hydrozincite 12482 M. Tons
  • Year 1917
    Description Hydrozincite 9330 M.Tons

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    GAGE, H.L. THE LEAD-ZINC MINES OF NEVADA. IN: SOME FOREIGN

  • Deposit

    AND DOMESTIC LEAD-ZINC MINES THAT COULD SUPPLY ZINC CON-

  • Deposit

    CENTRATES TO A PACIFIC NORTHWEST ELECTROLYTIC ZINC INDUS-

  • Deposit

    TRY. BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION (CONFIDENTIAL REPORT)

  • Deposit

    1941, PP.

  • Deposit

    LINCOLN, F.C., MINING DISTRICTS AND MINERAL RESOURCES, 1923.

  • Deposit

    GARSIDE, L.J., RADIOACTIVE MINERAL OCCURENCES IN NEVADA,

  • Deposit

    1973, NEV. BUMINES BULL. 81.

  • Deposit

    LONGWELL, C.R., PAMPEYAN, E.H., BOWYER, B., AND ROBERTS, R.J

  • Deposit

    GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSIT OF CLARK CO., NEV., 1965, NEV.

  • Deposit

    BUMINES BULL. 62.

  • Deposit

    HALE, F.A. JR., ORE DEPOSITS OF THE YELLOW PINE MINING DIST.

  • Deposit

    OF NEV., MINING AND ENG. JOUR., V. 105, NO. 10, P. 455.

  • Deposit

    ALBRITTON, C.C., ET AL, GEOLOGIC CONTROLS OF LEAD AND ZINC

  • Deposit

    DEPOSITS IN GOODSPRINGS DISTRICT, NEV., 1954, USGS BULL.

  • Deposit

    1010, P. 41-49.

  • Deposit

    VANDERBURG, W.O., RECONNAISSANCE OF MINING DISTRICTS IN

  • Deposit

    CLARK CO., NEV., 1937, USBUMINES INFO. CIRC. 6964.

  • Deposit

    HEWETT, D.F., GEOL. AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE GOODSPRINGS

  • Deposit

    QUAD., NEV., 1931, USGS PROF. PAPER 162, P. 123-126.

  • Deposit

    HEWETT, D.F., GEOL. AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE IVANPAH

  • Deposit

    QUAD., NEV. AND CALIF., 1956, USGS PROF. PAPER 275, P. 150

  • Deposit

    KOSCHMANN, A.H., AND BERGENDAHL, M.H., PRINCIPAL GOLD- PROD-

  • Deposit

    USING DISTRICTS OF THE US, 1968, USGS PROF. PAPER 610,

  • Deposit

    P. 174-175.

  • Deposit

    USBU MINES WFOC MINERAL PROPERTY FILE 37.011. SEQ. NO. 032-

  • Deposit

    003-0110.

  • Deposit

    BAIN, H.F., A NEVADA ZINC DEPOSIT, 1906, USGS BULL. 285,

  • Deposit

    P. 166-169.

Comments on the references

  • MICROFILM FILE NUMBER 80.7200 (SECOND SPOOL) HAS SOME INFORMATION ON APPLICATION FOR AN ACCESS ROAD.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THE ORE BODY IS SO IRREGULAR THAT THERE CAN BE NO PRECISE MEASUREMENT OF THE LENGTH ETC. OF THE BODY. THE WORKINGS ARE EXTENSIVE, FOLLOWING SMALL STRINGERS OR EXPLORING FOR MORE ORE BODIES.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 16-FEB-1993 Gosling U.S. Bureau of Mines

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:

  • Anaconda Co. — dissolved ~1977
    Acquired by Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) in 1977 and shut down most operations in the 1980s. Mineral assets were sold off piecemeal; some are now in Glencore via intermediate owners.

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.