Copper Canyon Placers

Producer in Lander county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver

Sections on this page

Identification information
Geographic coordinates
Site location context
Geographic areas
Public Land Survey System information
Commodities
Materials information
Mineral occurrence model information
Host and associated rocks
Nearby scientific data
Ore body information
Controls for ore emplacement
Economic information about the deposit and operations
Mining district
Land status
Ownership information
Bibliographic references
General comments
Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID	10310308
MRDS ID	M231318
Record type	Site
Current site name	Copper Canyon Placers
Alternate or previous names	Annex Claim, Big Nugget Claim, Comet Claim, Homestake Claim, Guy Davis Claim, Estes Claim, Gold Crown Claim, Oversite (Oversight) Claim, Sunrise Fraction Claim, Camp Dahl and Christensen (Grand Hills Mining Co.), Wilson Placer, Greenan Placer, Natomas placer operations
Related records	10044004

Comments on the site identification

This prospect encompasses the historic Copper Canyon Placer Mines described in earlier MRDS records # M231318 and MRDS # M046568 from which all material has been incorporated into this record and additional new material has been added.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates:	-117.13095, 40.53101 (WGS84)
Elevation	1830
Relative position	The Copper Canyon Placers are located 12 miles southwest of the town of Battle Mountain.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Lander(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Antler Peak(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Dixie Valley(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(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	Lander

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian	Township	Range	Section	Fraction	State
Mount Diablo	031N	043E	33 28 21		Nevada

Comments on the location information

The Copper Canyon Placers are located 1 1/3 miles up from the mouth of Copper Canyon. In 1939 the placer claims covered 2,600 acres.

Commodities

Commodity	Importance
Gold	Primary
Silver	Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

Ore Materials: free gold

Materials information

Materials	Type of material
Gold	Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code	119
USGS model code	39a
Deposit model name	Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number	54

Host and associated rocks

Host or associated Host

Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Rock type qualifier stream

Stratigraphic age (youngest) Quaternary
Host or associated Host

Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Rock type qualifier alluvial fan

Stratigraphic age (youngest) Quaternary

Nearby scientific data

(1)	-117.13095, 40.53101	ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

General form blanket, channels, lenticular sheets

General form	blanket, channels, lenticular sheets

Controls for ore emplacement

Gold-bearing material is localized in the main channels with some work on benches.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type	Surface
Development status	Producer
Commodity type	Metallic
Deposit size	Small
Significant	Yes
Discovery year	1909
Discoverer	Guy Davis
Year of first production	1909
Year of last production	1990
Production years	1909-1911; 1920s-1930s; 1981-1990?

Mining district

District name	Battle Mountain District

Land status

Ownership category	Private
Ownership category	BLM Administrative Area
Area name	Battle Mountain BLM Administrative District

Ownership information

Type Owner-Operator

Owner Newmont Mining Corp.

Year 2004

Type	Owner-Operator
Owner	Newmont Mining Corp.
Year	2004

Comments on the workings information

Workings consist of open pit dragline dredging operations. Early mining included drifting and sluicing.

Comments on other economic factors

Unknown production in the 1909-1940 period.
Production attributed to the 1947-1955 dredging activity is estimated at 100,000 ounces of gold. Remaining reserves of placer material are unknown.

Comments on development

Guy Davis made the first placer discovery in Copper Canyon in 1909, followed by James Dahl in 1911 on the fan below the canyon mouth. Placer operations were carried from the mouth of Copper Canyon upstream about 1.3 miles. The many claims in this valley are treated collectively. James Dahl and H. C. Christensen began drift mining the Copper Canon fan placer deposits in 1911 and continued until 1920. In 1932, D. Wilson took over property and worked gold-bearing gravels near bedrock. The most productive periods of placer activity in the Canyon were 1909-11, the 1920s, and the 1930s. In 1935, Grand Hills Mining Company installed a mechanical washing plant and other lessees worked property with dwindling returns through the 1930s, until J. O. Greenan bought it in 1939. He began a systematic churn-drilling program and proved a large volume of gold-bearing gravel down and across fan. He sold property to Natomas Company in 1941. This was the beginning of the largest placer operation in the district. World War II interrupted operations until 1946, when a drag-line dredge was used to mine gravels in the upper part of fan until 1948. In 1949, a bucket-line dredge with a 9,000 cubic yard per day capacity was put into operation, dredging to a 110-foot depth. Drill holes permitted plotting of gold distribution within the fan to optimize production. None of these claims was being worked in 1955. During 1987, Battle Mountain Gold Co. carried out a pilot-scale testing program to evaluate the feasibility of a placer operation on the known placer gold resource. Battle Mountain Gold Co. started up production in late 1988. Persistent materials handling problems hindered operations and gold production in 1989 was minimal. The production target for 1990 was 10,000 ounces of gold.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Deposit

Theodore, T.G., and Blake, D.W., 1975, Geology and Geochemistry of the Copper Canyon Porphyry Copper Deposit and Surrounding Area, Lander County, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 798-B, p. B10.
Deposit

Huttl, J.B., 1950, How Natomas Keeps a Large Dredge Operating in the Desert: Engineering and Mining Journal, v. 135, no. 4, p. 173.
Deposit

Stager, H.K, 1977, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Lander County, Nevada, Part II, Mineral Deposits: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 88p. 67.
Deposit

Vanderburg, W.O., 1939, Reconnaissance of Mining Districts in Lander County, Nevada: U.S. Bureau Of Mines Information Circular 7043, p. 33-34.
Deposit

Roberts, R.J., and Arnold, D.C., 1965, Ore Deposits of the Antler Peak Quadrangle, Humboldt and Lander Counties, Nevada: U.S.G.S. Prof. Paper 459-B.
Deposit

Johnson, M.G., 1973, Placer Gold Deposits of Nevada, USGS Bull. 1356.
Deposit

Battle Mountain Gold Co., 1988, Annual Report for 1987.
Deposit

Battle Mountain Gold Co., 1990, Annual Report for 1989.
Deposit

Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Database of significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States; Part A, Database description and analysis; part B, Digital database: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-206, 33 p., one 3.5 inch diskette.
Deposit

Doebrich, Jeff, 1995, Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Antler Peak n7.5-minute quadrangle, Lander County, Nevada, NBMG Bull 109, 44 p.
Deposit

Geological Society of Nevada, 1999, Geology and Gold Mineralization of the Buffalo Valley Area, Northwestern Battle Mountain Trend; GSN Special Publication No. 31, 1999 Fall field trip Guidebook.
Deposit

Wendt, Clancy, 2004, Technical Report on the? ICBM/COPPER BASIN Property, Lander and Humboldt Counties, Nevada, Staccato Gold website, : http://www.staccatogold.com/i/pdf/icbm-43-101.pdf

General comments

Subject category	Comment text
Deposit	The main channel consisted of an 18-inch thick basal gravel layer overlain by a 3-foot-thick gold-bearing layer of sediments. The gold is coarse and angular, often containing inclusions of quartz and rock. The principal placer channel was 8-10 feet wide at "the narrows" at the 5500 foot elevation and it widened upstream to 25-30 feet at the site of the Copper Canyon Mine camp at 5562 foot elevation, and then gradually narrowed again. The pay channel was as much as 4.5 feet thick, consisting of a basal gravel layer 18 inches thick of quartz monzonite porphyry boulders and a little gold, overlain by a 3 foot-thick gold-bearing layer of sediments derived from the quartzite and hornfels of the Harmony and Battle Formations. Alluvium is 20-100 ft thick with best ore near bedrock.Gold is relatively coarse with nuggets up to 5 ounces found. One nugget weighed about 21 ounces. In the upper part of the fan, high-grade gravels form lenticular sheet-like bodies overlain by barren material farther down the fan. The richer gravels are in small thin lenses scattered throughout the section.

Subject category

Comment text

Deposit

The main channel consisted of an 18-inch thick basal gravel layer overlain by a 3-foot-thick gold-bearing layer of sediments. The gold is coarse and angular, often containing inclusions of quartz and rock. The principal placer channel was 8-10 feet wide at "the narrows" at the 5500 foot elevation and it widened upstream to 25-30 feet at the site of the Copper Canyon Mine camp at 5562 foot elevation, and then gradually narrowed again. The pay channel was as much as 4.5 feet thick, consisting of a basal gravel layer 18 inches thick of quartz monzonite porphyry boulders and a little gold, overlain by a 3 foot-thick gold-bearing layer of sediments derived from the quartzite and hornfels of the Harmony and Battle Formations. Alluvium is 20-100 ft thick with best ore near bedrock.Gold is relatively coarse with nuggets up to 5 ounces found. One nugget weighed about 21 ounces. In the upper part of the fan, high-grade gravels form lenticular sheet-like bodies overlain by barren material farther down the fan. The richer gravels are in small thin lenses scattered throughout the section.

Reporter information

Type	Date	Name	Affiliation	Comment
Reporter	01-FEB-2005	LaPointe, D.D.	Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Editor	01-SEP-2007	Schruben, Paul G.	U.S. Geological Survey	Converted from S&A FileMaker format to Oracle. Edit checks on rocks, units, and ages with Geolex search, and other fields.

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:

Newmont Mining Corp. — renamed to Newmont Corporation (2019)
Renamed from Newmont Mining Corporation to Newmont Corporation in early 2020 (after the 2019 merger with Goldcorp).

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.

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.