1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Jarbidge Gold Prospect

Past Producer in Elko county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
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. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310339
Record type Site
Current site name Jarbidge Gold Prospect
Alternate or previous names Covers the historic Pavlak, Bourne, Bluster, Elkoro Mines
Related records 10045286

Comments on the site identification

  • The currently explored mineralization extends over several of the historic mines in the main part of the Jarbidge district, each of which has its own MRDS record in the database.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -115.42758, 41.85212 (WGS84)
Elevation 2210
Relative position The deposit is at and south of the town of Jarbidge, about 70 miles north of Elko, Nevada, just south of the Idaho border.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Elko(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Jarbidge South(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Jarbidge Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Wells(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Bruneau(hydrologic unit)

Middle Snake-Boise(hydrologic accounting unit)

Middle Snake(hydrologic subregion)

Pacific Northwest(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 Elko

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 046N 058E 21 28 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • Mineralization in the Jarbidge district extended from the town of Jarbidge south for more than a mile.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: free gold, argentite
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, adularia, sericite, fluorite.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Argentite Ore
Adularia Ore
Sericite Ore
Fluorite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Hydrothermal alteration is widespread and intense along a north-south trend. Chlorite-epidote-carbonate alteration with associated veinlets of barren quartz is pervasive within the lower part of the rhyolite pile and underlying conglomerates. Later adularia-sericite alteration is widespread in the middle portion of the Jarbidge Rhyolite and occurs as envelopes to veins. Higher levels of the system have local argillic alteration with chalcedonic veinlets. Kaolinization, silicification, and pyritization of host rock are prevalent in mineralized areas.

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier Porphyritic
    Rock unit name Jarbidge Rhyolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Miocene
    Chronological age 16.8
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Miocene
    Chronological age 15.4
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock type qualifier felsic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Eocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff > Ash-Flow Tuff
    Rock type qualifier rhyolitic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Miocene
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Oligocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -115.42758, 41.85212
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description faults
Type of structure Regional
Structure description faults

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • brecciated fault zones

Comments on the geologic information

  • Basement rocks in the deposit area are overlain by thick lenticular accumulations of conglomerate and light-colored silicic tuffs and by an extensive blanket of intermediate to silicic tuff and lava. The older volcanic rocks and the basement on which they rest have been extensively faulted; the youngest lavas of this sequence are the host rocks for the gold-silver deposits and have been eroded to a surface of low relief.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1909
Year of first production 1910
Year of last production 1930
Production years 1910-1930s?

Mining district

District name Jarbidge district

Land status

Ownership category National Forest
Area name Elko district

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Atna Resources Ltd.

Comments on the workings information

  • The historic Jarbidge mines were developed by miles of underground workings including shafts, drifts, tunnels, and stopes extending several hundred feet deep.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Historic production of the Jarbidge gold camp from 1910 to 1930 is estimated to have been 355,000 oz. gold and 1,600,000 oz. silver, from 800,000 tons of ore (average about 0.45 oz/ton Au and 4.5 oz/ton Ag). Estimates of the current gold and silver resource of the Jarbidge prospect area are unknown but thought to be significant.

Comments on development

  • Gold-bearing veins were first discovered at Jarbidge in 1909, and a mill was erected in 1911 and ran intermittently for 4 months with poor recovery. The bulk of historic production occurried between 1918 and 1932. The district was revisited and explored for bulk-minable precious metal potential in the 1970s by companies includiong Freeport MacMoran and FMC.
    In January 2004, Atna Resources Ltd. optioned and staked approximately 1300 hectares of mining claims surrounding and covering a substantial portion of the mined out core of the historic Jarbidge gold camp.
    Atna may acquire a 100% interest in the Jarbidge property by making an initial cash payment of $10,000 and escalating annual payments totaling US$600,000 over the following six-year period. The vendor retains a 1.5% NSR which increases to 2.5% when the gold price exceeds $400. Atna may purchase the royalty for US$1,500,000. Atna is obligated to spend a minimum of US$100,000 on exploration of the Property in each of the first three years of the agreement to maintain its option in good standing.
    Atna plans an active program of surface exploration and drilling in 2004. Numerous prospective targets on the property include:
    1. The faulted offset of one of the major past producing veins. Recent mapping and geochemistry suggest an apparent fault solution and target, which has never been tested.
    2. A strong soil anomaly (>6000 ppb Au) associated with the projected extension of a formerly productive vein.
    3. Parallel zones of vein and hydrothermal brecciation north of the main northwest striking vein set.
    4. An unexplored area east of Jarbidge, with reported outcropping gold values up to 124.4 g/ton Au.
    5. An unexplored area of intense silicification, argillic alteration and brecciation mapped west of Jarbidge.

Comments on the environmental information

  • Magmatism is associated with continental extension under reducing conditions.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Schrader, F.C.,(1912),A Reconnaissance of the Jarbidge, Contact, and Elk Mountain Mining Districts, Elko County, Nev: U.S.G.S. Bull 497.

  • Deposit

    Schrader, F.C.,(1923), The Jarbidge Mining District, Nevada; U.S.G.S. Open File Rept. 1976-56.

  • Deposit

    Fairbank and O'Byrne, J.F.,(1911) Jarbidge Mining District Map

  • Deposit

    Coats, Robert R. , 1964, Geology of the Jarbidge Quadrangle, Nevada-Idaho; U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, Report: B 1141-M, pp.M1-M24.

  • Deposit

    Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 90-206A, 33 p.; 98-206B. one 3.5 inch diskette.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Mineralization is hosted by Eocene felsic tuffs, and widespread Oligocene to early Miocene rhyolitic ash-flow tuffs. A sheeted vein system of quartz-adularia veins is hosted by the Jarbidge Rhyolite. Three vein systems are present: the earliest veins have a northwest trend, and occur as conjugate sets with moderate to steep dips, in horst and graben sets with limited offset. The second set has a north-northwest, steeply dipping set with hundreds of feet of strike and dip slip offset. The eastern part of the district has a north-south trending set. The bulk of production is from the northwest trending set.
The quartz-adularia vein system has approximately 3000' of vertical extent, with the most productive regions spanning about 650' over vertical extent. Bladed quartz after calcite suggests that gold-mineralization occurs at bonanza levels where boiling has occurred. Low sulfide contents occur in the veins, with gold mineralization occurring as electrum, and silver mineralization within silver selenides or argentite.
There are multiple veins on the property; two of the most productive were the Pavlak and Taft veins. Free gold is commonly in nodules or reniform lumps formed by concretionary growths of gangue, usually around an enclosed fragment of rhyolite. In concretionary ore, gold usually occurs along dark lines of banding in brecciated fault zones.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUN-2003 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.

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.