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

Wilson and Wheeler Mine Area

Past Producer in Lyon county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Copper
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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Ownership information
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310366
MRDS ID M232540
Record type Site
Current site name Wilson and Wheeler Mine Area
Alternate or previous names Pine Grove, Telluride Claims
Related records 10044908

Comments on the site identification

  • All material in earlier MRDS records M232540, W002907, M232539 and M035825 has been incorporated into the current record, as well as additional new information.
    See http://www.romarco.com/main.asp?section=properties&page=pgsummary for 2006 report on Pine Grove property - -update record

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -119.12154, 38.67991 (WGS84)
Elevation 2010
Relative position The Wilson-Wheeler mine area is located about 20 miles south of Yerington in the Pine Grove Hills.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Lyon(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Pine Grove Spring(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Smith Valley(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Walker Lake(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Walker(hydrologic unit)

Walker(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Lahontan(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 Lyon

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 009N 025E 06 Nevada
Mount Diablo 010N 025E 22 23 25-27 31 34-36 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The mine area is located on both sides of Pine Grove Canyon in the Pine Grove Hills.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Copper Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: pyrite, chalcopyrite
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, calcite, limonite

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Limonite Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 131
USGS model code 43
Deposit model name Plutonic porphyry Au
Mark3 model number 43

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Monzonite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Rock type qualifier porphyry dikes
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Porphyry
    Rock type qualifier granite dikes
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier flows

Nearby scientific data

(1) -119.12154, 38.67991
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description NW-trending fault. sheared graniorite cut by dikes of granite porphyry and capped bt Tertiary rhyolite.

Ore body information

  • General form lenses, stringers; tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • shear zone; ore along the shear in the diorite

Comments on the geologic information

  • Ore bodies occur as quartz stringers and lenses in a zone of intense crushing and alteration, about 200 ft. Wide, that cuts the quartz monzonite. Crushed & altered zone is just south of the main fault where the quartz monzonite is altered to a dark-gray, almost black rock. Sulfides constitute the ore and is 95% pyrite with some chalcopyrite. Ore is richest in oxidized zone near the surface.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1866
Year of first production 1870
Year of last production 1899

Mining district

District name Wilson District

Land status

Ownership category National Forest
Area name Toiyabe National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Inmet Mining Corp.
    Year 2001

Comments on the workings information

  • The Wheeler Mine was developed by 3 irregular tunnels and connecting stopes, raises and chutes. The mine area is developed by numerous adits, pits and shafts. There are about 3 miles of underground workings, many interconnected from 5 shafts and a half dozen adits. Some newer bulldozing and trenching was done in the 1980s-1990s.

Comments on other economic factors

  • A total of 6,038 tons of ore with a gross value of 165,9111 was produced between 1873 and 1878 from the Wheeler Mine. Between 1870 and 1899, 7,623 tons of ore was mined from the Wilson Mine, yielding $220,368.a Teck Resources outlined a geologic resource of 2.5 million tons averaging 0.061 ounces per ton gold in two zones.

Comments on development

  • The Wheeler Mine was discovered shortly after the Wilson Mine in 1866, and both were worked intermittently after the discovery. A total of 6,038 tons of ore with a gross value of $165,9111 was produced between 1873 and 1878.
    the basal vitrophyre of the rhyolite was used as a marker horizon by the early miners as the upward limit to the mineralization. In the 1980s, Mr. J.W. Cavanaugh installed a small pilot heap leach to treat the oxide and sulfide ores on the historic dumps of the mines. Teck Resources of Canada was leasing and developing the property in the 1990s including some underground work. In 1994, it was reported that Regeena Resources planned to conduct exploration in the Teck/Silver Standard Pine Grove property. Teck had spent $2.2 million on the property outlining a geologic resource of 2.5 million tons averaging 0.061 oz Au/ton in two zones. Silver Standard had an agreement to acquire the property from Teck, and, Regeena, in turn, could earn half of Silver Standard's interest by spending $2.5 million over four years. Exploration, including infill drilling,was expected to start shortly. In 1997, several closed adits south of the old camp of Pine Grove were opened in preparation for exploration. In the Rockland area, about a mile south of the Wilson/Wheeler Mines, Inmet Mining (US) had an approved mining plan for drilling and exploration road building. Inmet still held the property in 2001.


    See http://www.romarco.com/main.asp?section=properties&page=pgsummary for 2006 report on Pine Grove property

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Ore bodies occur as quartz stringers and lenses in zones of intense crushing and alteration that cut the quartz monzonite. For about 200 feet south of the main fault the quartz monzonite is crushed and altered to a dark gray rock. Sulfide ore is 95% pyrite with a little chalcopyrite. Ore is richest in oxidized zone near surface. Ore occcurs as lenses and stringers associated with a sheared fault zone. Vein material is a pyrite-rich replacement ore. There are two distinct phases of granitic rock, with the mineralization associated with the darker dioritic phase, along shears. Pyrite was said to be an indicator of good gold values. Ore occurs in a 200-foot wide crushed and altered zone south of main fault (N60W trending) in quartz monzonite.

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.

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.