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Bristol - Jackrabbit Mines

Past Producer in Lincoln county in Nevada, United States with commodities Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Gold, Manganese
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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. 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 10310377
MRDS ID M242423
Record type Site
Current site name Bristol - Jackrabbit Mines
Alternate or previous names Snyder Shaft, Black Shaft, Bristol Silver, Hillside, Home Run, Iron, Gypsy Vein, May Day, National, Tempest, Vesuvius, Detroit, Jackrabbit, Black Metals Mine
Related records 10104125, 10222278

Comments on the site identification

  • This record is a new record that includes all material from earlier MRDS record M242423 as well as additional information from records on adjacent properties and new information.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -114.61695, 38.08107 (WGS84)
Elevation 2210
Relative position The Bristol Silver Mines are located about 8 miles northwest of Pioche.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Lincoln(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bristol Range SE(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Wilson Creek Range(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lund(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Dry Lake Valley(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Lincoln

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 003N 066E 31, 30, 29 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Bristol-Jackrabbit Mines are scattered over a few square miles in the north end of the Bristol Range northwest of Pioche. The Jackrabbit mines were on the eastern side of the range,and the Bristol mines were just over the crest of the range a few miles to the west, but after an aerial tram was built in 1914 to bring ore from the Bristol mines down to the railroad at Jackrabbit, the histories and production of the two areas were linked. Many of the Bristol mines are connected by underground workings (Snyder, May Day, Gypsy). Mines are located on both sides of the crest of the Bristol Range, with the larger and more productive mines on the west side.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Copper Primary
Lead Primary
Zinc Critical Primary
Gold Secondary
Manganese Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: galena, lead carbonate, secondary copper minerals, secondary zinc, plumbojarosite, manganese oxides, sphalerite, malachite, chrysocolla, azurite, smithsonite, cuprite, melaconite (tenorite), silver chloride
  • Gangue Materials: pyrite (below 1700 ft)., limonite, hematite, calcite, manganese oxide, quartz, clay gouge

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Plumbojarosite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Malachite Ore
Chrysocolla Ore
Azurite Ore
Smithsonite Ore
Cuprite Ore
Melaconite Ore
Tenorite Ore
Chlorargyrite Ore
Pyrite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Hematite Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Clay Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 72
USGS model code 19a
Deposit model name Polymetallic replacement
Mark3 model number 47

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Highland Peak
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Cambrian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
    Rock unit name Pioche Shale
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cambrian
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Middle Cambrian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
    Rock unit name Chisholm Shale
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Cambrian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock type qualifier dolomitic
    Rock unit name Lyndon Limestone
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Cambrian
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Porphyry
    Rock type qualifier dikes
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite > Diabase
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Porphyry > Lamprophyre
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -114.61695, 38.08107
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Thrust faults have displaced rocks on a regional scale.
Type of structure Local
Structure description faults; barren post-mineral faults

Ore body information

  • General form irregular to tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore formation was controlled by both structure and lithology. Ore occurs in carbonate host rocks at fracture intersections, in particular, the May Day Fault (N65E, 45SE).

Comments on the geologic information

  • Host rock is dolomitic limestone, both massive and thin-bedded, with shale below 1700 feet.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1860
Year of first production 1870
Year of last production 1940
Production years 1870s-1940

Mining district

District name Bristol and Jackrabbit Districts

Land status

Ownership category Private
Area name Ely BLM Administrative District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Kerr-McGee/Bristol Silver Mines Co.
    Year 2004

Comments on the workings information

  • The Bristol Mines were developed by extensive underground workings. These included the May Day shaft, tunnel, and cross cut; the main Snyder shaft on a 70S incline to 1780 feet in the 1940s; and the vertical Gypsy Shaft. Major stopes are the Dave Fox stope, Bingham Canyon stope, Bonanza stope, Cave stope, and Perry stope. A 2-mile aerial tramway was built from the main workings on the west crest of the Bristol Range to the railroad terminus at Jackrabbit on the east flank of the range.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Total production of the district is estimated at about $2,000,000 to $6,000,000.
    The Bristol Mines were sporadically productive from the 1870s to 1940, producing at various times silver, lead, copper, manganese, gold, and zinc. There was no doubt much more production than officially recorded from the Bristol-Jackrabbit Mines. Production from 1881 to 1940 was 252,553 tons of ore valued at $2,541,774. From 1924-1955 the Bristol Mine alone produced 4,433,800 ounces of silver, 22,722,100 pounds of copper, 35,943,800 pounds of lead, 40,570,800 pounds of zinc. Production during the years 1940-41, and 1945-47 from 45,620 tons of ore was, 391 ounces of gold, 652,478 ounces of silver, 2,910,521 pounds of copper, and 3,604,264 pounds of lead.
    The remaining reserves of the vein system deposit are unknown.

Comments on development

  • Discovery of the Bristol deposits probably dates to pre-1870, about the time that the Pioche depsits were discovered a few miles to the east. Prior to 1872, the town of Bristol Well or Bristol City sprang up on the western flank of the Bristol Range below the mines. Charcoal ovens near Bristol Well attest to early production. A furnace was built at Bristol City about 1872 to treat silver ore from the Bristol mine and a 5-stamp mill was built in 1880. About 1890, a new smelter was built and Bristol's population was about 400. Mining activity ended in 1893 and Bristol declined until 1900, when a leaching plant was built to recover copper from the ore, but that endeavor was not very successful and Bristol declined.
    The discovery of the Jack Rabbit District on the eastern slope of the Bristol Mountains is attributed to the locator picking up a rock to throw at a jackrabbit and finding it to be high grade silver ore. The district was located in 1876 by Isaac Newton Garrison. Within months the camp, at one time named Royal City, had a store, saloon, boarding house and restaurant. Early mine production was about ten tons per day, carrying native silver in flakes, yielding about $40 per ton-sometimes as high as $2000 per ton. Total production of the district is estimated at about $2,000,000 to $6,000,000. Mine production declined during the 1880's, but when a fifteen-mile narrow gauge railroad was opened in 1891 between the Jackrabbit mine and Pioche, mineral production soon increased. After 1893 the mines fell silent until after the turn of the century.
    In the early 1900s, the Day-Bristol Consolidated Mining Company owned and operated the main Bristol silver mines and in 1914 built a 2-mile aerial tramway from the main workings on the western crest of the Bristol Range to the railroad terminus at Jackrabbit on the east flank of the range. Bristol Silver Mines Co. was organized in 1919 and they purchased the Jackrabbit-Pioche narrow gauge railroad. Prior to 1926, Bristol operated with gasoline engines, then diesel engines connected to generators until 1937 when electrical power was obtained from the Boulder Pioche Powerline. Production at that time was 3000 tons/month. Bristol Silver Mining Co. owned most of the property in the district for some time during the most productive years of the district, the 1920s-1940s. In 1942 the company?s property consisted of 638 acres of patented land and 1222 acres of unpatented land.
    Kerr-McGee Corp./Bristol Silver Mines owned the properties in the 1970s and until the current time (2004)
    NDOM personnel assisted Kerr-McGee Corp. with AML fencing documentation at the Bristol and Jackrabbit mines in 2004

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Four main veins account for the bulk of the production in the Bristol District: the May Day, Tempest, Gypsy-National, and the Lead-Zinc veins. The ore bodies occur along fractured zones, in brecciated areas and in intersecting fissures. The main fissure system (the May Day) runs E-W. The Tempest also runs about N80E, but the Tempest dips 70E, while the May Day dips 45E. The Gypsy-National system strikes NE and dips 70-85E, and the Lead-Zinc vein strikes NW and is vertical. The latter two veins intersect the Tempest and May Day fissure, and oxidized ore occurs in large brecciated zones at these intersections. Sulfide ore is rare, but sometimes occurs as "nodules" with galena cores encased in cerussite, coated by carbonate with a film of copper oxide. Bedding contacts and flat bedding thrusts often localize ore deposition. Orebodies are very irregular in size and shape. Ore is very soft. Some of the larger orebodies developed at intersections of the May Day and Tempest fissures. Stoping was almost continuous from the May Day collar to the 1000 level of the Snyder shaft. Several strongly brecciated zones near faults carry high-grade copper and lead ore with silver. At the Black Metal Mine, the ore system consists of a vertical pipe from which replacement oreobdies extend out laterally at 3 horizons into the gently-dipping limestones that enclose the pipe. The pipe is localized by brecciation at structural intersections. Lead-silver ore occurred in the center of the pipe with exterior zones progressively higher in manganese and lower in lead and silver.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-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.

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