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Casino Mine

Producer in White Pine county in Nevada, United States with commodity Gold
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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. Alteration
  9. Mineral occurrence model information
  10. Host and associated rocks
  11. Nearby scientific data
  12. Geologic structures
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Ownership information
  18. Production statistics
  19. Reserves and resources
  20. Links to other databases
  21. Bibliographic references
  22. General comments
  23. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310390
MRDS ID RE00279
MAS/MILS ID 0320330520
Record type Site
Current site name Casino Mine
Alternate or previous names Keno Pit

Comments on the site identification

  • This record includes all material from earlier record # RE00279 which should be deleted from the database.
    The deposit is often combined with Winrock in the literature. The Casino Mine is included by Placer Dome in its Bald Mountain Mine project.

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Ore Body
Geographic coordinates: -115.51528, 39.9682 (WGS84)
Elevation 2180
Relative position The Casino mine lies about 65 miles south-southeast of Elko, and about the same distance northwest of Ely. 4.6km WNW of Julian Well.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

White Pine(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Big Bald Mountain(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Newark Lake(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ely(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Long-Ruby Valleys(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 White Pine

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 024N 057E 11 12 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Casino mine is located on the southeast flank of the Ruby Range about a mile east of Big Bald Mountain.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: gold

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Alteration at the Casino Deposit includes decalcification, pervasive silicification, and argillization. Silicification and the formation of jasperoid are the dominant alteration types.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 173
USGS model code 26a.1
Deposit model name Sediment-hosted Au
Mark3 model number 17

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mississippian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock type qualifier silty
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Devonian
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic)
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene

Nearby scientific data

Ore Body (1) -115.51528, 39.9682
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description The Bald Mountain district is located in an area of thinned crust along the eastern side of the Late Proterozoic rift that split the North American craton. It is also in the west-central portion of the Late Devonian-Early Mississippian Antler foreland basin, and near the eastern edge of deformation related to the late Paleozoic Humboldt orogeny To the west of the Bald Mountain district, geologic interpretations are dominated by recognition of Paleozoic deformation, whereas to the east, interpretations emphasize Mesozoic contraction and plutonism and Tertiary extension.
Type of structure Local
Structure description The Casino pit contains one moderately dipping normal fault as well as multiple high- and low-angle faults. At Casino, northeast structures are present, accompanied by north- and west-trending structures. The Keno fault zone is a moderately dipping normal-fault zone in siltstone and silty limestone with 55-100 m of dip-slip displacement. The fault changes character along strike from a single clay-rich slip plane 10-20 mm thick at the northern exposure in the pit to numerous hydrocarbon-bearing, calcite-filled, nearly vertical slip planes in a zone 15 m wide at the southern exposure. The hanging wall and footwall are intensely fractured but fracture densities do not vary markedly with distance from the fault.

Controls for ore emplacement

  • The Casino deposit is localized along the edge of a fold. Whole-rock major, minor, and trace element analyses indicate that Au, Sb, and As are in general associated with the Keno fault zone, suggesting that Au- and silica-bearing fluids migrated along the fault to replace carbonate in the footwall and adjacent hanging wall rocks.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discoverer Lyle Campbell
Year of first production 1990
Year of last production 1992
Production years 1990-1992

Mining district

District name Bald Mountain District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Ely BLM district

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Barrick Gold Corp.
    Year 2006
  • Type Operator
    Owner USMX, Inc.
  • Type Joint Venture Owner
    Owner USMX, Inc. (51%)/Pegasus Gold Inc. (49%)

Production statistics

  • Year 1991
    Period 1990-1991
    Ore mined 539000mt
    Accuracy Accurate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^0.054 Opt Au
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Primary Ore Gold Gold 2g/mt
  • Year 1991
    Ore mined 268000mt
    Accuracy Accurate
    Description Ap_Grade: ^0.060 Opt Au
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Primary Ore Gold Gold 2g/mt

Comments on the production information

  • 1990-1991 CUMULATIVE FIGURES REPRESENT TOTAL LIFE OF MINE PRODUCTION.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1989
    Total resources 566000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 2.02 g/mt Gold Major 1989

Comments on the workings information

  • open pit mine

Comments on other economic factors

  • In 1989, the Casino deposit reserves were reported at 804 Kilotonnes of ore grading 0.054 opt gold.
    From 1990-92, the mine is reported to have produced 46,800 ounces of gold.
    The Casino-Winrock mines produced an aggregate 20,000 ounces of gold in 1991 and produced an aggregate 19,800 ounces of gold in 1992, for a total production of 39,800 ounces for the two deposits.
    The Casino-Winrock heap leach pad contained 1.43 million tons of ore. Rinsing of the heap leach began in 1994 and was essentially complete by 1997.
    The deposit is often combined with Winrock in the literature.

Comments on development

  • Development in the northeastern part of the district began in 1987. The ARM Joint Venture (Amselco with, at different times, Occidental Petroleum, Nerco, Kennecott) began relinquishing claim groups north of Alligator Ridge Mine that were originally staked as part of an agreement with Lyle Campbell. Campbell retained and maintained the claim groups and, in November 1987, leased the Casino-Winrock area of claims to the USMX-Pegasus Joint Venture. Casino produced from 1990-1992, operated by a joint venture between USMX (51%) and Pegasus Gold Inc. (49%) Gold recovery was anticipated to be 80% using heap leach technology. Life of mine strip ratio was 3.8:1.
    In 2006, Barrick Gold Corp. acquired the Casino Mine property through its acquisition of Placer Dome U. S., Inc.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Host rocks for the deposit are Late Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. In the Casino area, unaltered Oligocene volcanic rocks rest on massive jasperoid. The Casino deposit is localized along the edge of a fold.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-1993 Phinisey, J. D. (Marcus, S.) U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 01-NOV-2004 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.

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.