Sandman Project

Producer in Humboldt county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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 10310414
MRDS ID D011054
Record type Site
Current site name Sandman Project
Related records 10014330

Comments on the site identification

  • This prospect is located in the vicinity of the old Badger Mine (MRDS record #D011054) and the Gold Crown claims (MRDS # M242836) from which material has been incorporated into this record.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -117.94074, 41.02978 (WGS84)
Relative position The prospect is located about 10 miles west of Winnemucca on the north side of the Krum Hills .

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Humboldt(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Barrett Springs(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Osgood Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

McDermitt(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Quinn(hydrologic unit)

Black Rock Desert(hydrologic accounting unit)

Black Rock Desert-Humboldt(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 Humboldt

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 036N 036E 04, 05 Nevada
Mount Diablo 037N 036E 32, 33 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Ten Mile mining district is located between the Krum Hills and Blue Mountain in southeast Humboldt County, Nevada approximately 15 km west of Winnemucca. The Sandman prospect is located north of Blue Mountain.
    UTMs from "Southeast Pediment Resource" and estimated from small map in company report. Map shows possible resource locations approximately in sections 09, 10, T36N, R36E and approximately in section 23, T37N, R35E.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: gold, electrum, petzite, possibly sulfides
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, adularia, possibly sulfides

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Electrum Ore
Petzite Ore
Quartz Gangue
Adularia Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Silicification

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Mixed Clastic/Volcanic Rock
    Rock type qualifier volcaniclastic rocks
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -117.94074, 41.02978

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Bedding plane faults and fractures that crosscut bedding,

Ore body information

  • General form tabular to iregular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Gold is localized along fault surfaces and intersections. Most of the gold is found along the footwall, where open-space-filling occurred during gold deposition; gold was concentrated in areas where solutions pooled. The presence of some microbreccia and pebble-breccia fragments suggest that the fault was reactivated post-mineralization. Mineralization appears to follow bedding plane faults and fractures that crosscut bedding.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1900
Discoverer Santa Fe Pacific (1990s).
Year of first production 1925
Year of last production 1940
Production years early 1900s to the 1940s

Mining district

District name Ten Mile District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Winnemucca BLM District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Santa Fe Pacific (1990s)
    Year 1990

Comments on the workings information

  • The prospect area is developed by old underground workings in the vicinity of recent surface exploration.

Comments on other economic factors

  • A 1990s Santa Fe report notes reserves of a north reserve area of 327,000 tons grading 0.039 opt Au; a central reserve area of 1 million tons of ore grading 0.081 opt Au (the Southeast Pediment Resource)?; south reserve area of 4 million tons of ore grading 0.028 opt Au; and a northwest area with "highly visible gold".

    Few records of early production exist but the Ten Mile district mines are believed to have produced approximately 570 kg (20,000 ounces) of gold from about 1900 through 1942. Willden (1964) reports the value of gold and silver from the area in excess of $1 million.

Comments on development

  • The Ten Mile district was reportedly active from about the early 1900s to the 1940s, with some production judging from the size of the dumps of the old underground workings.No significant production has occurred since then, although several claims are active in the area and in recent years prospectors with metal detectors have reported substantial finds of nuggets and pocket gold around the district.

Comments on the environmental information

  • The Sandman prospect is located north of Blue Mountain, where several small gold deposits have been defined. (Curt Dechert, personal communication, 1995

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    NBMG Map 91, 2nd, 3rd; Santa Fe Company Co. Report 1998? in GSN SP31, 1999

  • Deposit

    D.A. Davis and J. V. Tingley, 1999, Gold and silver resources in Nevada, NBMG Map 120

  • Deposit

    Bowell, R.J., Hunerlach, M.P., Parshley, J., and Sears, S., 2000, The Ten Mile mining district, Winnemucca, Nevada: Geology, mineralogy and supergene gold enrichment, in Cluer, J.K., Price, J.G., Struhsacker, E.M., Hardyman, R.F., and Morris, C.L., eds., Geology and ore Deposits 2000: The Great Basin and Beyond: Geological Society of Nevada Symposium Proceedings, Reno/Sparks, May 2000, p. 349-363.

  • Deposit

    Willden, R., 1964, Geology and mineral deposits of Humboldt County, Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 59, 154 p.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Mineralization occurs in Tertiary tuffaceous and volcaniclastic rocks. Mineralization is comprised of stockworks and veins which are typically open spaced and vuggy grading into wider silicified zones at depth.High-grade gold pockets (typically greater than 30 g/t Au (1 opt Au) were located with a metal detector and appear to be localized along a fault surface. Most of the gold is found along the footwall, where open-space-filling occurred during gold deposition; gold was concentrated in areas where solutions pooled. The presence of some microbreccia and pebble-breccia fragments suggest that the fault was reactivated post-mineralization. Occasionally euhedral gold leaves are found rolled up with and within small breccia fragments, also indicating post gold movement.
Mineralization appears to follow bedding plane faults and fractures that crosscut bedding, the largest observed gold-bearing vein strikes N. 55-60E and dips to the 55-65 NW. A second location where gold was found in situ is at the intersection of N-S and NE-SW- trending structures that converge and can be traced to the surface.
Evidence exists of supergene enrichment in the upper zones where some exceptionally rich pockets of gold were found concentrated in favorable structural traps. Thus, crystalline native gold is believed to be bi-modal in origin.
Primary gold is represented by electrum (600-650 gold fineness) and minor petzite associated with partially oxidized pyrite and secondary alteration products in a gangue of quartz and adularia. The electrum forms crystalline leaves, reticulated dendrites, and rough grains. The second form, believed to be supergene has a much higher fineness and often forms small platelets, wires, and euhedral crystals derived from altered protore and concentrated by residual and supergene processes in the oxidized levels of the mines. The structurally controlled small, bonanza style gold deposits are hosted in Tertiary tuffaceous and volcaniclastic rocks, mostly under pediment gravels and sand.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-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.

Authoritative Nevada resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.