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Rosebud Gold Mine

Producer in Pershing county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Antimony, Selenium, Barium-Barite, Copper, Arsenic, Mercury
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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. 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. Reserves and resources
  20. Links to other databases
  21. Bibliographic references
  22. General comments
  23. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310434
MRDS ID M242759
Record type Site
Current site name Rosebud Gold Mine
Alternate or previous names Dozer Hill Deposit, Dreamland South ore zone, Dreamland East ore zone, Dreamland North ore zone, NBMG sample sites 1798 and 1799, Portal No. 1, Portal No. 2, East Dreamland target, North Kamma target, Schoolbus Canyon target, Short Shot target, White Alps target, Wildrose target

Comments on the site identification

  • This record includes all material from MRDS record M242759 and M242747 which should be deleted from the database. This deposit should not be confused with the historic Rosebud (Brown Palace) mine (MRDS record M242761) which lies about 1500 m to the NW or with the historic Dreamland Mine (MRDS record M232547) which lies about 1000 m north.

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Ore Body
Geographic coordinates: -118.64877, 40.80405 (WGS84)
Elevation 1650
Relative position Location is for the central part of mined area above the North ore zone. The Rosebud Mine is located about 50 miles NNW of Lovelock.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pershing(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Sulphur(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Eugene Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower 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 Pershing

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 034N 030E 19 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Rosebud Mine is situated on the east flank of the Kamma Mountains, north of Rosebud Canyon, a few miles south-southeast of the Crofoot/Lewis Mine which lies to the north in Humboldt County. UTM is to central part of mined area above the North ore zone. UTMs to the Main Zone are 4517900N, 361800E. UTMs to the East Zone are 4518000N, 361300E.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary
Antimony Critical Tertiary
Selenium Tertiary
Barium-Barite Critical Tertiary
Copper Tertiary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary
Mercury Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: electrum, aurian silver, selenides, sulfosalts
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, calcite, pyrite, marcasite, stibnite, barite, limonite, jarosite.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Electrum Ore
Silver Ore
Quartz Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Marcasite Gangue
Stibnite Gangue
Barite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Jarosite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Volcanic rocks in the mine area have been bleached, clay-altered (argillized, illite formed), sericitized, and locally silicified.

Analytical data

Result Sample 1798 of kaolinized rhyolite breccia with limonite in vugs contains 1% Fe, 0.05% Mg, 0.05% Ca, 0.1% Ti, 15 ppm Mn, 1.5 ppm Ag, 0.2 ppm Au (by AA analysis), 20 ppm B, 500 ppm Ba, 1.5 ppm Be, 15 ppm Cu, 10 ppm Pb, 150 ppm Sr, 100 ppm Zr. Sample 1799 of rhyolite breccia, iron oxides, quartz with minor sulfides contains 3% Fe 0.07 Mg, 0.07% Ti, 15 ppm Mn, 3 ppm Ag, 500 ppm As, 20 ppm B, 500 ppm Ba, 2 ppm Be, 5 ppm Cu, 5 ppm Ni, 10 ppm Pb, 5 ppm Sc, 500 ppm Sr, 20 ppm V, 10 ppm Y, 150 ppm Zr, and also 0.1 ppm Au (by AA analysis)
Result 0.11 oz/st Au, up to 7.5 oz/st Ag from jasperoid zone sample

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 > Quartz Latite
    Rock unit name Basal Wildrose unit of the Kamma Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock unit name Basal Wildrose unit of the Kamma Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock
    Rock unit name Basal Wildrose unit of the Kamma Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock
    Rock unit name Auld Lang Syne group
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Jurassic
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Late Triassic

Nearby scientific data

Ore Body (1) -118.64877, 40.80405
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description The structural setting in the Rosebud Deposit area is dominated by the northeast trending Cave fault and the east-west trending South Ridge fault. The Cave fault is a regional structure that strikes from N50?E to N60?E and dips between 25? to 30? to the northwest. Stratigraphic offset across the Cave fault displays up to 2,000 feet of apparent normal displacement.
Type of structure Local
Structure description The Rosebud shear zone strikes N60E and has 5000 ft.of left lateral displacement. The South Ridge fault strikes E-W and dips 25 to 45 to the north.

Ore body information

  • Name Rosebud Deposit
    General form tabular
    Plunge 20-25
    Plunge direction N35E
    Thickness 13.72M
    Length 609.6M
    Width 91.44M
    Depth to top 60.96M
  • Name Rosebud Prospect
    Length 800.1M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • The South Ridge fault is the primary control of mineralization. In the main zone, gold and silver occur in stockwork veins hosted by altered and weakly mineralized volcanic rocks in the hanging wall of the South Ridge fault. In the East Zone, mineralization is localized along and within the footwall of the South Ridge fault.

Comments on the geologic information

  • Dozer Hill is the rounded knob southeast of the historic Rosebud camp. It is a light-gray Tertiary rhyolite extensively altered along faults and fractures. The fissure vein varies in width and is brecciated and has wispy streaks of gray running through the matrix. An adit to the north was driven on a parallel fissure-filling vein of altered, iron-stained volcanic breccia with limonite filling some of the vuggy structure.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1989
Year of first production 1908
Year of last production 2000
Production years 1908-1947; 1997-2000

Mining district

District name Rosebud District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Winnemucca BLM District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Rosebud Mining Company, LLC., a joint-venture: Hecla Mining Company
    Interest 50
    Year 2002
  • Type Operator
    Owner Lac Minerals
  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Rosebud Mining Company, LLC., a joint-venture: Newmont Gold Corporation
    Interest 50
    Year 2002
  • Type Operator
    Owner Equinox Resources Ltd
    First year 1985
  • Type Owner
    Owner Equinox (100%) (Co. Bought Lac Minerals' 51% Interest In July 1993.)
  • Type Owner
    Owner John Dekinder And I. Swycaffer
    First year 1981

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1990
    Total resources 2358000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 3.472 g/mt Gold Major 1990
  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1990
    Total resources 1043000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 6.522 g/mt Gold Major 1990

Comments on the workings information

  • Old adits and more recent surface exploration and underground workings. The current mine is developed by two adits and associated underground workings.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Rosebud production through November 1999 consisted of 789,244 tons at an average grade of 0.442 Au oz/ton and 2.68 Ag oz/ton containing 348,898 gold ounces and 2,117,957 silver ounces.
    The remaining proven and probable reserve in 2000 consisted of 215,673 tons at an average grade of 0.323 Au oz/ton and 1.23 Ag oz/ton totaling 69,713 gold ounces and 264,432 silver ounces. Thje last year of production was 2000, with production in that year totalling 47,944 ounces of gold and 191,919 ounces of silver.
    Total Rosebud gold production was about 375,000 ounces. No remaining reserves or resources are reported.

Comments on development

  • The Rosebud District was discovered in 1906. From 1908-1947 it produced 3,775 ounces of gold and 116,293 ounces of silver, mostly from the Dreamland Mine. The area was also prospected and developed for mercury deposits (MRDS #M055453) from at least the 1940s through 1981. In 1985, Equinox Resources Ltd. staked 46 claims over gold-mineralized volcanic rocks and began an exploration program that included mapping and sampling, and later drilling. LAC Minerals Ltd.?s initial interest in the Rosebud District resulted from a regional evaluation in 1987. Beginning in 1988, Lac began to acquire a property position through claim staking and formation of a joint venture with Equinox Resources. Regional geologic mapping, rock chip and soil sampling geochemical surveys, and induced polarization and airborne mag surveys were conducted in 1988. The first drilling occurred in 1989 in the vicinity of the historic Dreamland Mine. The third hole of the program intersected 55 ft./0.12 opt Au. A VLF survey was conducted in 1989. During 1990, 111 core and reverse circulation drill holes were completed for a total of 86,332 ft., 75% in partial delineation of the Dozer Hill deposit, located about 3,000 feet south of the Dreamland Mine and the remainder in outlying target areas. A 25,000 ft. drill program was conducted in the second half of 1991. The last drill hole in 1992 did confirm the high-grade nature of Dozer Hill, returning a 100-foot intersection grading 1.1 oz. Au. Most of the drilling in 1992 occurred on the Far East zone. An independent pre-feasibility study completed in August 1992 recommended proceeding to a final feasibility and underground development program. The underground, high-grade gold operation opened as a 50/50 joint venture between Hecla and Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation (later to become part of Newmont).
    In 2002 the deposit and surrounding areawere controlled and operated by the Rosebud Mining Company, LLC., a joint-venture between Hecla Mining Company (50%) and Newmont Gold Corporation (50%). Hecla Mining Company was the manager of mining and exploration and Newmont Gold was manager of milling. The deposit was mined underground, predominantly by cut-and-fill methods. The ore was then transported to Newmont Gold's Twin Creeks Pi?on Mill for processing. Pre-production development began in October of 1996 with production beginning in February 1997. Mining continued through 2000 after which the mine was closed.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Kenner, K., 1992, Discovery and Geology of Gold Mineralization at the Rosebud Project, Pershing County, Nevada, oral presentation, the Geological Society of Nevada, Elko Chapter, December 16.

  • Deposit

    Johnson, M., 1977, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Pershing County, Nevada, NBMG Bull 89, 115 pp.

  • Deposit

    LAC Minerals Corp., 1991, Annual Report for 1990.

  • Deposit

    "Equinox Expects Decision by Spring for Rosebud Work", The Northern Miner, January 20, 1992, p.17.

  • Deposit

    Engineering and Mining Journal, March, 1933.

  • Deposit

    "Rosebud Stepout Drilling Returns Erratic Values", The Northern Miner, December 14, 1992.

  • Deposit

    Quade, Jack, 1984, NBMG Field Examination on September 2 and sample analyses.

  • Deposit

    Bonham, Garside, Jones, Papke, Quade, Tingley, 1985, A Mineral Inventory of the Paradise-Denio and Sonoma-Gerlach Resource Areas, Winnemucca District, Nevada, NBMG Open File Report 85-3.

  • Deposit

    Walck, C. M., Bennett, R. E., Kuhl, T. O., and Kenner, K. L., 1993, Discovery and Geology of Gold Mineralization at the Rosebud Project, Pershing County, Nevada: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., Preprint No. 93-175, 4 pp.

  • Deposit

    "Equinox to Buy Lac's Rosebud," The Northern Miner, May 17, 1993, p. 3.

  • Deposit

    NBMG, 1994, MI-1993.

  • Deposit

    Crafford, A.E.J. (ed.), 2003, GSN Road Log 2, Interstate 80 Eastbound, Fernley (Exit 48) to Golconda (Exit 194).

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The deposit is generally hosted within a series of Tertiary (late Oligocene-age) volcanics and volcaniclastics, primarily rhyolitic to latitic in composition. The volcanic package unconformably overlies the Jurassic/Triassic-age metasedimentary basement, which is also host to precious metal mineralization. Structure and stratigraphy control precious-metal mineralization in the Rosebud Deposit. Mineralization occurs in tabular zones along and in the hanging wall of the moderately dipping South Ridge Fault, and in cross-cutting high-angle structures. Multiple stages of discontinuous stockwork quartz-calcite-clay gold and silver-bearing veins cut variably clay-altered, silicified, and sericitized Miocene volcanic rocks. Silicified and kaolinized fault breccias and discontinuous stockwork quartz-calcite-clay veins in rhyolite host the ore. Mineralization at Dozer Hill consists of a crude stockwork and microveining of quartz, calcite, clay, pyrite, and marcasite within bleached, clay-altered, sericitized, and locally silicified volcanic rocks.
Three orebodies were mined underground. The east zone is tabular, approximately 400 ft. by 600 ft. in plan, and 15 to 45 feet thick. The zone dips slightly to the north, and is elongate in a northwest direction.

Other prospects within the Rosebud property are the Dreamland, East Dreamland, North Kamma, Schoolbus Canyon, Short Shot, White Alps, and Wildrose prospects.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-APR-1986 La Pointe, D.D. (Tingley, J.V.) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-DEC-1992 Phinisey, J. D. (Marcus, S.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-JUL-1993 Humphries, S. E. (Marcus, S.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-SEP-1994 Li, Zhiping (Peters, S.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-SEP-1994 Li, Zhiping (Moyer, Lorre A.) U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 01-JUN-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

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