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Slaven Canyon Deposit

Producer in Lander county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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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. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310442
MAS/MILS ID 0320150324
Record type Site
Current site name Slaven Canyon Deposit
Alternate or previous names Gordo Claims, Teal, Wood Duck

Comments on the site identification

  • This deposit was not listed in the significant deposits list, but should be included due to the size of its drill-indicated gold resource.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -116.7726, 40.5199 (WGS84)
Relative position The Slaven Canyon property is located approximately 14 miles southeast of Battle Mountain.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Lander(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bateman Spring(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Battle Mountain(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle Humboldt(hydrologic unit)

Humboldt(hydrologic accounting unit)

Black Rock Desert-Humboldt(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Lander

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 030N 046E 12 Nevada
Mount Diablo 047E 07, 18 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Slaven Canyon deposit property is located in the northern Shoshone Range, about 3 miles southwest of Newmont's Mule Canyon Mine. The property comprises 258 unpatented claims on 5,160 acres plus additional leased land of 692 acres for a total of 5,852 acres.
    The property consists of 32 complete and 18 partial sections, plus 19 unpatented mining claims, which constitutes a large portion (approximately 45 square miles or 11,600 hectares) of Newmont?s checkerboard private landholdings. Checkerboard refers to every odd-numbered section for 20 miles on either side of the original Central Pacific Railroad route, which traverses the state of Nevada generally east to west.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: gold

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Alteration is dominantly argillization and sanding.

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
    Rock type qualifier siliciclastic rocks
    Rock unit name Slaven Chert
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Devonian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type
    Rock unit name Valmy Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Ordovician

Nearby scientific data

(1) -116.7726, 40.5199
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Roberts Mountains Thrust
Type of structure Local
Structure description Major northeast trending faults cut through the area and are believed to be a regional control to the localization of gold mineralization.

Ore body information

  • General form shallowly dipping tabular body

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Major northeast trending faults cut through the area and are believed to be a regional control to the localization of gold mineralization. Eocene dikes that are abundant as N-S, WNW, and NW swarms within the Battle Mountain Gold Belt. These dike swarms are spatially, if not genetically, associated with gold concentrations at Hilltop-Slaven.

Comments on the geologic information

  • Rock units on the property are dominated by chert, siltstone and limestone of the Ordovician Vinini Formation and Devonian Slaven Chert, both units of the Upper Plate Roberts Mountains Allochthon. These units are overlain on the east by Miocene basalt of the Northern Nevada Rift.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1983
Discoverer Resource Associates of Alaska (RAA) geologists

Mining district

District name Hilltop District
District name Bateman Canyon
District name Slaven Canyon

Land status

Ownership category Private
Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Battle Mountain BLM Administrative District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner White Knight Resources
    Year 2006

Comments on the workings information

  • Surface exploration, drilling

Comments on other economic factors

  • In 2002, Alta Gold reported a resource estimate of 1.6 millon tons of material grading 0.043 opt gold for a total contained 68,800 ounces of gold. White Knight (2002) estimated that the Gordo claims contain a drill defined resource of approximately 120,000 ounces of gold.

Comments on development

  • Resource Associates of Alaska (RAA) geologists discovered gold-bearing breccia outcrops at Slaven Canyon in 1983, and staked claims the following year. RAA conducted geologic mapping, rock and soil sampling, and trenching from 1984 to 1987. Nerco acquired RAA in 1988 and Alta Gold joint-ventured the claims with Nerco later that year. Alta began an aggressive drilling program and completed 59 shallow holes in 1988, including the discovery hole (25 ft @ 0.046 opt gold). An additional eight holes were drilled in 1989. Cyanide-shake metallurgical tests were conducted in 1990, followed by the drilling of 17 holes in 1991. Uranerz leased the property in 1991 and completed a 57-hole drilling program in 1992. Bottle-roll tests were completed in 1993 after which a resource calculation was made. Cameco acquired Uranerz in 1994 and terminated the lease. Cyprus Minerals leased the claims from Alta Gold later that year and drilled nine holes in the northwest part of the property before terminating the lease in 1995. Following Cyprus' withdrawal, Alta Gold filed on the claims from 1996 through 1999 but performed no further work on the property. Alta Gold filed for bankruptcy in 2000. White Knight Resources staked the initial "Gordo" claims on the property in 2001 after Alta Gold?s bankruptcy.
    In February 2003, White Knight acquired the surface and mineral rights on 642 acres of private land contiguous to the Gordo claims of the property.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    NBMG MI-90

  • Deposit

    NBMG MI-94 thru MI-02

  • Deposit

    Amer. Mines (1996), 1995 thru Amer. Mines (1999)

  • Deposit

    1998; MASMILS 0320150324

  • Deposit

    Battle Mtn. Land Status, 1975

  • Deposit

    Crescent Valley LS, 1979; Annual Report

  • Deposit

    www.whiteknightres.com website

  • Deposit

    SEG Newsletter, 4/1/02.

  • Deposit

    Timothy D. Jefferson and Arthur R. Leger, 2005, Technical Report for the Slaven Canyon Property Lander County, Nevada, USA Prepared for: White Knight Resources Ltd., unpublished, online at http://www.whiteknightres.com/i/pdf/Slaven-43101.pdf

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Gordo claims contain a drill defined resource of approximately 120,000 ounces of gold. Mineralization is hosted in upper plate clastic rocks and is still open in several directions. This pod of gold mineralization measures about 2400 feet east-west by 300 feet - 500 feet north-south. Mineralization is open on the east and west end and to some degree down dip. A second area of gold mineralization occurs on the northern portion of the claims. The primary exploration target is a Carlin-type gold deposit in Lower-Plate carbonate rocks at depth or in carbonate units of the Upper Plate. The resource is shallow, mostly oxide, shallowly dipping tabular body hosted in Upper Plate siliclastic rocks. Gold mineralization is probably controlled by a shallow angle thrust fault. Alteration is dominantly argillization and sanding.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
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.

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.