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Cherry Creek District Mines; Egan Mine Area

Past Producer in White Pine county in Nevada, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Tungsten, Copper, Zinc, Lead
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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. 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 10310454
MRDS ID D001193
Record type District
Current site name Cherry Creek District Mines; Egan Mine Area
Alternate or previous names Gilligan Shaft Mine, Ticup (Biscuit) Mine, Star Mine, Wide West Mine, Mary Anne Mine, Black Metal Mine, Exchequer Mine, Grey Eagle Mine, Pacific Mine, Chance Mine, Flagstaff Mine, Victorien Mine
Related records 10101411, 10223138

Comments on the site identification

  • This is a composite record for the major producing mines of the district and includes material for several earlier records for the individul mine listed above: D001193, M031228, M031230, M031231, M031232, and M031233. The Egan and Star mines were probably the biggest gold-silver producers of the group, and the Ticup the biggest tungsten producer.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -114.91754, 39.92771 (WGS84)
Elevation 2040
Location accuracy 100(meters)
Relative position The Cherry Creek district mines are clustered around Egan Peak in the Cherry Creek Range about 55 miles north of Ely, Nevada.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

White Pine(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Exchequer Spring(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Kern Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ely(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Spring-Steptoe 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 23N 62E 14 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The mines are located on both north and south sides of Egan Canyon (Cherry Creek). The district includes the north end of the Egan Range and south end of the Cherry Creek Range, from Telegraph Canyon at the south end to Goshute Creek at the north.

Commodities

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

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: argentite, scheelite, copper carbonate, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, cerargyrite, native gold, bornite, tetrahedrite
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, pyrite

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Argentite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Galena Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Cerargyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Bornite Ore
Tetrahedrite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) There is some sericitization of host rocks adjacent to some of the veins.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Cambrian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Monzonite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -114.91754, 39.92771
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Host rocks in the mine area are cut by at least two sets of faults, the dominant one NE-trending with lesserr NW trending faults.

Ore body information

  • General form tabular, lenticular

Comments on the geologic information

  • A small quartz monzonite pluton intrudes the Paleozoic shales in the mine area.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant Yes
Year of first production 1864
Year of last production 1941
Production years 1864-1941?

Mining district

District name Cherry Creek District
District name Egan Canyon District
District name Gold Canyon District

Land status

Ownership category Private
Area name Ely BLM Administrative district

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Egan Leasing Co.
    Year 1941

Comments on the workings information

  • The mines were developed by extensive underground workings as well as surface prospects. A 1913 description of the mine workings reports many drifts at various levels in the shaft, but none appeared to be long, and most of them were caved in at that time.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Total production is uncertain. More than 100 short tons of tungsten ore were produced during World War I. The mines produced a small to moderate amount of either silver or tungsten ore every year from 1902 through 1958. In 1931, some low-grade silver -gold ore and tailings were shipped to the McGill smelter.
    The principal period of tungsten production was from 1940 through 1950, chiefly from the Ticup Mine. It is estimated that more than 30,000 short tons of tungsten were produced through 1958.
    The Egan (Gilligan) Mine was owned by Egan Leasing Co. in 1941. It was discovered about 1864 and had intermittent production through 1941 totalling about $3,000,000. From 1921-22 it produced 12 lots of smelting ore valued at $11,497; from 1935-36, it produced 7,779 tons of ore valued at $81,387; from 1939-40: 2,014 tons valed at $27,385; 1939-41: 9,018 tons of ore, and 949 tons of old tailings, producing 1,572 ounces of gold and 45,306 ounces of silver.

Comments on development

  • A company of volunteer soldiers discovered gold-bearing quartz veins near the Overland Stage route in Egan Canyon, possibly as early as 1861. Early records indicate that discoveries made before 1863. Egan Canyon came to be known as Gold Canyon, and the Gold Canyon Mining District was formed. The Gilligan and other mines, were developed in 1863 on the Gilligan Ledge in Gold (Egan) Canyon, the principal early producer in the district. The first mill built in eastern Nevada was constructed in 1874 to treat ore from the Gilligan. By 1866, both a 5-stamp mill and a 10-stamp mill were operating. A small amount of gold from the Gold Canyon Ledge, north of the mouth of the canyon, was milled in an arrastra in 1868. A 20-stamp mill was built in 1869, at the head of the canyon near the old Egan Canyon Pony Express station, to treat the silver ores. The first mine on Cherry Creek was the Ticup Mine, in 1872 which brought a rush of prospectors to the area. The Cherry Creek District was organized and in 1873, the town of Cherry Creek was platted at the mouth of the Canyon. It became the largest mining camp in the county with a post office, Wells Fargo agency, and several newspapers. The mines flourished but began to decline after 1877. More rich veins were located in the older workings in the spring of 1880 and another boom began. On July 24, 1884, the hoisting works at the district's biggest producer, the Star Mine, burned and the district declined until the 1900s when there was a revival of mining in the district.
    Scheelite was discovered at the Chance mine in 1918 and more than 100 short tons of tungsten ore were produced during World War I. A small to moderate production of either silver or tungsten ore was reported every year from 1902 through 1958. In 1931, some low-grade silver ore and tailings were shipped by small miners at irregular intervals to Kennecott Copper Company's McGill smelter for the recovery of gold and silver, but Kennecott did not charge for smelting these ores because the silica they contained was valuable as a flux.
    The principal period of tungsten production was from 1940 through 1950, chiefly from the Ticup Mine. This ore was concentrated in a 50-ton gravity-flotation plant a mile west of Egan, the Cherry Creek Tungsten Mill, commonly known as the Kleghorn-Boundy Mill. It is estimated that more than 30,000 short tons of tungsten were produced through 1958.
    Some recent development work has been done at the Exchequer Mine, northwest of the Star. A head frame was erected in 1982 and a decline was finished in 1990.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Holmes, George H. Jr., Feb, 1950, Investigation of Cherry Creek Tungsten District, White Pine Co., Nev., Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4631

  • Deposit

    Lemon, D.M., unpublished data

  • Deposit

    Lemon, D.M., and Tweto, O.L., 1962 Tungsten in the US USGS Map, MR-25.

  • Deposit

    Hill, James M., 1916 Notes on some Mining Districts in Eastern Nevada, USGS Bull. 648.

  • Deposit

    Hose, Blake, and Smith, 1976, Geology and Mineral Resources of White Pine County, Nevada; NBMG Bull 85.

  • Deposit

    Donna Frederick, 1997, Brief history of Cherry Creek Nevada, at http://whitepinecountygenhelp.accessgenealogy.com/Cherry_Creek.html

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The orebodies occur predominantly as veins and lenses of white quartz up to eight feet wide. Veins are locally speckled with minute particles of a soft black metallic-appearing material with silver and a little copper and sulfur. Ore occurs also as a fracture filling in a breccia zone. Copper and lead carbonates coated fractures in the richer ore.
Ore veins are vertical, some places dip steeply south, finger out in the shale.
Vein ranges from 2-8 feet thick. Hanging wall well defined. Cerargyrite was the most valuable mineral with galena most abundant now.
Gold- bearing quartz veins were characterized by small amounts of limonite after pyrite, galena, chalcopyrite and native gold, ranging from 2 inches to 2 feet wide

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-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.