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Wildcat Gold Project

Past Producer in Pershing 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 10310463
MRDS ID M060223
MAS/MILS ID 0320270803
Record type Site
Current site name Wildcat Gold Project
Alternate or previous names Wildcat Mine, Tag-Wildcat prospect, Hero/Tag orebody, Main orebody, Northeast orebody, Knob 32 orebody, Monarch Mines, Monarch Group, S. S. Claims, Warmoth, Big Hero claim, Little Hero claim, Wildcat claim, Jaybird claim
Related records 10042429, 10247664

Comments on the site identification

  • This deposit encompasses the area covered by MRDS record M060223 and includes all material from that record plus additional material on the more recent prospect.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.75599, 40.54239 (WGS84)
Elevation 1920
Relative position The mine area is located in the Seven Troughs Range about located about 35 miles northwest of Lovelock in 2 miles northwest of the historic Farrell site.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pershing(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Juniper Canyon(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Eugene Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Granite Springs Valley(hydrologic unit)

Truckee(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Lahontan(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 031N 029E 07 08 09 16 17 18 19 20 21 Nevada
Mount Diablo 028E Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • UTM is to one centrally located shaft amid the many workings scattered over a 500 m radius.
    Access is good by newly dozed road (1980s).
    The Wildcat property consists of 4 patented and 74 unpatented lode claims. The total acreage controlled by Vista is 1389.6 acres located in sections 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 in T31N, R28E

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: native gold, electrum, silver sulfides
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, iron oxides

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Electrum Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Alteration of host rocks consists of silicification, bleaching, and kaolinization.

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 > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier tuff
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock type qualifier rhyolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granodiorite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt
    Rock type qualifier dikes
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.75599, 40.54239
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description N30W 75NE shear zone and a N55E, 80NW shear zone .

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore deposition is controlled by a shear zone trending N55E, dipping 80NW.

Comments on the geologic information

  • The Seven Troughs Range is underlain by Triassic and Jurassic sedimentary rocks and has been intruded by Cretaceous granodiorite. Volcanic domes and plugs of rhyolite, quartz latite, trachyte, and andesite have been emplaced by Tertiary volcanism. Tertiary flows of pyroclastic debris, and vitrophyres of rhyolite, quartz latite, trachyte, and andesite composition blanket much of the area.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1992
Discoverer Lac Minerals
Year of first production 1907

Mining district

District name Farrell District (1907)
District name Stonehouse District (1863)
District name part of Seven Troughs District

Land status

Ownership category Private
Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name WInnnemucca BLM District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Vista Gold Corp.
    Year 2004

Comments on the workings information

  • Several shafts, adits, cuts, mill foundations, and prospects are scattered over a few square miles north of the confluence of Wildcat and Stonehouse Canyons.

Comments on other economic factors

  • In 2003, indicated resources were 38,108,300 short tons grading 0.018 ounces of gold per ton, for a total contained 679,800 ounces of gold. In addition, there is an inferred resource of 28,354,600 short tons grading 0.015 ounces of gold per ton, for a total contained 435,600 ounces of gold. Total endowment is 1,115,400 contained ounces of gold.

Comments on development

  • Gold was discovered in Stonehouse Canyon in 1863 near the small town of Farrell, although there was no development until 1905. Some of the mines in the district were very rich, with the Wihuja Mine reportedly averaging $100,000/ton. The district was active between 1907 and 1962, with the years 1908-1916 having the most production. In the 1980's, several companies explored the deposit, completing about 16,000 ft of drilling. Homestake Mining Company staked claims in the area in 1982. In September 1984 Homestake and Touchstone Resources of Salt Lake City were conducting an extensive drilling program with new roads and drill pads all the way to the top of the mountain. Homestake Mining Company held the ground but was leasing it to Touchstone at the time. Lac Minerals acquired the Wildcat Project in 1992 and conducted a significant amount of exploration mapping, sampling, geophysics and the majority of the drilling on the property, and identified a large low-grade gold deposit on the property. Sagebrush Exploration worked on the project in the period of 1996-1998 completing additional drilling.
    Vista Gold Corp. completed the purchase of a 100% interest in the Wildcat property from three property owners in October, 2003. Resource studies were performed for Vista by Mine Development Associates of Reno, Nevada, an independent consulting firm, in October 2003 using industry-standard block modeling software on data from 1 underground channel sample, 245 reverse circulation drill holes and 11 diamond drill holes totaling 95,466 feet. Based on the studies, gold resources above a 0.010 opt gold cut-off grade for the Wildcat property are:
    Indicated resources of 38,108,300 short tons grading 0.018 ounces of gold per ton, for a total contained 679,800 ounces of gold. In addition, there is an inferred resource of 28,354,600 short tons grading 0.015 ounces of gold per ton, for a total contained 435,600 ounces of gold. Total endowment is 1,115,400 contained ounces of gold.
    The resources for the Wildcat deposit were first`calculated by Mine Development Associates (MDA) in 1994 and updated during 1998. No drilling on`the property has occurred since the 1998 resource estimate. Vista Gold says that numerous drill holes contain assay intervals up to 1.6 opt gold, indicating possible high-grade mineralization that needs to be drilled out, especially to the northwest and at depth from known mineralization.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

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

  • Deposit

    Vanderburg, 1936, Reconnaissance of Mining Districts in Pershing County, Nevada; USBM IC 6902, p. 13-14

  • Deposit

    Mineral Resources of the United States 1921, Part 1 Metals; USBM, p. 394-5

  • Deposit

    Tingley, J. V., 6 Jun 84, NBMG Field Examination and Sample Analyses

  • Deposit

    Quade, Jack, 4 Sep 84, NBMG Field Examination and Sample Analyses.

  • Deposit

    http://www.vistagold.com/wildcat.php

  • Deposit

    Mine Development Associates, 2003, Technical Report, Wildcat Project, Pershing County, Nevada USA, prepared for Vista Gold Corp.

  • Deposit

    NBMG MI-89 through MI-02

  • Deposit

    Amer. Mines (1990), 1990

  • Deposit

    Amer. Mines (1998), 1997

  • Deposit

    Northern Miner, 6/2/97

  • Deposit

    Eugene Mtns. Land Status, 1975; MASMILS 0320270803, 0320270842V

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Wildcat property contains a structurally controlled epithermal gold deposit. Gold and silver mineralization has been identified in four areas: Hero/Tag, Main, Northeast, and Knob 32. Gold mineralization occurs with low-temperature silica, chalcedony, and pyrite. The Main, Northeast, and Knob 32 appear to be part of the Hero/Tag deposit, though structurally displaced. The four deposits have generally similar geology and mineralization. Mineralization is spatially associated with the contact between the granodiorite and the overlying tuff. The principal low-grade zone that essentially encompassed all the mineralization is tabular and dips gently to the southeast. There appear to be two main styles of mineralization based on mapping, sampling, and statistics. There is a broad, low-grade zone surrounding higher-grade material. The principal host is the tuff in which the low-grade is represented by pervasive and intense silicification. The underlying granodiorite also contains a low-grade disseminated style of mineralization with highergrade silicified breccias occurring generally as stockwork within it. The granodiorite generally has higher grade and generally is not silicified. Any silicification is restricted to adjacent veins and veinlets, occasionally being discrete veins as were exploited historically but also producing a large-tonnage stockwork. All of the tuff is altered by the epithermal solutions, however, much of granodiorite is unaltered and fresh. Workings at the upper Wildcat shaft expose a N55E, 80NW shear zone which cuts highly kaolinized rhyolite. Rhyolitic breccias outcrop to east of mine area. Breccias exposed on peaks and ridges to the east resemble flow breccias rather than intrusive or hydrothermal breccias; all are, however, silicified. In outcrop the breccias form elongate ridges parallel to silicified shear zones. Pods of white chalcedonic quartz are seen in some breccias. Vein material at the Wildcat dump contains dark bands of fine-grained sulfides and some free gold, the vein being composed of brecciated chalcedonic quartz cemented by silica. SE of the Wildcat Shaft, old workings expose a N30W 75NE shear zone in altered granodiorite wallrock laced with randomly oriented iron-oxide stained fractures; rock is kaolinized. Flow rock seen at upper Wildcat Shaft overlies the granodiorite; the rhyolite may be plugs cutting granodiorite. One adit and dump are in the upper rhyolite breccia, and other adits are collared in granodiorite, near the contact with the overlying rhyolite. Some hornfelsed contact material has wispy lenses of free gold in a matrix of silver sulfides.
Ore deposits occur in a network of veins and veinlets paralleling dikes and fissures in rhyolite. They have a general N-S trend but the vein system is crossed by faults and cross stringers. Veins consist of soft crushed material in brecciated zones filled with quartz.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-2004 La Pointe, 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

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