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Plum Mine

Producer in Storey county in Nevada, United States with commodities Silver, Iron, Manganese
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  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 10310466
MRDS ID RE00291
Record type Site
Current site name Plum Mine
Alternate or previous names Billy the Kid Pit, Billie the Kid Mine, BTK pit, BTK deposit, Lucerne pits, Lucerne Dump Project, Lucerne Deposit, part of South Comstock Gold Project, part of Oliver Hills (Haywood-Santiago), Silver City Lode Deposit, part of South Comstock Joint Venture
Related records 10055217, 10085011

Comments on the site identification

  • This record includes material from MRDS records RE00291 for the historic Billy the Kid Mine workings and W700442 for the historic Lucerne pit workings, as well as additional material for the more recent operations. Goldspring, Inc. currently owns and operates the Plum Mine at these old properties, which are less than 500 meters apart.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -119.651, 39.26657 (WGS84)
Elevation 1620
Relative position The mine is located approximately 30 miles southeast of Reno, or 3 miles south of Gold Hill just west of Nevada State Highway 342.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Storey(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Virginia City(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Carson City(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Reno(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle Carson(hydrologic unit)

Carson(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 Storey
United States Nevada Lyon

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 016N 021E 08 NW 1/4 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The mine is located in the American Ravine; Hartford Hill separates the Billie the Kid pit from the Lucerne pit which is in Gold Canyon adjacent to Nevada State Highway 342.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Iron Tertiary
Manganese Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: free gold, native silver, electrum, pyrite, argentite
  • Gangue Materials: calcite, ankerite, manganese oxides, quartz

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Silver Ore
Electrum Ore
Pyrite Ore
Argentite Ore
Ankerite Ore
Quartz Ore
Calcite Gangue

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) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock unit name Alta Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Miocene
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Middle Miocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock
    Rock type qualifier metasedimentary rocks
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesozoic

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description block faulting; Silver City Fault

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Silver City Fault zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • Gold mineralization is contained within breccias, as is typical of Silver City lode deposits. The hanging wall and mineralized rock are younger, Tertiary volcanics, while footwall is composed of Mesozoic units. Locally, Tertiary-aged rocks are also found in the footwall.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1870
Year of first production 1871
Year of last production 2004
Production years 1871-2004, intermittently

Mining district

District name Comstock District
District name Silver City subdistrict

Land status

Ownership category Private
Area name Carson City BLM Administrative District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner GoldSpring, Inc.
    Year 2004

Comments on the workings information

  • Early underground workings have been largely obliterated by subsequent open pits. The Billie the Kid pit was designed for removal of 607,000 tons of ore. The Lucerne Starter pit was designed for removal of 392,000 tons of ore. The Lucerne Main pit was designed for removal of 2,291,000 tons of ore containing 0.050 ounces of gold per ton. Trucks transported ore to heap leach pads.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Between 1871 and 1940, the Silver City lode vein system produced about 6 tonnes of gold and 236 tonnes of silver from 611,000 metric tonnes of ore.
    Production from 1993-94 was 6,936 ounces of gold and 72,139 ounces of silver from 124,000 tons of ore.
    Reserves for Billie the Kid were reported in 1993 as 607 kilotonns of ore grading 0.047 ounces of gold per ton and in 1997, proven and probable 84,701 ounces of gold equivalent
    Reserves for Lucerne North Starter Zone in 1993 were reported as 182 kilotonnes of ore grading 0.061 ounces of gold per ton and 11,102 contained ounces of silver.
    Reserves for Lucerne South Starter Zone in 1993 were reported as 210 kilotonnes of ore grading 0.065 ounces of gold per ton and 13,650 ounces of silver.
    Reserves for Lucerne deposit in 1999 reported by the South Comstock Joint Venture were 400 kilotonnes of ore grading 0.07 ounces of gold per ton and 0.26 ounces of silver per ton.
    The Oliver Hills South Comstock Joint Venture project produced 573 ounces of gold and 6,947 ounces of silver in 1991.
    In 1990, it reportedly contained reserves of 3.37 million tons of ore grading 0.054 ounces of gold per ton and 1.2 ounces of silver per ton.
    In 1993 it reportedly contained reserves of 4 million tons of ore grading 0.05 ounces of gold per ton and 0.5 ounces of silver per ton, and a
    geologic resource of 225,000 ounces of gold and 2.25 million ounces of silver.

Comments on development

  • The Silver City branch of the Comstock Lode south of Virginia City has seen many generations of mining and exploration activity for precious metals over the years. It was estimated that between 1871 and 1940, the Silver City lode vein system produced about 6 tonnes of gold and 236 tonnes of silver from 611,000 metric tonnes of ore. The area continued to attract precious metals exploration activity in the 1960s, and in the 1970s-1980s, Houston Oil and Minerals Corporation operated a gold-silver mine on part of the current Goldspring property. Houston closed down operations in the 1980s but the Lucerne Pit area has continued to be worked intermittently since first discovered. Rea Gold did exploratory drilling in the early 1990s and planned to mine the smaller, higher grade Lucerne Starter pit followed by mining of the larger Lucerne Main pit. The operations were called the South Comstock Joint Venture (listed in Lyon County, but workings extend just over the county line to the north in Storey County) and produced 6,936 ounces of gold and 72,139 ounces of silver from 124,000 tons of ore in 1993-1994. Plum Mining Company was active in the district from the mid-1990s to 2004, and GoldSpring, Inc. was also active in the area, with a dump reworking project on the Comstock lode dumps to the north and placer claim operations three miles to the south. BMR also operated the South Comstock Joint Venture in the late 1990s, with property extending across the county line to the south into Lyon County. In 2004, GoldSpring, Inc. purchased Plum Mining Company, LLC, owner of the Billie the Kid open-pit mine, which was reported to contain substantial drill-proven reserves. The pit was on patented land and fully permitted for operation. The average drill proven grade was 0.074 opt Au and 0.32 opt Ag. Goldspring began operating the Billie the Kid (Plum) Mine in 2004. It is just 500 meters south west of the Lucerne open pit, where additional reserves remain.
    GoldSpring, Inc. set up a Direct Electrowinning (EMEW) gold and silver metals recovery plant at the Plum Mining Cyanide heap leach facility to enable recovery capacity to exceed 100 oz gold and 200 oz silver per day.
    As of end of 2004, 100,000 tons of ore from Billie the Kid open pit have been mined and loaded on the heap leach pad since January 2004 and regular shipments of gold-silver dore have been made to Johnson Matthey Refinery in Salt Lake City since June 2004.
    Approximate production as of September 20, 2004 was 1,500 ounces of gold and 6,500 ounces of silver. Annual production estimates were projected to be 25,000 ounces of gold and 125,000 ounces of silver, at a projected cash cost per ounce of gold production of $190. The project life estimate is 5 to 7 years.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Becker, G.F., 1882, Geology of the Comstock Lode and the Washoe District: USGS Monograph 3.

  • Deposit

    USGS Staff, 1888, Map of the Washoe District (showing mining claims): Plate III.

  • Deposit

    Gianella, V.P., 1936, Geology of the Silver City District and the southern portion of the Comstock Lode, Nevada: NBMG Bull. 29, Vol. 30, No. 9.

  • Deposit

    Burgoyne, A.A., 1993, Rea Gold Corp. Operating Plan Summary for South Comstock Joint Venture: Unpublished Letter.

  • Deposit

    "Comstock Drilling Extends Lucerne," The Northern Miner, May 24, 1993, p. 10.

  • Deposit

    Goldspring, Inc. news release, 9/24/2003.

  • Deposit

    State Writer's Project, 1940-41, Individual Histories of the mines of the Comstock; Unpublished Open-File Report, Nev. Bur. Mines & Geol.

  • Deposit

    Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., And Ludington, S.D., 1998, Significant Deposits of Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, and Zinc in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 90-206a, 33 p.; 98-206b, one 3.5 inch diskette.

  • Deposit

    NDOM Staff, 1988, Directory of Nevada Mine Operations Active During Calendar Year 1987: Nevada Division Of Mine Inspection, 84 p.

  • Deposit

    Stoddard, C., and Carpenter, J.A., 1950, Mineral Resources of Storey and Lyon Counties, Nevada: NBMG Bull. 49.

  • Deposit

    website: http://goldspring.us/p-billie.htm

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Goldsprings' current mining operations are located on the historic Silver City lode vein deposits. Concentrated gold and silver are contained within a three-dimensional interlocking quartz stockwork and in manganiferous-quartz-calcite veins. Outside of the manganiferous zone, significant gold and/or silver values generally conform to the geometry of the Silver City lode. Gold mineralization is contained within breccias, as is typical of Silver City lode deposits. The hanging wall and mineralized rock are younger, Tertiary volcanics, while footwall is composed of Mesozoic units. Late pyrite (post-mineral) occurs abundantly in gouge and wallrocks. Locally, Tertiary-aged rocks are also found in the footwall. Ore production was confined to shallow depths, (less than 300 ft).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-2005 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

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