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Olinghouse Placers

Past Producer in Washoe 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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Ownership information
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310485
MRDS ID M231130
Record type Site
Current site name Olinghouse Placers
Alternate or previous names Olinghouse-Frank Free-Tiger Canyons, Green Hill Mining Venture, New Gold Inc. Mine

Comments on the site identification

  • This record is an updated version of MRDS record # M231130 including all information from it plus additional information.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -119.388, 39.656 (WGS84)
Elevation 1500
Relative position The Olinghouse placer deposits are located about 25 miles east-northeast of Reno, Nevada a few miles north of Interstate 80, at the mouths of the Frank Free and Olinghouse canyons.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Washoe(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Olinghouse(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Reno(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Reno(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Pyramid-Winnemucca Lakes(hydrologic unit)

Truckee(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Lahontan(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Washoe

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 021N 023E 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Upper Olinghouse placer deposits formed along the channels of Tiger, Frank Free, and Olinghouse Canyons below the Olinghouse vein deposits, and the Lower Olinghouse placers are in the alluvial fan formed from the coalescing of the alluvial fans from the three canyons. The Olinghouse placer deposits are located on the southeast flank of the Pah Rah Range.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: free gold, electrum
  • Gangue Materials: gravel

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Electrum Ore
Gravel Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel
    Rock type qualifier alluvial fan
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Quaternary
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Conglomerate
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Quaternary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -119.388, 39.656
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form Channels, blanket

Controls for ore emplacement

  • The deposit is stratigraphically controlled by the location of channel stream gravels and beds, and in some cases by recent faulting.

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 1860
Year of last production 1993
Production years 1864-1990s

Mining district

District name Olinghouse (White Horse) District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Carson City BLM Administrative District
Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Cliff Resources Inc. (upper Olinghouse placers)
    Year 1988
  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Canaustra Resources, Inc. (upper Olinghouse placers)
    Year 1988
  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner New Gold Inc. (1994) (Lower Olinghouse placers)
    Year 1994

Comments on the workings information

  • Most of production has come from small, shallow placer shafts and pits as well as larger dredged areas located in Olinghouse Canyon and its smaller tributary canyons.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Johnson suggests that $218,000 to $500,00 worth of placer gold was produced from the Olinghouse placers before 1900, which would probably represent 10,000 to 20,000 ounces of gold, and an additional 10,000 to 20,000 ounces have probably been produced in recent history for an estimated total placer production of at least 20,000 to 40,000 ounces of gold, which is probably a low estimate.

Comments on development

  • Placer mining of the gravels below the Olinghouse vein deposits probably began about the same time as the hard-rock mining in the late 1860s and continues in to the present time. From 1897 to about 1907, miners worked placers from surface deposits and shallow diggings on the flanks of Green Hill. Mining peaked in 1907 and declined thereafter with a few exploratory ventures. There was some minor placer mining of the eluvial placer deposit south of Green Hill and in the alluvial gravels east of the mouth of Olinghouse Canyon. Most of production came from small, shallow placers located in Olinghouse Canyon and its smaller tributary canyons. A larger inferred reserve was located at the mouth of Olinghouse and Frank Free Canyon. This area was prospected by Gold Hill Dredging Co. in 1947 and by Natomas Co (1939-54), who conducted a churn drilling program that outlined 10,391,000 cubic ards of placer material to a 75 foot depth, averaging 24 cents per cubic yard ( at $35 an ounce gold prices). Another operator in 1963-1964 transported the placer gravels from Green Hill to a washing plant in Olinghouse Canyon, and in 1965, a small floating dredge was installed at the Green Hill placer, but all operations failed after a short time. The limits of the deposit were not tested until interest in the area was renewed in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1983, Nevada Pacific Mining Company ran two drillijng programs to define the extent and grade of the Green Hill Mining Venture reserves. More than 7 million tons of eluvial placer material were identified, constituting the later Green Hill Mine open pit area. Olinghouse Mining Company was the first to expoit this low-grade placer reserve in 1985, but operations were discontinued in 1987 due to depressed gold prices and high mining costs. The property was then taken over by Cliff Resources Inc., and Canaustra Resources, Inc. as the Green Hill Mining Venture. Their plan was to install a processing plant and mine 20,000 ounces of gold per year for a mine life of three years, with an additional probable and indicated reserves in the pit area and adjacent mine area that were expected to extend the mine life to ten years. A drilling program was planned for 1988 to evaluate these potential reserves. A ten cubic yard Bucyrus dragline was installed to mine the open pit area and feed the washing and classifying plant. The amount of gold produce by this short-lived operation is unknown. More small-scale placering was done in 1990-1991. The deposit was still being evaluated in the mid- to late 1990s.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Upper Olinghouse placer deposits deposits formed along the channels of Tiger, Frank Free, and Olinghouse Canyons below the Olinghouse vein deposits, and the Lower Olinghouse placers are in the alluvial fan formed from the coalescing of the alluvial fans from the three canyons. Gold is concentrated in a lower conglomeratic-gravel unit with a reddish clay matrix, which distinguishes ithe economic unit from non-productive greenish-gray gravels of the overburden. The most productive horizon occurs just above underlying bedrock and has not yet been fully developed. Recent fault movement and tilting of fault blocks back toward the west along strands of the Olinghouse Fault Zone appears to have contributed to some placer concentrations. Three faults, the ?Pit Fault?, ?Road Fault? and ?Line Fault? of Robyn cut the gold-bearing gravels on the alluvial fan below Frank Free Canyon and have had mostly dip slip down to the east as well as a left-lateral strike-slip component. East of these faults, the ?Butte fault? has down-to-the west movement, forming a graben which acted as a trap for gold-bearing alluvium. The economic unit is 15 to 70 feet thick. The gold occurs as two types: one showing much flattening and rounding evidence of substantial transportation and one type exhibiting delicate wire-like structures typical of little transport indicating a possible second source of lode mineralizationj inj one of the faults crossed by the stream channels.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-1978 Tingley, J.V. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Reporter 01-FEB-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.

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Authoritative Nevada resources

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