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Bell Mountain Mine

Past Producer in Churchill county in Nevada, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, 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. 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 10310500
MRDS ID M231017
Record type Site
Current site name Bell Mountain Mine
Alternate or previous names Bell Mountain Homestake, Stockton Mine
Related records 10043743

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.13178, 39.18019 (WGS84)
Elevation 1890
Relative position The mine is about 3 miles SSE from Fairview Peak

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Churchill(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bell Canyon(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Fallon(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Reno(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Dixie Valley(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 Churchill

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 015N 034E 10 12 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The mine is situated at the north end of Bell Flat, on the far western flank of Bell Mountain, about 2.5 miles WNW from the top of Bell Mountain.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary
Lead Secondary
Manganese Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: electrum, ARGENTITE, native silver, cerargyrite, acanthite, copper sulfides, lead sulfides
  • Gangue Materials: MANGANESE oxides, adularia, barite, fluorite,rhodochrosite, montmorillonite

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Electrum Ore
Argentite Ore
Silver Ore
Cerargyrite Ore
Acanthite Ore
Barite Ore
Fluorite Ore
Rhodochrosite Ore
Montmorillonite Ore
Adularia Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Wallrock alteration consists of silicification, chloritization, and sericitization adjacent to veins.

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) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock type qualifier lithic-rich rhyolitic ignimbrite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier lithic-rich ignimbrite tuff
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock type qualifier dike
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.13178, 39.18019
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Ne-striking faults, dipping south.

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore formation was controlled by a fault that strikes N70E, dipping 50S.

Comments on the geologic information

  • Wallrock is a Tertiary lithic-rich rhyolitic ignimbrite commonly exposed in 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 1905

Mining district

District name FAIRVIEW DISTRICT

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Carson City BLM District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Ecu Gold Mining Company Inc.
    Year 1998

Comments on the workings information

  • Numerous old underground workings as well as prospect pits. More recent drill roads

Comments on other economic factors

  • Between 1906 and 1965, the Bell Mountain mine produced 304,477 short tons of ore yielding 52,799 ounces of gold and 5,124,369 ounces of silver as well as 28,353 pounds of copper and 2,683,233 pounds of lead (this includes some production from the Chalk Hills District). In 1982, the mine was estimated to have remaining resources of 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 short tons of ore grading 0.014 opt gold and 3.3 opt silver. In 1997 Ecu Gold Mining reported known reserves of 2.3 million tons grading 0.054 oz/t equivalent gold for a total of 110,000 ounces of equivalent gold that can be recovered using open-pit mining and processed by heap leaching.(MI-1989 -proven reserves of 30,000 ounces recoverable gold, 125,000 ounces recoverable silver). More than 500,000 tons of ore grading 2 opt silver and 0.06 opt gold have been blocked out and another 500,000 tons of ore containing 1 opt silver and 0.03 opt gold are considered proven.

Comments on development

  • Mineralization was first noted about 1905. Claims were located on the calcite-quartz vein at the Bell Mountain Mine in 1914, followed by a decade of underground development of the vein. The mine produced in the 1920s. Renewed exploration in the 1970s resulted in the discovery of a bulk-mineable deposit about 1980. The Bell Mountain mine was scheduled to go into production in the fall of 1981, but low silver prices placed the project on the inactive list. In 1985, Alhambra mines was developing the property jointly with Nevada Silver, Inc. and planned to install a heap leach operation. In 1989 Inland Gold and Silver Corp. announced a 50-50 agreement with N.A. Degerstrom to develop and mine the property as an open pit, heap leach operation scheduled to begin production in 1990. The property has continued to receive exploration attention since that time. In 1994, Globex Mining optioned the property and planned additional drilling. During the autumn of 1997, Ecu Gold Mining Company Inc. announced plans to continue to drill-test the eastern extension of the Varga Zone of the Bell Mountain Project, the most recent drill hole having yielded 0.025 opt Au and 0.409 opt Ag over 175 feet. The goal is to define resources greater than 10 million tons of ore grading more than 0.044 opt equivalent gold for open pit mining and to carry out a feasibility study for a mine producing 30,000 ounces per year.

    (following from Globex web site 6/2002)
    The property was originally staked in 1914. In 1918, Tonopah Mining Co. conducted underground development and sampling with some additional sampling conducted in 1948. A 270-metre long adit was driven in the 1970's.
    In 1978, Bell Mountain Mining Co., a subsidiary of American Pyramid Resources Inc., did a substantial underground sampling program including driving the 180-metre Varga adit along the Stockton Vein (Spurr). A comprehensive feasibility study was completed in 1981, which returned positive metallurgical test results. In 1984, Santa Fe Mining Co. drilled 51 reverse circulation holes principally in the Varga area and ten holes in the Sphinx area. Between 1988 and 1993, N.A. Degerstrom drilled 104 holes, completed a technical feasibility study and permitted the property for open-pit mining and heap leaching.
    In 1996, ECU Inc. completed a first phase drill program on the Bell Mountain property. ECU drilled five holes in three zones for 2,388 feet. Best results were returned by hole 96-5 which hit a 189 foot-long mineralized interval of 0.03 oz/T gold equivalent (Au+Ag), which included a section grading 0.058 oz/T gold equivalent over a length of 82 feet. Additional drilling was planned to follow-up these results, but, never completed

    Bell Mountain Gold Deposit, Churchill County, Nevada
    Globex owns 100% interest in a gold bearing epithermal quartz-adularia vein system situated 39 miles southeast of Fallon. Extensive reverse circulation and diamond drilling has outlined an oxidized, open pittable, resource of 2,100,000 tons grading 0.04 oz/ton gold and 1.20 oz/silver. Drilling in 1996 intersected up to 189 feet grading 0.025 oz/ton gold and 0.41 oz/ton Ag including 82 feet of 0.051 oz/ton Au and 0.60 oz/ton Ag (ECU Gold Mining Inc., 1997). Previous work has included extensive metallurgical and environmental studies, diamond drilling, drifting and underground sampling and a pre-feasibility study. The deposit is amenable to processing by inexpensive heap leach methods.

    Bell Mountain Property.
    In 2004, Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. optioned its Bell Mountain gold property to Platte River Gold (U.S.) Inc., and Platte River Gold has started surface and underground mapping and sampling in the area of the known low grade gold and silver resource.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Willden, Ronald, and Speed, R.C., 1977, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Churchill County: NBMG Bull 83

  • Deposit

    State Inspector of Mines, 1981, Directory of Nevada mining operations active during calendar year 1980

  • Deposit

    Shamberger, H.A., 1973, The Story of Fairview; Historic Mining Camps of Nevada

  • Deposit

    The Northern Miner 4/30/81, 8/27/81, 5/6/82, 7/29/82, 11/4/82, 4/16/81, 2/18/82

  • Deposit

    Nev. Min. Assn. Bull., Jul. 1981

  • Deposit

    The Mining Record, 6/30/82

  • Deposit

    Namer Gold Min. Ind. News, 6/22/84

  • Deposit

    The Mining Record, 5/1/85

  • Deposit

    Bonham, H.F., 1986, NBMG Map 91

  • Deposit

    Bonham, H.F., 1988, in NBMG MI-1987

  • Deposit

    NBMG, 1994, MI-1993

  • Deposit

    NBMG, 1995, MI-1994

  • Deposit

    Minng Engineering, 9/82,p.1316

  • Deposit

    ECU Gold Mining Company Inc. press release, 1/10/97

  • Deposit

    NBMG Map 91,

  • Deposit

    NBMG, 1998, MI-1997

  • Deposit

    NBMG OFR 90-2, 3

  • Deposit

    Amer. Mines (1998), 1997.

  • Deposit

    Johnson, Joseph L., (editor), 1984, Precious metal districts in west-central Nevada; road log/field trip guidebook: Field trip 4; Candelaria Mine, Goldfield District, Tonopah District, and Bell Mountain Mine in Exploration for ore deposits of the North American Cordillera, Assoc. Explor. Geochemists, FT4, p.11.

  • 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

    Schrader, F.C., Unpublished report on the Carson Sink area, Nevada, 1947, NBMG Files

  • Deposit

    Carpenter, E.E., 1916, Unpublished report and correspondence, File 7, Items 14,15.

  • Deposit

    Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. press releases, 6/28/2004, 9/22/2004.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Silver and gold mineralization occur within a massive east-trending manganiferous calcite vein (the Stockton vein) which cuts Tertiary rhyolitic tuffs and is associated with a fault with orientation N70E, 50S. Much of the calcite in the vein has been replaced by quartz. The ore is irregularly distributed but tends to occur in narrow streaks or bands. The vein averages more than 30 feet in width and crops out intermittently on the surface for nearly a mile. It is a compound structure with a calcite-cemented breccia of volcanic rocks near the footwall and banded, somewhat brecciated calcite in the central part. Ore grade mineralization is associated with manganese oxide staining. Drilling by previous operators identified gold-silver mineralization in a stockwork of quartz-calcite veins along sections of the mile-long Stockton vein. The ore is postulated to be hypogene in origin, deposited by magmatic fluids. Reserves reported in 1982 occurred along a 1000-ft segment of the vein and along a cross-structure, the Sphinx Zone. The vein is thoroughly crushed and oxidized to the depths that it has been explored. Main hypogene ore minerals are electrum and argentite with supergene native silver, cerargyrite, and acanthite. Sulfides and sulfosalts have been completely leached from the vein leaving ocherous limonite. Brecciation has destroyed much of the original vein structure, but some comb and cockade structure, banding and crustification remain.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1980 Flynn, Patricia Dodd Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-NOV-1988 LaPointe, D.D. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-SEP-1994 Li, Zhiping (Peters, S.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-JUN-1998 LaPointe, D.D. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-JAN-1999 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.

External references

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.