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Wonder Gold Property

Past Producer in Churchill county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Barium-Barite
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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 10310506
MRDS ID W700384
Record type Site
Current site name Wonder Gold Property
Alternate or previous names Nevada Wonder Mine
Related records 10084958

Comments on the site identification

  • The present gold property includes the old Nevada Wonder or Wonder Mine, (MRDS record #W700384) and surrounding area in the heart of the Wonder District.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.06763, 39.44991 (WGS84)
Elevation 1800
Relative position The deposit is located about 55 miles east of Fallon and a half mile north of Wonder.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Churchill(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Wonder Mountain(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 018N 035E 04 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • UTM is to the location of the old Nevada Wonder Mine, which lies on the current gold property.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary
Lead Secondary
Copper Secondary
Iron Tertiary
Manganese Critical Tertiary
Barium-Barite Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: argentite, free gold, halogen salts, cerargyrite, stephanite, wulfenite
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, adularia, fluorite, limonite, manganese oxides, barite, calcite, pyrite

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Argentite Ore
Gold Ore
Cerargyrite Ore
Stephanite Ore
Wulfenite Ore
Quartz Gangue
Adularia Gangue
Fluorite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Barite Gangue
Calcite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Three main types of hydrothermal alteration affect the rocks in the mine area: propylitic, argillic and/or sericitic (bleaching), and silicification, which is particularly prevalent along high-angle fault zones

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
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock unit name Tuff of Elevenmile Canyon
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Dacite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.06763, 39.44991
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description high-angle fault zones
Type of structure Regional
Structure description The mine lies within the eastern part of the Elevenmile Canyon Caldera

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Silicification along high-angle fault zones forms most of the veins.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1906
Year of first production 1907
Year of last production 1980
Production years 1907-1942; 1980s

Mining district

District name Wonder District

Land status

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

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner F. W. Lewis Co.
    Year 2004
  • Type Operator
    Owner Arizuma Resources
    Year 1998
  • Type Operator
    Owner Grand Central Silver Mines Inc.
    Year 1998

Comments on the workings information

  • The historic mine was developed by old underground workings which have since been encompassed by more recent open pit workings.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Between 1907 and 1942, the mine produced 413,059 short tons of ore grading 0.173 opt gold and 16.28 opt silver, totaling 71,597.39 oz gold and 6,726,946 oz silver. The reserves as reported in 1981 were 731,780 short tons of ore grading 0.019 opt gold and 2.42 opt Ag. An Arizuma property and grade-thickness map for Wonder (post-1997) outlines a geologic resource of 1.9 million tons of material grading 2.73 ounces of silver perton and 0.016 ounces of gold per ton centeed ijn the area of the old underground workings.
    In 2000 there was a reported preliminary oxide resource of 4.1 million tons of material 2.83 equivalent opt Ag (11.5 million tons of material equivalent oz Ag); 2000: Probable resource: 1.9 Mt, 2.73 opt Ag, 0.016 opt Au.

Comments on development

  • The rich silver-gold-bearing quartz veins of the Wonder district were discovered in 1906, givig rise to one of the last bonanza-type gold rushes in Nevada and formation of the Wonder camp. Most of the district production was from the Nevada Wonder mine between 1911 and 1919. Sporadic mining continued in the district until World War II, and the district was re-examined for bulk-mineable potential in the early 1980s. The Nevada Wonder waste dumps were reprocessed in the mid-1980s. In 1987 the property consisted of a single bench open pit and a small heap leach operation. In 1998, Grand Central Silver Mines Inc. signed and option to joint venture with Arizuma Resources on Arizuma's holdings in the Wonder district. The joint venture will explore for and develop ore below open pit mineable depths (500 feet). The joint venture will control approximately 2,200 acres in the heart of the district, including the Wonder property. Surface exploration was to be followed by drilling commencing in May, 1998. The drill program will test both strike potential and depth potential of the Wonder vein system.
    An Arizuma Res. property and grade-thickness map for Wonder (post-1997) outlines a geologic resource of 1.9 million tons of material grading 2.73 ounces of silver per ton and 0.016 ounces of gold per ton centeed in the area of the old underground workings.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

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

  • Deposit

    Pay Dirt, Feb, 1989

  • Deposit

    NBMG Map 91

  • Deposit

    NBMG OFR 90-2, 3

  • Deposit

    The Mining Record. 4/29/98

  • Deposit

    Economic Geology. Pages 589-593. 1917

  • Deposit

    Engineering and Mining Journal, pages 289-292,1909

  • Deposit

    Engineering and Mining Journal, pages 763-765. 1907

  • Deposit

    Economic Geology, pages 546-549. 1918.

  • Deposit

    Economic Geology, pages 224-225, 1918

  • Deposit

    Economic Geology and the Bulletin of the Society of Economic Geologists, 14; 5, pages 427-430, 1919

  • Deposit

    Isochron/West, 8, pages 31-35, 1973

  • Deposit

    NBMG Map 109, 1997

  • Deposit

    John, D.A., Geology of the Wonder Mountain Quadrangle, Churchill County, NV, NBMG Map 109, Text and References, 16p.

  • 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

    Arizuma Co. unpublished geologic map and section of the central Wonder District mine area (post-1997).

  • Deposit

    Poloni, 1981, NBMG Mining District File 21, item #I25

  • Deposit

    Lewis,1967, NBMG Mining District File 21, item #I4

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The deposit includes the Nevada Wonder vein system, which follows in part the contact between rhyolite and intrusive dacite, and lies partly within the rhyolite. The veins consist of quartz crudely banded with feldspar and are limonite-stained. Veins are 2- to 15-meter-thick zones of silicified breccia and quartz replacing wallrock along high-angle fault zones. The main veins crop out irregularly forming craggy, resistant ledges 1-15 meters wide, and up to 5 kilometers long. The silver- gold ore minerals consist of argentite, free gold, halogen salts, cerargyrite, stephanite, and wulfenite occuring in a quartz-adularia gangue with fluorite, and limonite. Some veins consist of milky quartz +/- adularia, with Fe-Mn oxides, and local fluorite, calcite, and barite. Quartz and adularia are partly pseudomorphous after calcite and are commonly banded, sheared, brecciated or crushed. The fault gouge is strongly mineralized. The deposit is oxidized to the 1300-ft level with boxwork zones locally present. The main veins follow the contact which both trend about N30W.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUN-2003 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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