Red Ore #1 Mine

Past Producer in Humboldt county in Nevada, United States with commodities Mercury, Gold
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. Production statistics
  20. Links to other databases
  21. Bibliographic references
  22. General comments
  23. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10040316
MRDS ID M055031
Record type Site
Current site name Red Ore #1 Mine
Alternate or previous names Scossa Mine, NBMG Sample Site 2437
Related records 10197849

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.3296, 41.35099 (WGS84)
Elevation 1603
Relative position 55 MILES NW OF WINNEMUCCA

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Humboldt(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bottle Creek Ranch(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Jackson Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Vya(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Quinn(hydrologic unit)

Black Rock Desert(hydrologic accounting unit)

Black Rock Desert-Humboldt(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 Humboldt

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 040N 033E 07,18 SW OF SW (07) Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • 1 MILE SW OF WHITE PEAKS MINE; PREVIOUS QUAD DESIGNATION = BOTTLE CREEK (1961) 1:625000

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mercury Primary
Gold Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Limonite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Dikes Are Argillized; As Well As Wall Rocks

Analytical data

Result SAMPLE 2437 OF BASIC DIKE MATERIAL CONTAINS 10 % FE, 1.5 % MG, +20 % CA, 1 % TI, +5000 PPM MN, 20 PPM B, 500 PPM B-A, 50 PPM CO, 300 PPM CR, 150 PPM CU, 70 PPM NI, 10 PPM PB, 30- PPM SC, 300 PPM SR, 300 PPM V, 30 PPM Y, 100 PPM ZR.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 104
USGS model code 25a
Deposit model name Hot-spring Au-Ag
Mark3 model number 45

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite > Diabase
    Rock unit name Diabase Dikes;Basalt
    Rock description Diabase Dikes;Basalt
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite > Diabase
    Rock unit name Tuffs And Clays;Tuffs, Conglomerate And Sandstone
    Rock description Tuffs And Clays;Tuffs, Conglomerate And Sandstone
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.3296, 41.35099

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Major N-Trending, Steeply Dipping Faults ; Reg.Trends: Nne
Type of structure Local
Structure description Fracturing In Dike And Wall-Rock

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR
    Strike NORTH
    Dip 50-85W
    Thickness 3.05M
    Length 9754148.64M
    Width 7.62M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Fractures In Diabase And Tuff Wall-Rock

Comments on the geologic information

  • ORE OCCURS ALONG HANGING WALL ; GEOL.DESC: DIABASE DIKES CUT MIO - PLIO SEDIMENTARY ROCKS AND BASALT

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1937
Discoverer James And Arnold Scossa
Year of first production 1937

Mining district

District name Bottle Creek District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Scossa Family
    First year 1940

Production statistics

  • Year 1957
    Period To 1957
    Material HG
    Description Cp_Grade: ^4-11 Lb/Ton
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Mercury Mercury 4518g/mt

Comments on the production information

  • SMALL PRODUCTION: RECORDED WITH WHITE PEAKS MINE.

Comments on the workings information

  • SHALLOW SHAFTS, OPENCUTS, ADITS. OLD SHAFTS AND UNDERGROUND WORKINGS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED, AND WHERE THEY ONCE WERE IS NOW OPEN PIT APPROXIMATELY -300 FT LONG (N-S) BY 300 FT WIDE (E-W), MAXIMUM DIMENSIONS. BE-TWEEN THIS AREA AND WHITE PEAKS MINE IS THE OLD BLUE BUCKET MI-NE, WHICH COULD NOT BE LOCATED FOR CERTAIN AS THERE ARE NUMERO-US PITS, TRENCHES, AND DOZER CUTS THROUGHOUT THE INTERVENING A-REA. BOTTOM OF PIT IS FULL OF WATER.

Comments on development

  • MOST, IF NOT ALL, OF THE OPEN SURFACE WORK WAS PROBABLY DONE DURING THE LAST MERCURY BOOM IN THE LATE 1960'S-EARLY- 1970'S. SERIES OF 3 DOZER CUTS ON RIDGE IN BACK OF PIT AND SL-IGHTLY N OF IT GO ALMOST TO RIDGE TOP AND ARE SEVERAL HUNDRED -FEET LONG. THESE TRENCHES ARE WHERE NASSAU HAS DONE THEIR GOLD- EXPLORATION WORK. THEY FOUND MINOR AMOUNTS OF GOLD.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    ROBERTS, R.J., 1940, QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS OF THE BOTTLE CREEK DISTRICT, HUMBOLDT CO., NEV; USGS. BULL 922-A.

  • Deposit

    BAILEY, E.H., AND PHOENIX, D.A., 1944, QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS IN NEVADA; NEV. BUREAU OF MINES. BULL. 41

  • Deposit

    WILLDEN, R., 1964, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF HUMBOLDT CO., NEV; NEV. BUREAU OF MINES BULL. 59.

  • Deposit

    JONES, R. B., 1984, NBMG FIELD EXAMINATION, 9-14-84.

  • Production

    BAILEY, E.H., AND PHOENIX, D.A., 1944

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit ORE DEPOSITS OCCUR IN FRACTURED DIABASE DIKES. WEST DIKE IS 3200 FT LONG; EAST DIKE 1800 FT. (INCLUDES BIRTHDAY MINE). BASIC DIKE IS FULL OF CALCITE CLASTS AND VEINLETS AND FE OXIDE CLASTS.; MODEL NAME COULD ALSO BE: HOT-SPRING HG.
Deposit DISCOVERY WAS MADE BY JAMES AND ARNOLD SCOSSA IN 1937, AND WAS JOINTLY WORKED WITH THE WHITE PEAKS MINE BY LESSEES. INTERMITTENT DEVELOPMENT IN THE LATE 30'S AND EARLY 40'S RESULTED IN SHALLOW SHAFTS, OPENCUTS, AND SHORT ADITS. DETRITAL MATERIAL IN THE VICINITY OF THE SHAFTS CONTAINS NUGGETS OF CINNABAR UP TO 1/2-INCH IN DIAMETER. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 3 FIELD OBSERV

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1973 Bergquist, Joel R. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-JUL-1985 La Pointe, D.D. (Tingley, J.V.) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-NOV-1980 Lapointe, D.D. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-SEP-1994 Li, Zhiping (Peters, S.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

External references

Authoritative Nevada resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.