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Rising Sun Mine

Past Producer in Placer county in California, United States with commodities Gold, Copper
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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. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310716
Record type Site
Current site name Rising Sun Mine

Comments on the site identification

  • The Rising Sun Mine is believed to be the most productive lode-gold mine in Placer County.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -120.96833, 39.10694 (WGS84)
Elevation 700
Location accuracy 100(meters)
Relative position The Rising Sun Mine is about one mile west-northwest of the city of Colfax.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Placer(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Colfax(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Truckee(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Chico(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Bear(hydrologic unit)

Lower Sacramento(hydrologic accounting unit)

Sacramento(hydrologic subregion)

California(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States California Placer

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 015N 009E 33 SE California

Comments on the location information

  • Location selected for latitude and longitude is a shaft symbol just above the word ?Rising? on the USGS 7.5-minute Colfax quadrangle.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Commodity Info: Waring (1915) reported that 80% of the gold obtained was native and the remaining 20% was from sulfides ($150-200 per ton based on pre-1935 gold rates). Lindgren (1900) reported that the gold is coarse and commonly visible to the naked eye. Specimen gold was produced from a 40-foot long high-grade ore shoot.

  • Ore Materials: Native gold and auriferous sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite)

  • Gangue Materials: Quartz

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) None reported

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite > Diabase
    Rock unit name Lake Combie Complex
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Gabbro
    Rock unit name Lake Combie Complex
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Triassic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Slate
    Rock unit name Mariposa Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone
    Rock type qualifier Meta-
    Rock unit name Mariposa Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granodiorite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -120.96833, 39.10694
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Gillis Hill Fault; Weimar Fault Zone

Ore body information

  • General form Tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore shoots in quartz veins formed along fractures in the metamorphic country rock. A cross fault may have controlled deposition of a 40-foot-long shoot of high-grade ore. A change in dip of the main quartz vein, over a distance of 20 feet, at the 590-foot level (7th level) may have influenced ore deposition below that level. The ore grade was described as low from this level to the 749-level ($5 per ton) in contrast to higher grade ore from the first six levels.

Comments on the geologic information

  • REGIONAL GEOLOGY

    The Rising Sun Mine is within the Colfax District, which is situated in the northern portion of the Sierra Nevada Foothills Gold Belt. This belt averages 50 miles wide and extends for about 150 miles in a north-northwest orientation along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Colfax District is about 7-8 miles south of the Grass Valley District, home to California's two largest underground gold mines, the Empire and the Idaho-Maryland. It is also about 10-12 miles north-northwest of the northern end of the Mother Lode Belt of mineralization.

    Regionally, the Foothills Gold Belt approximately coincides with the Foothills Metamorphic Belt, which in this area can be subdivided into four major lithotectonic belts: Western Belt, Central Belt, Feather River Peridotite Belt, and Eastern Belt (Schweickert and others, 1999). The Western Belt in this area consists mainly of metamorphosed volcanic, sedimentary, and intrusive rocks of the Mesozoic Smartville Complex (Beard and Day, 1987). It is separated from the Central Belt by the Wolf Creek Fault Zone. The Central Belt consists of a complicated assemblage of Paleozoic-Mesozoic metasedimentary, metavolcanic, and metaplutonic rocks that have been intruded locally by Mesozoic plutonic rocks. The Central Belt is separated from the East Belt by the Feather River Peridotite Belt, which coincides in part with the Melones Fault Zone, a major structural boundary of the western Sierra Nevada. Rocks in this belt are largely peridotite and serpentinite, with lesser amounts of metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks locally. The East Belt is dominantly metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of Paleozoic-Mesozoic age. Most of the metamorphic rocks in the belt in this area have been assigned to the Lower Paleozoic Shoo Fly Complex. The metamorphic complexes are intruded in places by Mesozoic plutonic rocks.

    The Rising Sun Mine lies within the Central Belt, which in the Colfax area is marked by a 15-mile-wide north-trending assemblage of accreted metamorphic terranes (Tuminas, 1983). The oldest rocks in this assemblage are the metasedimentary-metavolcanic rocks of the Paleozoic-Triassic Calaveras Complex, which is exposed in the east part of the belt. Exposed in the west part of the belt, and underlying the Rising Sun Mine, are metamorphic rocks of the Paleozoic-Mesozoic Lake Combie Complex. These include mostly metavolcanic rocks and lesser amounts of metasedimentary and metaplutonic rocks. Metamorphosed turbidites of the Jurassic Mariposa Formation are exposed as a sliver between these two complexes.

  • LOCAL GEOLOGY

    The Rising Sun deposit is situated in a complex structural block between two fault zones, the Weimar and Gillis Hill. In this block, metaigneous rocks of the late Paleozoic-early Mesozoic Lake Combie Complex are wedged between two narrow northerly trending extensions of a block of turbidite deposits of the Mariposa Formation (?Colfax sequence? of Tuminas, 1983) to the south.

    The deposit consists of a quartz vein, part of which has ribbon structure, and small zones of quartz stringers, both of which are in metaigneous rock of the Lake Combie Complex. The geologic environment of this deposit is more similar to that of the Grass Valley Mining District, about 7-8 miles to the northwest, than it is to the Mother Lode Belt to the south. Some earlier publications (Waring, 1915; Logan, 1936) describe the wallrock of the deposit as diabase. More-recent studies have classified the country rock as gabbro (Chandra, 1961) or a mixture of gabbro and quartz diorite (Tuminas, 1983). Chandra (1961) also mapped a small stock of granodiorite on the south edge of the mine complex. Lindgren (1900) mapped the vein complex at the mine as cutting gabbro, diabase, and serpentinite. The wallrock is reportedly very hard, with no mention in the reports reviewed of any alteration. Waring (1915), however, mentioned an assay done on ?mineralized schist? from a dump at the Rising Sun, which, if this sample was from the mine itself, might suggest hydrothermal alteration of the wallrock.

    The Rising Sun quartz vein strikes east-northeast and dips 85SE from the surface down to the 7th level (590-foot), where it reversed dip, over a distance of 20 feet, to 85NW. In the upper levels of the mine, the quartz vein averages 18 inches in width, but increases with depth. According to Logan (1936), below the change in dip on the 7th level, the vein widened to 4-5 feet and became softer. Waring (1915) reported the vein ranges from 6 inches to 3 feet in width.

    Ore was composed mostly of native gold and minor amounts of auriferous sulfides (pyrite and chalcopyrite). Ore mined during the 1930?s contained about 2% sulfides, which yielded about 2 ounces of gold per ton. Overall, ore may have averaged about 1-2% sulfides.

    West of the 749-foot shaft, ore was well-paying down to the 7th level where the quartz vein changed dip. Low-grade stringers were mined from a point east of this shaft. A notable 40-foot-long shoot of high-grade gold ore was discovered near a cross fault on the west side of the deposit (Logan, 1936). The fault evidently bounded the rich ore on the west side and may have influenced its deposition. Also, in the west part of the 3rd level, wallrock was locally smeared with a thin film of gold.

    An unpublished map prepared and submitted to Waldemar Lindgren by a mine owner in 1897 shows a series of northwest-trending quartz-vein-bearing faults that displace the Rising Sun vein in several places. The owner stated these cross veins were not auriferous, although some carried copper sulfides. In addition, a northerly trending lens of serpentinite is shown on the map a few hundred feet north of the Rising Sun vein; the lens is altered to talc where it was observed.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1866

Mining district

District name Colfax District
District name Illinois District

Land status

Ownership category Private
Area name Placer County Planning Department

Comments on the workings information

  • The Rising Sun Mine was developed mainly by three shafts and associated drifting along ten levels. The three shafts were sunk to 187 feet, 350 feet, and 749 feet. Drifting reached lengths of 150 feet to the west (cut off by fault) and 400 feet to the east (property line) in the 1800?s. In 1920, stopes were 150 to 350 feet long. The wallrock is hard, and timbering was generally not required.

    The mine map described above in the Geology Comments shows that extensive stoping was already accomplished by the 1890?s. The map also shows a 2,000-foot long north-northwest-trending adit that was being driven from the Bear River canyon, which is northwest of the mine. The intention was to intersect the Rising Sun vein at about 500 feet below the ground surface. Logan (1936) stated that the adit was eventually completed, either in the late 1920?s or early 1930?s. The adit intersected the workings about 30 feet above the 6th level.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Clark (1970) estimated production at the Rising Sun Mine to be in excess of $2 million.

Comments on development

  • The Rising Sun Mine opened in 1866 and continued operation until 1884; the original mining claim was patented in 1870. Nearly all production was obtained during this period. The mine was then idle until 1919, when a period of minor sporadic mining took place until 1932. Some of this mining activity was associated with working of the adjacent Big Oak Tree Mine. Only very small tonnages of ore were produced during a few brief mining episodes over this period. The Rising Sun Mine was reportedly closed in 1935 (Chandra, 1961; Koschmann and Bergendahl, 1968).

    In 1933, mill tailings in several ponds and dumps at the mine site, which were estimated to comprise about 7,200 tons total, were evaluated for recovery of gold. One of the piles was partially processed with cyanidation in 1917. It is not known if the tailings were ever completely processed or if any are still present at the site.

    In the 1890?s, an adit was started from the canyon of the Bear River with the intention of intersecting the workings of the Rising Sun Mine. It was eventually completed in the late 1920?s or very early 1930?s.

    Amalgamation and cyanidation processes were used at this mine.

Comments on the environmental information

  • The Rising Sun Mine is in a hilly area covered with mixed oak-conifer woodland. A high school and residential areas are immediately adjacent to the mine site on the east and north.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Beard, J. S. and Day, H. W., 1987, The Smartville intrusive complex, Sierra Nevada, California: The core of a rifted volcanic arc: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 99, no. 6, p. 779-791.

  • Deposit

    Chandra, D.K., 1961, Geology and mineral deposits of the Colfax and Foresthill quadrangles, California: California Division of Mines Special Report 67, 50 p.

  • Deposit

    Clark, W.B., 1970, Gold districts of California: California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193, p. 38.

  • Deposit

    Irelan, W., Jr., 1888, Placer County: Eighth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, California State Mining Bureau, p. 462-463.

  • Deposit

    Koschmann, A.H., and Bergendahl, M.H., 1968, Principal gold-producing districts of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 610, 283 p.

  • Deposit

    Lindgren, W., 1900, Colfax folio, California: U.S. Geological Survey Atlas of the U.S., Folio 66, 10 p.

  • Deposit

    Logan, C.A., 1921, Placer County: 17th Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, California State Mining Bureau, p. 446-447.

  • Deposit

    Logan, C.A., 1927, Placer County: 23rd Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, California State Mining Bureau, p. 252.

  • Deposit

    Logan, C.A., 1936, Gold mines of Placer County: 32nd Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, California Journal of Mines and Geology, p. 34-35.

  • Deposit

    Saucedo, G.J. and Wagner, D.L., 1992, Geologic map of the Chico Quadrangle, California: California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology Regional Geologic Map Series, Map No. 7A, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Schweickert, R.A., Hanson, R.E., and Girty, G.H., 1999, Accretionary tectonics of the Western Sierra Nevada Metamorphic Belt, in Wagner, D.L. and Graham, S.A., editors, Geologic field trips in northern California: California Division of Mines and Geology Special Publication 119, p. 33-79.

  • Deposit

    Tuminas, A., 1983, Structural and stratigraphic relations in the Grass Valley-Colfax area of the northern Sierra Nevada, California: Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis, 415 p.

  • Deposit

    Waring, C.A., 1915, Placer County: 15th Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, California State Mining Bureau, p. 349.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Rising Sun deposit is situated between the north end of the Mother Lode Belt of gold mineralization and the extensive lode-gold mineralization of the Grass Valley and Nevada City districts to the northwest. The geologic setting of the deposit is more similar to the deposits at Grass Valley and Nevada City. At the Rising Sun Mine, a nearly vertical east-northeast-trending main quartz vein and minor zones of stringers cut metamorphosed mafic igneous rocks; the vein ranges in thickness from 6 inches to 5 feet, and part of it exhibits ribbon structure. The vein and stringers contain native gold and minor amounts of auriferous sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite). Ore is higher grade in the upper 500-600 feet of the deposit, but appears to become lower grade below that depth perhaps because of a change in dip of the vein system.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 05-NOV-2007 Higgins, Chris T. California Geological Survey CGS (Formerly CDMG)
Editor 20-FEB-2008 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 California resources

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