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Shoel Pit

Past Producer in Humboldt county in Nevada, United States with commodities Mercury, Sulfur
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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. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Ownership information
  16. Production statistics
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10040524
MRDS ID M055338
Record type Site
Current site name Shoel Pit
Alternate or previous names Nevada Sulphur Co. Mine, Black Rock Mine, May Also Be Covered By Area Now Called Mercury Pit.
Related records 10040610

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.66432, 40.86044 (WGS84)
Elevation 1433
Relative position 2 MILES SE OF SULPHUR

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Humboldt(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Sulphur(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Eugene Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower 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 035N 029E 36 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATION TO CENTER OF SECTION ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1972)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mercury Primary
Sulfur Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Sulfur Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Strong Hydrothermal Alteration

Analytical data

Result ORE AVG. 12 LB. HG/TON

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 177
USGS model code 27a
Deposit model name Hot-spring Hg

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pleistocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Conglomerate

Nearby scientific data

(1) Older gravels
ListMap

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Production years TO 1959

Mining district

District name Sulphur District

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Pacific Sulphur Inc.
    First year 1967

Production statistics

  • Year 1957
    Period To 1957
    Material HG
    Description Cp_Grade: ^12 Lb/Ton
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Mercury Mercury 5421g/mt

Comments on the workings information

  • WORKINGS CONSIST OF 3 LARGE OPEN PITS ALIGNED IN A NORTH-SOUTH DIRECTION WITH THE CENTRAL PIT CONTAINING THE MERCU-RY ORE. THE CINNABAR-BEARING AREAS WERE DEVELOPED BY CROSSCUTS-, ADITS, AND SEVERAL TRENCHES.

Comments on development

  • ALTHOUGH SULPHUR HAS BEEN RECOVERED AT THE NEVADA SULPHUR MINE SINCE THE LATE 1870'S, AND THE PRESENCE OF CINNABAR- WAS NOTED, NO ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO RECOVER THE MERCURY UNTIL 1-941, AT WHICH TIME A SMALL 2-PIPE RETORT ERECTED BY HANSEN, RE-ED AND MILLER FAILED TO RECOVER ANY MERCURY. IN 1943 J. D. EDM-ONDSON, AFTER RETORTING SEVERAL FLASKS, INSTALLED A 15-TON ROT-ARY FURNACE AND RECOVERED 70 FLASKS FROM ORE CONTAINING 7-12 L-B/TON. SOME ORE WAS PROCESSED BY H. C. CROFOOT IN THE 1950'S B-Y USING A FLOTATION PROCESS TO SEPARATE CINNABAR AND SULPHUR.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    BAILEY, E. H. AND PHOENIX, D. A., 1944, NBMG BULL 41

  • Deposit

    WILLDEN, 1964, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY, NEVADA: NBMG BULL. 59

  • Deposit

    GALLAGHER, 1967, NEVADA MINES, MILLS, AND SMELTERS - IN OPERATION AS OF JULY 1, 1967: STATE INSPECTOR OF MINES, CARSON CITY, NEVADA, 16 P.

  • Deposit

    BAILEY, E. H., RYTUBA, J. J. AND JONES, R. B., 1984, NBMG DATA ON MERCURY DEPOSITS OF NEVADA- UNPUBLISHED.

  • Deposit

    PAPKE, K. G., AND QUADE, JACK, 1984, FIELD EXAMINATION OF THE SULPHUR DISTRICT

  • Deposit

    NBMG STAFF, 1985, NBMG OFR 85-3.

  • Deposit

    USBM STAFF, 1965, USBM IC 8252, P. 270.

  • Production

    USBM UNPUB DATA

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit MERCURY ORE OCCURS IN A SEQUENCE OF FINE CONGLOMERATE, SANDSTONE, SILTSTONE AND TUFFACEOUS SEDIMENTS. IN THE MINER-ALIZED AREA, THE ROCKS ARE BRECCIATED, SILICIFIED AND LEACHED -AND CONSIST OF OPAL AND CHALCEDONY FRAGMENTS. CINNABAR OCCURS -AS PATCHY DISSEMINATIONS AND COATINGS ON SULFUR CRYSTALS AND A-S COATINGS ON BRECCIA CLASTS. VEINS OF ALUNITE AND OPAL ALSO C-ONTAIN CINNABAR.
Deposit SURFACE WORKINGS ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT; 3 FIELD OBSERV

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-1975 Gassaway, Judith S. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-APR-1986 La Pointe, D.D. (Tingley, J.V.) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-APR-1981 La Pointe, 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.

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.