Alta Shaft

Past Producer in Storey county in Nevada, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Iron
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. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Workings at the site
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10043903
MRDS ID M231205
Record type Site
Current site name Alta Shaft

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -119.65128, 39.27629 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Storey(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Virginia City(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Carson City(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Reno(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle Carson(hydrologic unit)

Carson(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Lahontan(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 Storey

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 016N 21E 05 Nevada

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary
Lead Secondary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Iron Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Argentite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Polybasite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Strong Alteration Of Volcanic Host Rocks

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) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock unit name Alta Andes
    Rock description Alta Andes
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -119.65128, 39.27629

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Silver City Fault

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1859
Year of first production 1879

Mining district

District name Comstock Lode

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCTION WAS 24, 242 TONS ORE, 1879-1890 WITH A GROSS VALUE OF $403,564. IT ALSO CONTAINED SOME LEAD.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Overall depth 655.32M

Comments on the workings information

  • SHAFT, DRIFTS

Comments on development

  • DEVELOPED FROM 1874 TO 1898. ORIGINALLY DUG TO TAP THE "BIG BONANZA" ORES

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    STODDARD, CARL, AND CARPENTER, J.A., 1950, MINERAL RESOURCES OF STOREY AND LYON COUNTIES OF THE COMSTOCK; 1940-41 OPEN FILE REPORT N.B.M.G

  • Production

    STUDDARD, C. AND CARPENTER, J.A., 1950

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit VEIN, WITH SUPERGENE ENRICHMENT ABOVE THE 500-FT. LEVEL.
Deposit THIS SHAFT WAS DUG TO TAP THE "BIG BONANZA" LODE AND WAS 2150 FT DEEP. THE ALTA WAS UNDER DEVELOPMENT FROM 1874 TO 1900 WITH LITTLE SUCCESS. THE TOTAL RECORDED PRODUCTION WAS 24,242 TONS WITH A GROSS VALUE OF $403,564. ORIGINALLY STAKED IN 1859. DEVELOPED, 1874-1898. ; INFO.SRC : 2 UNPUB REPT; 2 UNPUB REPT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1980 Flynn, Patricia Dodd Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology

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.