Jay Bird Mine

Past Producer in Churchill county in Nevada, United States with commodities Tungsten, Molybdenum, Manganese
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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Workings at the site
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10047399
MRDS ID M242692
Record type Site
Current site name Jay Bird Mine
Alternate or previous names Garfield Force, Highgrade, Blue Jay, Redbird, NBMG Sample Sites 2894 and 2895

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -119.201, 39.99156 (WGS84)
Elevation 1646
Relative position ONE MILE EAST OF NACHE PEAK IN NIGHTINGALE MOUNTAINS AND 1 MILE SOUTH OF NIGHTINGALE.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Churchill(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Black Warrior Peak(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Reno(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Reno(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Granite Springs Valley(hydrologic unit)

Truckee(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 Churchill

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 025N 025E 31 SE OF NW Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • ABOUT 1 MILE SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE NIGHTINGALE MINE; ACCESSIBLE BY GRADED ROAD 10 MILES FROM NIXON, THEN 5 MILES OF POOR DIRT ROAD UP COYOTE CANYON. AT THE WASHOE-CHURCHILL-PERSHING LINE. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST : 1972

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Tungsten Critical Primary
Molybdenum Tertiary
Manganese Critical Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Molybdenite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Garnet Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Analytical data

Result SAMPLE 2894 CONTAINS 5% FE, 0.5% MG, 10% CA, 0.05% TI, 5000 PPM MN, 15 PPM B, 70 PPM BA, 1 PPM BE, 30 PPM CR, 20 PPM CU, 30 PPM LA, 5 PPM MO, 7 PPM NI, 300 PPM SR, 50 PPM V, 150 PPM W, 10 PPM Y. SAMPLE 2895 CONTAINS 15% FE, 1% MG, 5% CA, 0.07% TI, 3000 PPM MN, 1.5 PPM AG, 20 PPM B, 100 PPM BA, 10 PPM CO, 50 PPM CR, 500 PPM CU, 50 PPM LA, 15 PPM NI, 500 PPM SR, 50 PPM V, 200 PPM W, 15 PPM Y, 200 PPM ZN, 50 PPM ZR.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 42
USGS model code 14a
Deposit model name W skarn

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Auld Lang Syne
    Rock description Auld Lang Syne

Nearby scientific data

(1) -119.201, 39.99156

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Shear Zone

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR TO IRREGULAR
    Strike N 25 W
    Dip 90
    Length 304.8M
    Width 7.62M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Igneous Contact And Shear Zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • A CONTACT DEPOSIT ALONG A TACTITE ZONE BETWEEN METAMORPHIC ROCKS AND GRANODIORITE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Year of first production 1938
Year of last production 1955

Mining district

District name Nightingale District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • "THE POTENTIAL RESERVES OF LOW-GRADE MATERIAL AT THIS MINE APPEAR TO BE LARGE." HIGHER GRADE ZONES MAY ALSO EXIST

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Length 30.48M
    Overall depth 12.19M

Comments on the workings information

  • 3 SHALLOW SHAFTS, TWO ADITS, ONE SMALL OPEN PIT. TUNNEL IS A 40-FOOT CROSSCUT DRIVEN NE INTO TACTITE. STOPE EXTENDS 50 FEET ALONG THE CONTACT AND IS 10 TO 25 FEET WIDE. THE 3 SHAFTS IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF THE MINE AREA ARE UP TO 40 FEET DEEP; SEVERAL OPEN CUTS.

Comments on development

  • AS OF THE EARLY 1980S, THE DEPOSIT WAS STILL POORLY EXPOSED AND INADEQUATELY EXPLORED.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    SMITH, W.C. AND GUILD, P.W., 1942, TUNGSTEN DEPOSITS OF THE NIGHTINGALE DISTRICT, PERSHING COUNTY, NEVADA: USGS BULL 936-B, P. 53-54.

  • Deposit

    QUADE, J., 1985, FIELD EXAMINATION AND SAMPLE ANALYSIS: NBMG UNPUBLISHED (TINGLEY) FILE.

  • Deposit

    BONHAM, H.F. JR. & PAPKE, K.L., 1969, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF WASHOE AND STOREY COUNTIES NEVADA: NBMG BULL 70, P. 72.

  • Deposit

    STAFF, 1985, A MINERAL INVENTORY OF THE PARADISE-DENIO AND SONOMA-GERLACH RESOURCE AREAS, WINNEMUCCA DISTRICT, NEVADA: NBMG OFR 85-3.

  • Deposit

    STAGER, H.K. & TINGLEY, J.V., 1988, TUNGSTEN DEPOSITS IN NEVADA: NBMG BULL. 105, P. 201.

  • Production

    SMITH & GUILD (1942); STAGER & TINGLEY (1988)

  • Reserve-Resource

    BONMAN (1969), P. 72.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit SCHEELITE OCCURS IN PYROXENE-RICH SKARN CONSISTING LARGELY OF GARNET AND QUARTZ WITH MINOR SCHEELITE AND SOME MOLYBDENITE. SCHEELITE GRAINS ARE RATHER SMALL IN SIZE. MOST TACTITE CONTAINS LESS THAN 0.5% WO3, WITH THIN LAYERS OF ABOUT 1.0% W03. SAMPLE 2894 WAS SELECTED FROM THE DUMPS AND SKARN ZONE - POSSIBLE TUNGSTEN IN THE SEDIMENTS AND UNIDENTIFIED SULFIDES IN QUARTZ VEINS AND SHEARS. SAMPLE 2895 WAS TAKEN FROM THE OPEN PIT WHERE AN EXPOSED SHEAR CONTAINED GOSSAN-LIKE IRON-STAINING IN ASSOCIATION WITH PYRITE AND OTHER SULFIDES. ROCK ON THE DUMP OF ONE OF THE NW SHAFTS IS AN UNUSUAL VARIETY OF TACTITE COMPOSED MAINLY OF DARK GREEN PYROXENE WITH SOME GARNET AND SPECKS OF SCHEELITE AND MOLYBDENITE.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-1986 La Pointe, D.D. (Tingley, J.V.) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-JAN-1994 Humphries, S. E. (Marcus, 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.