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Mesquite Mine

Producer in Imperial county in California, United States with commodity Gold
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Alteration
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Ownership information
  16. Reserves and resources
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10085021
MRDS ID W700453
Record type Site
Current site name Mesquite Mine
Alternate or previous names Big Chief, Vista, Cherokee, Rainbow, Lena Gold Bug Pits
Related records 10260440

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -114.9508, 33.10007 (WGS84)
Relative position ABOUT 50 MI NW OF YUMA (ARIZONA), 45 MI NE OF EL CENTRO, 6 MI NE OF GLAMIS, A STOP ON THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Imperial(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Ninemile Wash(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Trigo Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Salton Sea(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Salton Sea(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southern Mojave-Salton Sea(hydrologic subregion)

California(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management CA)

Bureau of Land Management CA BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States California Imperial

Comments on the location information

  • SW FLANK OF THE CHOLOLATE MTS. OF SOUTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Oxidation Zone Extends Several Hundred Feet Below Ground; Clayey Gouge; Dilute Hydrothermal.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss

Nearby scientific data

(1) -114.9508, 33.10007
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Part Of The Eastern Margin Of The Salton Trough.
Type of structure Local
Structure description Fractures And Breccia.

Ore body information

  • General form VEIN, BRECCIA
    Depth to top 60.96M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • 3 Sets Of Contemporaneous High-Angle Faults (North-West, East-West, And North-South Trending)

Comments on the geologic information

  • THE TWO GOLD OREBODIES CONSISTS OF THE LARGE HIGH GRADE PITS; BIG CHIEF & VISTA, AND TWO SMALL LOW GRADE PITS; CHEROKEE & RAINBOW. THE FUTURE PIT IS LENA GOLD BUG. EACH OREBODY IS FORMED BY UPWARD-DIVERGING, MODERATELY TO STEEPLY DIPPING MINERALIZED FAULTS, BRECCIAS & VEINS IN AREAS OF RELATIVE EXTENSION BETWEEN SUBPARALLEL DEXTRAL STRIKE-SLIP FAULTS. FAULTS CONTRIBUTED TO A COMPLEX STEPPED PATTERN OF MINERALIZATION CONVERTING GOLD BEARING QUARTZ AND CARBONATE VEINS TO BRECCIA. GOLD IS FOUND IN VEINS, SILICA-MATRIX VEIN BRECCIAS AND FRACTURES.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant No
Production years EARLY 1900'S SMALL-SCALE LOAD AND DRY PLACER MINES. 1986 TO PRESENT OPEN PIT.

Mining district

District name Mesquite

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Gold Fields Mining Corp.

Comments on the production information

  • APPROX. 4.5 MILLION TONS OF ORE ARE PROCESSED ANNUALLY & OPERATION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE UNTIL 2008.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1989
    Total resources 24000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 1.214 g/mt Gold Major 1989
  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1988
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 1.129 g/mt Gold Major 1988

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • CUT-OFF GRADES: 0.025 OZ/TON AND ABOVE, HIGH-GRADE ORE; 0.015-0.024 OZ/TON, LOW-GRADE ORE; 0.010-0.014 OZ/TON, PROTORE; BELOW 0.010 OZ/TON, WASTE

Comments on the workings information

  • THE MINE WILL ULTIMATELY CONSIST OF 5 OPEN PITS: BIG CHIEF, VISTA, CHEROKEE, RAINBOW & LENA GOLD BUG. EXTENSIVE HEAP LEACH PADS.

Comments on development

  • PROSPECTED PRIOR TO 1900'S, EXPLORATION BEGAN IN 1980, DRILLING IN 1981, FIRST POUR 1986. ; TOTAL$: 70 ; ECON.COM: NEARLY 300 PEOPLE WORK AT THE MINE; OPERATION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE UNTIL AT LEAST 2008. 2 10-HOUR SHIFTS ARE MAINTAINED 6 DAYS A WEEK. THE PROCESSING FACILITIES OPERATE 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK. ORE PRODUCTION CAPACITY BETWEEN 1,000,000 AND 3,000,000 TONNES/YEAR. (MINING MAGAZINE, JAN. 1989).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    SOUTHWESTERN PAY DIRT, JANUARY, 1988, P. 4A-6A.

  • Deposit

    CLARK, W.B., 1970, GOLD DISTRICTS OF CALIFORNIA: CALIFORNIA DIVISION OF MINES AND GEOLOGY BULLETIN 193, 186 P.

  • Deposit

    HIGGINS, C.T., 1990, MESQUITE MINE, A MODERN EXAMPLE OF THE QUEST FOR GOLD, IMPERIAL COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: CALIFORNIA GEOLOGY, V. 43, NO. 3, P. 51-56.

  • Deposit

    MINING MAGAZINE, JAN. 1989, P.44.

  • Deposit

    PAY DIRT, APRIL 1986, P. 4A-7A.

  • Deposit

    WILLIS, GERALD F., 1987, GEOLOGY & MINERALIZATION OF THE MESQUITE OPEN PIT GOLD MINE, ABSTRACT IN GSA SYMPOSIUM, SPARKS, NEVADA, BULK MINEABLE PRECIOUS METAL DEPOSITS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES, P. 52-53.

  • Production

    SOUTHWESTERN PAY DIRT, JANUARY, 1988, P. 11A.; HIGGINS, 1990, P. 55.

  • Reserve-Resource

    HIGGINS, 1990, P. 55.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THE DISTRICT IS COMPRISED OF 2 SUBPARALLEL ORE BODIES UNCONFORMABLY BENEATH A THIN VENEER OF LATE TERTIARY SEDIMENTARY ROCKS AND QUATERNARY ALLUVIUM ON THE SOUTHERN PIEDMONT SLOPE OF THE CHOCOLATE MOUNTAINS. GOLD MINERALIZATION OCCURS IN ROCKS OF THE UPPER PLATE OF THE CHOCOLATE MOUNTAINS THRUST. MOST ORE HAS BEEN MINED IN THE OXIDIZED ZONE THAT EXTENDS DOWNWARD SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET BELOW THE GROUND. BELOW THIS ZONE ARE THE UNOXIDIZED, SULFIDE-BEARING PORTIONS OF THE ORE BODIES, WHICH TYPICALLY CONTAIN UP TO A FEW PERCENT PYRITE. HIGHEST GRADES OCCUR WHERE THE SYSTEM IS NARROWEST, DYING OUT TO THE NW & SE.
Deposit THIS RECORD IS AN UPDATED VERSION INCLUDING DUPLICATE INFORMATION FROM RECORD # W700589 WHICH HAS BEEN DELETED. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-SEP-88 Paidakovich, Matthew E. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-AUG-89 Beougher, Dee (Spanski, Gregory T.) U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAR-90 Bolm, Karen S. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-NOV-91 Moyer, Lorre A. (Marcus, S.M.) 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 California resources

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