| Deposit ID | 10310309 |
|---|---|
| MRDS ID | M231333 |
| Record type | Site |
| Current site name | Empire - Northern Lights Deposit |
| Related records | 10044017 |
| Geographic coordinates: | -117.02983, 40.60601 (WGS84) |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 1630 |
| Relative position | The Empire - Northern Lights Deposit is located about 7 miles WSW of the town of Battle Mountain. |
Political divisions (FIPS codes)
Lander(county)
Nevada(state)
United States(country)
North America(continent)
Land(continent)
USGS map quadrangles
Galena Canyon(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)
Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)
Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)
Hydrologic units (watersheds)
Reese(hydrologic unit)
Humboldt(hydrologic accounting unit)
Black Rock Desert-Humboldt(hydrologic subregion)
Great Basin(hydrologic region)
| Country | State | County |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Nevada | Lander |
| Meridian | Township | Range | Section | Fraction | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Diablo | 032N | 044E | 33 | Nevada |
| Commodity | Importance |
|---|---|
| Gold | Primary |
| Silver | Primary |
| Copper | Primary |
| Materials | Type of material |
|---|---|
| Gold | Ore |
| Quartz | Gangue |
| Chalcedony | Gangue |
| Goethite | Gangue |
| Jarosite | Gangue |
| Hematite | Gangue |
| Model code | 75 |
|---|---|
| USGS model code | 19c |
| Deposit model name | Distal disseminated Ag-Au |
| Mark3 model number | 18 |
| Model code | 172 |
| USGS model code | 26a |
| Deposit model name | Carbonate-hosted Au-Ag |
| Mark3 model number | 15 |
| Host or associated | Host | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rock type | Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone | ||
| Rock unit name | Harmony Formation | ||
| |||
| Host or associated | Host | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rock type | Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone | ||
| Rock unit name | Harmony Formation | ||
| |||
| Host or associated | Host | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rock type | Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale | ||
| Rock type qualifier | siliceous | ||
| Rock unit name | Harmony Formation | ||
| |||
| Host or associated | Associated | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rock type | Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite | ||
| Rock type qualifier | granodiorite- | ||
| |||
| (1) | -117.02983, 40.60601 |
|---|
| Type of structure | Local |
|---|---|
| Structure description | NE-trending faults ad the Dewitt Thrust Fault |
| Type of structure | Regional |
| Structure description | Dewitt Thrust Fault |
| Operation type | Surface-Underground |
|---|---|
| Development status | Producer |
| Commodity type | Metallic |
| Deposit size | Small |
| Significant | Yes |
| Discovery year | 1875 |
| Year of first production | 1918 |
| District name | Battle Mountain District |
|---|
| Ownership category | Private |
|---|---|
| Ownership category | BLM Administrative Area |
| Area name | Battle Mountain BLM Administrative District |
| Type | Owner-Operator |
|---|---|
| Owner | Newmont Mining Corp. |
| Year | 2004 |
Stewart, J. H., Mckee, E. H., and Stager, H. K., 1977, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Lander County, Nevada, NBMG Bull. 88.
Schmidt, K. W., Wotruba, P. R., and Johnson, S. D., 1988, Gold-Silver and Related Mineralization at Copper Basin, Nevada, in Gold Deposits Of North Central Nevada, Special Publication #8, the Geological Society of Nevada, Reno.
Doebrich and Theodore, 1996.
Geological Society of Nevada, 1999, Geology and Gold Mineralization of the Buffalo Valley Area, Northwestern Battle Mountain Trend; GSN Special Publication No. 31, 1999 Fall field trip Guidebook.
Wendt, Clancy, 2004, Technical Report on the? ICBM/COPPER BASIN Property, Lander and Humboldt Counties, Nevada, Staccato Gold website, : http://www.staccatogold.com/i/pdf/icbm-43-101.pdf
| Subject category | Comment text |
|---|---|
| Deposit | The Northern Lights deposit occurs in the interbedded siltstones and sandstones of the Harmony Formation. The higher grade ore is localized by north-northeast and west-northwest steeply dipping structures. Several sub-horizontal monzonite-granodiorite porphyritic sills occur within the deposit. Gold mineralization is associated with fine-grained silica (locally chalcedonic) and pyrite replacing formerly calcareous siltstone and sandstone of the Harmony Formation. The intersections of two steeply dippng, mineralized structures which trend NNW and WNW have acted to localize higher grade ore. Distal disseminated silver-gold ore associated with silica-pyrite alteration at the Empire Mine (approximately 1.5 million tonnes averaging 1.8 g Au/t) and at the Northern Lights Mine (approximately 390,000 tonnes averaging 1.6 g Au/t) may be associated genetically with the Buckingham porphyry molybdenum system. |
| Type | Date | Name | Affiliation | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reporter | 01-FEB-2005 | LaPointe, D.D. | Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology | |
| Editor | 01-SEP-2007 | 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. |
Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.
MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:
Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.
These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.