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Preble Mine

Past Producer in Humboldt county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Barium-Barite, Copper, Mercury, Antimony
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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. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Ownership information
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310314
MRDS ID M232748
Record type Site
Current site name Preble Mine
Related records 10045088

Comments on the site identification

  • This record is an update of earlier record #M232748 for the same deposit from which all material has been extracted and incorporated into the current record.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -117.39207, 40.99795 (WGS84)
Elevation 1450
Relative position The Preble Mine is located 6.5 miles ENE of Golconda, 12 miles south of the Pinson Mine.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Humboldt(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Golconda(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Humboldt(hydrologic unit)

Humboldt(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 036N 041E 17 18 Center, NE, SE, 18 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Preble Mine is located just on the south side of Granite Creek, on the eastern flank of Adam Peak in the Osgood Mountains.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Barium-Barite Critical Tertiary
Copper Tertiary
Mercury Tertiary
Antimony Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: gold

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Rocks have been subjected to a moderate amount of silicification (jasperiod development), but not as much as at the Pinson Mine. A small sill along the footwall shear in the center of the deposit has been argillically altered.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 173
USGS model code 26a.1
Deposit model name Sediment-hosted Au
Mark3 model number 17

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Phyllite
    Rock type qualifier light gray contorted
    Rock unit name Preble Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cambrian
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Middle Cambrian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate
    Rock unit name Comus Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Ordovician
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Late Cambrian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
    Rock unit name Comus Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Ordovician
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Late Cambrian
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic)
    Rock type qualifier small highly altered sill occurs along footwall of deposit
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -117.39207, 40.99795
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Mineralization at Preble is largely confined to a broad NE-trending zone of shearing, brecciation, and silicification that roughly parallels bedding, dipping 30 degrees southeast. Mineralization is evenly disseminated in the zone, with grades terminating abruptly at the hanging wall and footwall of the shear zone.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1972
Discoverer Whit DelaMare.
Year of first production 1985
Year of last production 1990
Production years 1985-1990

Mining district

District name Potosi District
District name Getchell District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Winnemucca BLM Administrative district

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Pinson Mining Co.
    Year 2004
  • Type Operator
    Owner Cordex
    Year 1984
  • Type Operator
    Owner Lacana Gold
    Year 1984
  • Type Operator
    Owner Pinson Mining Co.
    Year 1987

Comments on the workings information

  • The Preble Mine was originally developed by a series of adits, then by numerous drill roads, drill holes, several small test pits, and ultimately by an open pit.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Reserves of the Preble Deposit in 1985 were reported as 1.8 million tons of ore grading 0.062 ounces of gold per ton and in 1986 were reported as 3.16 million tons of ore grading 0.093 ounces of gold per ton heap leach ore and 80,000 tons of ore grading 0.242 ounces of gold per ton mill grade ore. In 1989, remaining reserves of 15,110 ounces of gold were reported.

    Production from the Preble Deposit was as follows:
    1985: 17,000 ounces of gold
    1987: 28,000 ounces of gold
    1988: 18,828 ounces of gold
    1989: included with Pinson
    1990: 1,161 ounces of gold

Comments on development

  • The Preble Deposit was discovered in 1972 by Whit DelaMare while prospecting for Cordex Syndicate. It is often lumped together with the Pinson Deposit 12 miles north, as the "Pinson-Preble" properties because ownership was the same. The property was evaluated and re-evaluated for several years and a 330-foot adit was driven in 1975 to procure a bulk sample of the gold ore for metallurgical testing. Higher gold prices in 1979 prompted a new feasibility study and in 1980, press releases stated that 13,400 feet of drilling in 40 holes indicated 1.2 million tons of ore averaging 0.074 ounces of gold per ton with a stripping ration of 1.5:1. The orebody was open-pit-mined with ore from higher-grade zones shipped to the Pinson Mill, and the lower grade material heap-leached near the pit site. Production of 280,000 tons of ore (13,000 ounces of gold) per year began in 1984. Cordex; Lacana Gold (26.25 % owned) (1984); Pinson Mining Co., owner, operator (1987). Owner was still listed as Pinson Mining Co in 2004, although ownership may have transferred to Homestake and then Barrick with recent acquisitions.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Decker, D.J., 1974; Mineral resource ownership investigation, Nevada Garvey Ranch, Humboldt and Elko Counties,

  • Deposit

    Nevada: Unpublished report on file at NBMG.

  • Deposit

    Nev. Min Assn. Bull. Sept., 1979, Consortium Budgets $14 Million to Open Pinson Gold Mine.

  • Deposit

    The Northern Miner Newspaper, Jan. 3, 1980, "Lacanex Supervising Cordex I Syndicate Feasibility Study."

  • Deposit

    Garside, L.J., 1984, NBMG Field Examination 19 June, 1984, and sample analysis.

  • Deposit

    Crone, W.R., 1982, M.S. Thesis, Univ. Nev. Reno.

  • Deposit

    Crone, W.R., Larsen, T.T., Carpenter, R.H., Chao, T.T., and Sanzolone, R.F., 1984, Jour. of Geochem. Explor., vol. 20, p. 161-178.

  • Deposit

    USGS, 1974, Map GQ-1174.

  • Deposit

    The Mining Record, Aug. 29, 1984.

  • Deposit

    Minesearch Annual, 1984-85, Vol VII, p. 362-367, Metals Economics Group, Boulder, Co.

  • Deposit

    Numerous Clippings, 1982-1984.

  • Deposit

    Geol. Soc. Nevada, 1987, Bulk Mineable Precious Metals Symposium.

  • Deposit

    Bonham, H.F., 1986, NBMG Map 91.

  • Deposit

    NBMG MI-1987, MI-1994-2003.

  • Deposit

    Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Database of significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States; Part A, Database description and analysis; part B, Digital database: U.S.

  • Deposit

    Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-206, 33 p., one 3.5 inch diskette.

  • Deposit

    Geological Society of Nevada, 1989, Geology & Gold Deposits of the Osgood Mtns, NV: Pinson; Preble; Chimney Creek, 104 p.

  • Deposit

    Geological Society of Nevada, 2000, Geology & Ore Deposits of the Getchell Region, Humboldt County, NV: Twin Creeks, Getchell, Pinson, & Preble Mines; FT09, 153 p.

  • Deposit

    Oral History of John Livermore, Online Archive of California.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Preble deposit mineralization consists of disseminated gold wholly within thin-bedded, silicified carbonaceous and calcareous shales and silty limestones of the middle member of the Preble Formation. Mineralization occurs in a broad NE-trending zone of shearing, brecciation, and silicification that roughly parallels bedding, dipping 30 degrees southeast. Mineralization is evenly disseminated in the zone, with grades terminating abruptly at the hanging wall and footwall of the shear zone. Gold is strongly associated with replacement quartz.

White calcite veins are common in limestone beds, and quartz veinlets and stockworks are abundant in shale and phyllite. In the pit the phyllite is light gray, but irregular iron oxide stained zones several meters wide cut the phyllite. Ore mined in the pit consists of both gossan-bearing rock and light gray contorted phyllite. A few 5 cm by 15 cm pods of milky quartz (often drusy), occur in the iron-stained zones. Traces of oxide copper minerals are reportedly present locally. Rotary drilling in the Preble ore body stopped when they entered carbonaceous, unoxidized ore at 60 m deep. This carbonaceous ore that has not been oxidized by supergene processes is reportedly not amenable to cyanidization without pre-treatment.

Reporter information

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.

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

External references

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.