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Goldfield District Gold Deposits

Producer in Esmeralda county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Bismuth, Potassium, Antimony, Tin
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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. Geologic structures
  13. Ore body information
  14. Controls for ore emplacement
  15. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  16. Mining district
  17. Land status
  18. Ownership information
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310328
MRDS ID W002900
Record type District
Current site name Goldfield District Gold Deposits
Alternate or previous names Jumbo, Mohawk No. 1 and No. 2, Combination, Combination No. 2 and No. 3, January, February, Hazel Queen, Rustler Fraction, Slim Jim Fraction, Goldwedge, Lucky Boy, Red Top, Grizzly Bear, Clermont, Vinegorone, Miss Jessie, Laguna, Last Chance, Golconda, Wonder, Goldstone, Mammoth, Red Boy, Commonwealth, Blue Bull, Atlanta, C.O.D., Goldfield Merger
Related records 10310417, 10310418, 10310419, 60001656

Comments on the site identification

  • This new record is for the historic Goldfield District centered on the town of Goldfield. It contains material from the older MRDS record W002900 for the Goldfield District as well as material from individual mine records and other sources.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -117.23341, 37.71023 (WGS84)
Elevation 1830
Relative position Goldfield is located about 28 miles south of Tonopah, near the Nye-Esmeralda county line.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Esmeralda(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Goldfield(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Goldfield(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Goldfield(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Ralston-Stone Cabin Valleys(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Esmeralda

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 002S 042E 36 Nevada
Mount Diablo 002S 043E 31 Nevada
Mount Diablo 003S 042E 01 Nevada
Mount Diablo 003S 043E 06 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The most productive mines are concentrated in an area just east of the center of the town of Goldfield .

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Copper Secondary
Lead Secondary
Bismuth Critical Tertiary
Potassium Tertiary
Antimony Critical Tertiary
Tin Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Commodity Info: Some early ore averaged $6000 to $7000 per ton in gold values.
  • Ore Materials: pyrite, bismuthinite, goldfieldite, native gold, native silver (rare)
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, alunite, barite, gypsum, limonite, kaolinite, and sulfide minerals

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Pyrite Ore
Bismuthinite Ore
Goldfieldite Ore
Gold Ore
Silver Ore
Quartz Gangue
Alunite Gangue
Barite Gangue
Gypsum Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Kaolinite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) silicification, hydrothermal; oxidation

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 154
USGS model code 25e
Deposit model name Epithermal quartz-alunite Au
Mark3 model number 38

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Dacite
    Rock type qualifier dacite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock unit name Milltown
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock type qualifier porphyritic
    Rock unit name Milltown
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier rhyolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
    Rock type qualifier siliceous
    Rock unit name El Dorado
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Cambrian
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name El Dorado
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Cambrian
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name El Dorado
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Cambrian
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Alkali-Granite (Alaskite)
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock
    Rock type qualifier lacustrine
    Rock unit name Siebert Fm
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Dacite
    Rock type qualifier dacite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier rhyolite
    Rock unit name El Dorado
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt
    Rock type qualifier basalt
    Rock unit name Malpais Basalt
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -117.23341, 37.71023
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description The N-S-trending Columbia Mountain Fault, with left lateral offsets at intersections with E-W-trending faults (800-900 feet of offset).
Type of structure Regional
Structure description Tertiary deposits, domed and faulted post Miocene: steeply dipping N-S and E-W faults,

Ore body information

  • General form irregular, tabular or knobs

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Most ore was found in topographically prominent silicified zones. Mineralization was genetically related to the collapsed caldera rim of a volcanic center.
    Some ore was concentrated at offsets along the Columbia Mt fault.

Comments on the geologic information

  • Principal structure: Columbia Mt Fault, N-S, with left lateral offsets at intersections with E-W faults (800-900 ft offset) ore found at W turns of main fault (N 20 deg W). Lake deposits (Siebert Formation) 1000' thick. El Dorado siliceous shale, limestone. Malpais basalt. Rhyolite, dacite, andesite (post lacustrine). Pre-lacustrine volcanic rocks host the veins.
    Abstract for Vikre et al poster: the purpose of this investigation was to determine if 40Ar/39Ar ages, chemical compositions and stable isotope compositions of magmatic hydrothermal alunites throughout the Goldfield district are useful in distinguishing mineralized ledges. Although alunites differ in age and composition, no single characteristic uniquely separates alunites in mineralized ledges in the main district from those associated with no known mineralization. However, mineralized ledge alunites are ~20.3 to 19.8 Ma, and have relatively homogeneous K/Na/Ca compositions, whereas alunites from smaller deposits and unmineralized ledges may be older or younger, and have more variable K/Na/Ca compositions. In addition, disequilibrium sulfur isotope (alunite-pyrite) temperatures at Preble Mountain contrast with sulfur isotope temperatures in main district mineralized ledges that are broadly similar to fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Large
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1902
Discoverer Harry Stimler & W.M. Marsh
Year of first production 1904
Year of last production 1996
Production years 1904-1996

Mining district

District name Goldfield District:

Land status

Ownership category Private
Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Tonopah BLM administrative district

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner MULTIPLE

Comments on the workings information

  • The mines of the Goldfield District were developed by hundreds of thousands of feet of underground workings as well as by open pits.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Production from Goldfield?s mines between 1903 and 1945 was 4.19 million ounces of gold and 1.45 million ounces of silver. Production between 1989 and 1996 was : 26,917 ounces of gold and 1549 ounces of silver.
    Goldfield's mines produced more than $86 million.
    The Goldfield district, Esmeralda County, Nevada, produced 4.2 Moz Au, 1.5 Moz Ag, and 3,800 tons Cu during the early part of the twentieth century.
    Goldfield is considered by the USGS to be one of the ?Giant Porphyry-Related Metal Camps of the World?

Comments on development

  • Gold was discovered at Goldfield in 1902, its year of incorporation.
    The first claims at Goldfield were staked by Billy Marsh and Harry Stimler late in 1902 on Columbia Mountain, 30 miles due south of Tonopah. By early in 1903 a tent camp had formed on the claim, and in October 1903 the Goldfield Townsite Company platted the new town about halfway between the mines at Columbia Mountain and Malpais Mesa to the west. Goldfield experienced very rapid growth; by 1906 more than 150 buildings were going up monthly, and the town had a population of over 15,000. Despite a miners stike and a nation-wide financial panic in 1907, Goldfield continued to produce gold ore, and by 1908 Goldfield was Nevada?s largest city with a population of more than 20,000 people.

    By 1904 the Goldfield district produced about 800 tons of ore, valued at $2,300,000, 30% of the state's production that year.
    Goldfield reached a peak population of about 30,000 people in 1906 and in 1907 became the county seatThe mines continued to do well with a peak production of $11 million attained in 1910. In 1913 heavy rains resulted in flash floods sweeping through Goldfield, and in 1923 a fire wiped out 53 square blocks of the city. These events combined with low metal prices resulted in mine closures and the gradual decline of the once great city.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The majority of Goldfield?s historic production was derived from a small number of numerous silicified, sub-linear fissures, or ledges, within a 100+ km2 area of altered Miocene volcanic and pre-Tertiary rocks. Ledges that contain the most ore consist of microcrystalline quartz that replaced andesites and rhyolites, and internal breccias with
multiple generations of clasts encrusted and replaced by gold, pyrite, and a large number of Cu-As-Sb-Au-Ag-Bi-Sn-Te-Se minerals (e.g., enargite-luzonite, famatinite, goldfieldite, bismuthinite, and calaverite), minor sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite, alunite, kaolinite, dickite, and pyrophyllite. Ledges are flanked by broad selvages of altered andesite consisting of proximal to distal quartz?alunite?kaolinite+pyrite, quartz+kaolinite+K-mica+pyrite, montmorillonite+pyrite, and, calcite+chlorite?, respectively. More than 95% of district production came from a small area, the ?main district?, near the town of Goldfield.
Prominent lithologies in the district are Miocene rhyolites, latites and andesites, which overlie Mesozoic and Paleozoic granitic and sedimentary rocks. Most production came from silicified, sub-linear fissures, or ledges, in Milltown Andesite and porphyritic andesite (dacite of Ransome, 1909; porphyritic rhyodacite of Ashley, 1974). Ledges consist mainly of microcrystalline quartz that has replaced andesites. Internal breccias constituted most ore and consist of multiple generations of clasts encrusted and replaced by gold, pyrite, and a large number of Cu-As-Sb-Ag-Bi-Sn-Te-Se minerals (e.g., enargite-luzonite, famatinite, goldfieldite, bisthmuthinite, calverite), minor sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite, alunite, kaolinite, and pyrophyllite. Ledges commonly consist of en echelon segments that form a broadly elliptical pattern in the district. Contiguous ledge segments are generally meters to tens of meters in length by meters in width. Ledges are flanked by broad selvages of altered andesite consisting of proximal to distal quartz?alunite?kaolinite+pyrite, quartz+kaolinite+K-mica+pyrite, montmorillonite+pyrite, and, calcite+chlorite? pyrite, respectively. The abundance of ledges coupled with coalescing alteration selvages resulted in a very large volume (tens of km3) of altered rocks in the district.

Extremely rich Ore shoots show concentric banding.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAR-1975 LaPointe, D. D. U.S. Geological Survey
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.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Nevada resources

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