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Fire Creek Mine

Producer in Lander county in Nevada, 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. 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. Ownership information
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310332
MRDS ID W702076
Record type Site
Current site name Fire Creek Mine
Related records 10086147

Comments on the site identification

  • This record contains all information from the earlier MRDS record W702076 for this mine plus additional material.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -116.65065, 40.46352 (WGS84)
Elevation 1780
Relative position The mine is located approximately ten miles northwest of the Pipeline deposit of Placer-Dome and five miles southeast of the Mule Canyon deposit,

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Lander(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Mud Spring Gulch(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Crescent Valley(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Winnemucca(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle 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 Lander

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 30N 47E 15 22 NE Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The mine is located about 3 miles east of Crescent Valley.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: free gold

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Miocene

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description shear zone

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • shear zone

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1979
Year of first production 1981
Year of last production 1983
Production years 1981-1983

Mining district

District name Bullion District (northeast)

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Klondex Mines Ltd.
    Year 2006

Comments on the workings information

  • open pit mine

Comments on other economic factors

  • In 1991 the property as reported to contain a mineable oxide resource: of 58,000 ounces of gold with an in-situ geological resource of 148,000 ounces of gold.

    In 2006, Klondex Mines Ltd. reported that its 100%-owned Fire Creek gold property contains an Indicated Mineral Resource estimated at 1,636,555 tonnes grading 19.88 grams per tonne (0.576 oz/ton) containing 1,045,738 oz of gold in two separate mineral zones. The ore was defined through extensive drill campaigns carried out over the past 3 years.
    In a Sept., 2006 press release, Klondex Mines Ltd. announced that based on recent drill results at the Fire Creek Project, resources aggregate 1,760,000 tons of ore grading 0.582 opt Au indicated. (was 556,300 tons grading 0.720 opt Au inferred)

    The Fire Creek mine produced a total of 767 ounces of gold in 1983-84 ina test leach.

Comments on development

  • Bullion Monarch optioned the Fire Creek property to Klondex Mines in May, 1979, who continued mapping assaying and drilling. In 1980, Klondex was doing stripping and drilling and announced expanded reserves. Tonnage and grade was announced in 1981 and plans for a pilot heap leach, in May 1981. First gold was poured in Nov., 1981 with full scale mining and production planned for spring of 1982. Klondex then decided to suspend gold production at Fire Creek in early 1982 due to economic conditions. In Dec., 1982, Minex Resources announced plans to explore and develop Fire Creek under an agreement with Klondex with mining to begin in spring, 1983. Minex announced startup of the heap-leach in Sept., 1983, and first pour was in Oct., 1983. Production continued into 1984. Exploratory drilling in summer, 1984, indicated presence of additional reserves higher up on Fire Creek Mountain. Heap leach tests produced about 1000 oz gold au confirming leachability of ore and viability of the mine. Several other targets near ore zone were discovered in 1986. In Oct 1986, Klondex completed arrangements with Alma American Mining Corp to drill and develop the property. Another test heap leach in Nov., 1986 was successful.
    In 2006, Klondex Mines Ltd. reported that on its 100%-owned Fire Creek gold property contains an Indicated Mineral Resource estimated at 1,636,555 tonnes grading 19.88 grams per tonne (0.576 oz/ton) containing 1,045,738 oz of gold in two separate mineral zones. The ore was defined through extensive drill campaigns carried out over the past 3 years.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Gold is in high-angle NNW-trending structures (breccias and quartz-carbonate veins) hosted in basalts and
andesites of Miocene Age.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-2006 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.

Current status (per MSHA)

StatusAbandoned since 03/31/2025
MSHA mine ID2602691
Mine name (MSHA)Fire Creek
Current operatorKlondex Gold & Silver Mining Company
Current controller (parent)Hecla Mining Company
Mine typeUnderground (Metal / non-metal)

Inferred by coordinate + name similarity (363 m, 1.00 match). Confirm against MSHA if precision matters — non-USGS-curated cross-references may occasionally point at a neighbouring mine.

Open MSHA's Mine Data Retrieval System for inspections, accidents, and violations for this mine.

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.