Nevada Packard Mine

Producer in Pershing county in Nevada, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Copper, Antimony, Arsenic, Barium-Barite, Lead
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 10310356
MRDS ID M060377
Record type Site
Current site name Nevada Packard Mine
Alternate or previous names Packard Mine
Related records 10042552, 10247303

Comments on the site identification

  • This record includes material from MRDS record M060377, an earlier record for the deposit.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.17986, 40.26157 (WGS84)
Elevation 1650
Relative position The drill road pattern and workings of the Nevada Packard mine property are visible from Interstate 80 on the hill below the Coeur Rochester Mine dumps and to the east. Nevada Packard is located about 1.5 miles south of the Coeur Rochester pit.\n\n

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pershing(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Rochester(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Carson Desert(hydrologic unit)

Carson(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Lahontan(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 Pershing

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 028N 034E 28 29 32 33 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The mine is located one mile south of Weaver Hill.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Secondary
Copper Tertiary
Antimony Critical Tertiary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary
Barium-Barite Critical Tertiary
Lead Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: cerargyrite, gold; free gold; chalcopyrite, galena, copper oxides
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, pyrite, sericite, potassium feldspar

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cerargyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Gold Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Quartz Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Sericite Gangue
Feldspar Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Host rocks are sericitized.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 150
USGS model code 25c
Deposit model name Epithermal vein, Comstock
Mark3 model number 16

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock unit name Weaver Rhyolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cretaceous

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.17986, 40.26157

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Rocks in the range are folded into a broad anticline, broken by major north-trending faults and cross faults.
Type of structure Local
Structure description The mine area is cut by NE-trending major fault zones including the Packard Mine fault.

Ore body information

  • General form tabular to irregular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore is controlled by faults, and fissures and sheeting

Comments on the geologic information

  • The silver values are reportedly shallow (to about 30 feet). Silver reportedly occurs in haloids, but there is no modern study to prove this.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1912
Year of first production 1890
Year of last production 1983

Mining district

District name Rochester District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name WInnnemucca BLM Administrative District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., Inc.
    Year 2004

Comments on the workings information

  • The Nevada Packard Mine was developed by a series of drift tunnels, a number of large open cuts and shafts; several small open pits, and heap leach pads.

Comments on other economic factors

  • In 2002, Nevada Packard contained reserves of 6 million tons grading 2.1 opt silver and 0.009 opt gold in a similar geologic environment to the Rochester area.
    Coeur?s Nevada Packard Deposit hosts reserves of 9.5 million ounces of silver (2004).

Comments on development

  • Nevada Packard is an old mining area that was mined between the 1890s and 1970s. Ore was discovered on the historic Nevada Packard mine property in 1912, but the workings closed down in 1923. After a test heap leach of 100,000 tons of both newly-mined and dump material was done in 1981, Lodestar Energy announced in 1983 that it would be conducting a heap-leach operation at the Nevada Packard property. Full-scale production of 750,000 tons/year was slated to begin in July 1983. In October, 1983, Lodestar announced that they would be pouring 5000 ounces of silver a week in November. The open pit heap leach mine was leased to D. Z. Exploration of Bozeman, MT and Nevada Packard joint venture of Lovelock, NV. In Sept, 1984, the project was in caretaker status with attempts being made to find joint venture partner or lessees.
    Coeur Rochester identified Nevada Packard as a viable ore body target in 1995 and acquired the property in 1999 as a low cost silver reserve with expansion potential. In 2000 Coeur drilled 73 holes totaling 23,920 feet, extending the known mineralization laterally and at depth. Drilling expanded the reserves, and also encountered a couple of high-grade intervals just south of the existing pit. Production was scheduled to begin in 2002. Coeur's Nevada Packard mine expansion was approved by the BLM in 2003.
    During exploration, it was discovered that the mine had become home to a species of bats called Townsend's big-eared bats. Coeur began relocating the bats, under the leadership of its environmental management department, and won awards for the program.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Quartz stockwork is abundant, sericitization is locally prevalent, but K-spar-quartz alteration predominates in most rock. Sheeting in rhyolite averages N20E, dip 75 SW. Locally some flat structures with abundant sericite dip as low as 15 degrees. Mineralized zones in Weaver Rhyolite follow the N20E, 75SW trend of sheeting. Quartz-sulfide stockworks are abundant and presumably control ore distribution. Both oxide copper and chalcopyrite occur but are not abundant. More than 99% of the ore in the pit is oxidized. Sulfide is more abundant in the old pit along the contact lode. Ore averages between 1-2 ounces of silver per ton with a tace of gold. Unoxidized rock contains abundant disseminated pyrite, minor chalcopyrite, and some sulfides in quartz veinlets and arsenic sulfide stockworks.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-2004 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

Authoritative Nevada resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.