Northumberland Mine

Producer in Nye county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Barium-Barite, Arsenic, Iron

Sections on this page

Identification information
Geographic coordinates
Site location context
Geographic areas
Public Land Survey System information
Commodities
Materials information
Alteration
Mineral occurrence model information
Host and associated rocks
Nearby scientific data
Geologic structures
Ore body information
Controls for ore emplacement
Economic information about the deposit and operations
Mining district
Land status
Ownership information
Bibliographic references
General comments
Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID	10310362
MRDS ID	M231715
Record type	Site
Current site name	Northumberland Mine
Alternate or previous names	Blue Bell, Monitor, Last Chance Group, Cyprus-Northumberland Mine
Related records	10106925

Comments on the site identification

This record covers an area which encompasses the historic Northumberland Mine described by MRDS records # M231715 and W016473 from which all pertinent material has been incorporated into the current record.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates:	-116.84675, 38.95826 (WGS84)
Elevation	2710
Relative position	The Northumberland Mine is located about 65 miles north-northeast of Tonopah.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nye(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Northumberland Pass(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Mount Jefferson(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Tonopah(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Diamond-Monitor Valleys(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country	State	County
United States	Nevada	Nye

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian	Township	Range	Section	Fraction	State
Mount Diablo	013N	045E	24		Nevada
Mount Diablo	013N	046 E	19		Nevada

Comments on the location information

The Northumberland Mine is located on the north slope of Mount Gooding in the Toquima Range near the head of East Northumberland Canyon.

Commodities

Commodity	Importance
Gold	Primary
Silver	Primary
Barium-Barite Critical	Secondary
Arsenic Critical	Tertiary
Iron	Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

Ore Materials: ruby silver, cerargyrite, arsenopyrite, free gold, scorodite
Gangue Materials: quartz, jasperoid,sericite, barite

Materials information

Materials	Type of material
Pyrargyrite	Ore
Cerargyrite	Ore
Arsenopyrite	Ore
Gold	Ore
Scorodite	Ore
Quartz	Ore
Sericite	Ore
Barite	Ore

Alteration

(Local) silicification, sericitization, jasperoid, argillization

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code	173
USGS model code	26a.1
Deposit model name	Sediment-hosted Au
Mark3 model number	17
Model code	172
USGS model code	26a
Deposit model name	Carbonate-hosted Au-Ag
Mark3 model number	15

Host and associated rocks

Host or associated

Host

Rock type

Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale

Rock type qualifier

carbonaceous

Rock unit name

Pogonip Group

Stratigraphic age (youngest)	Early Ordovician
Stratigraphic age (oldest)	Late Cambrian

Host or associated

Host

Rock type

Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale

Rock type qualifier

calcareous

Rock unit name

Pogonip Group

Stratigraphic age (youngest)	Early Ordovician
Stratigraphic age (oldest)	Late Cambrian

Host or associated Host

Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite

Rock unit name Vinini Fm

Stratigraphic age (youngest) Ordovician
Host or associated Host

Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Chemical Sediment > Chert

Rock unit name Vinini Fm

Stratigraphic age (youngest) Ordovician

Host or associated

Host

Rock type

Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Argillite

Rock unit name

Roberts Mountain Fm

Stratigraphic age (youngest)	Early Devonian
Stratigraphic age (oldest)	Wenlock

Host or associated

Host

Rock type

Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone

Rock unit name

Roberts Mountain Fm

Stratigraphic age (youngest)	Early Devonian
Stratigraphic age (oldest)	Wenlock

Host or associated

Associated

Rock type

Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite

Stratigraphic age (youngest)	Jurassic
Stratigraphic age (oldest)	Cretaceous

Host or associated Associated

Rock type Plutonic Rock > Porphyry

Rock type qualifier quartz-eye

Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
Host or associated Associated

Rock type

Rock unit name Northumberland intrusive

Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic

Chronological age 154

Nearby scientific data

(1)	-116.84675, 38.95826	ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure	Regional
Structure description	Major thrust sheets have affected the rocks. A Jurassic granodioritic stock has domed the country rocks.
Type of structure	Local
Structure description	Silicified horizons of the Pogonip group rocks have been extensively fractured and microfractured.

Ore body information

General form tabular to irregular

General form	tabular to irregular

Controls for ore emplacement

Ore is in and adjacent to a thrust fault separating lower plate Roberts Mtn Fm from upper plate Vinini Fm. Calcareous argillite bed is intruded by felsitic porphyry dikes.

Comments on the geologic information

Disseminated gold mineralization occurs largely in a carbonaceous shale bed near the contact with a granitic intrusive. Ore is present in both upper and lower plate rocks along a thrust fault. Siltstone and limestone have been considerably replaced by jasperoid, which is locally hydrothermally brecciated. Late stage veinlets contain coarse barite crystals.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type	Surface-Underground
Development status	Producer
Commodity type	Both
Deposit size	Medium
Significant	Yes
Discovery year	1866
Discoverer	A prospector named Logan
Year of first production	1860
Year of last production	1988
Production years	1860s-1891\n1939-1942\n1981-1988\n

Mining district

District name	Northumberland District

Land status

Ownership category	National Forest
Area name	Tonopah USFS Administrative District

Ownership information

Type Owner

Owner NewWest Resources Group's Nevada Western Gold Corporation

Year 2005
Type Operator

Owner Newmont Mining Corporation

Year 2005

Type	Owner
Owner	NewWest Resources Group's Nevada Western Gold Corporation
Year	2005

Type	Operator
Owner	Newmont Mining Corporation
Year	2005

Comments on the workings information

The mine is developed by a three open pits; with an ore crusher and mill building; all on the site of earlier extensive underground workings consisting of 4000 feet of development at the Blue Bell, and 1600 feet in 3 adits at the Last Chance. Ore was hauled to heap leach pads at the mouth of West Northumberland Canyon in Big Smoky Valley.

Comments on other economic factors

Northumberland production is reported as 327,000 ounces of gold,produced from 1939-42; 950,000 tons of ore per year mined in the period 1981-84; and 29,667 ounces of gold and 130,394 ounces of silver produced in 1988. The mine was idle from 1989-1993.
Reserves in 1988 were reported at 12 million tons grading 0.06 ounces of gold per ton. Other reports estimate a resource of 4 million ounces of gold remaining in the deposit.

Comments on development

The silver deposits were discovered in 1866 and the Monitor-Blue Bell ore was treated at a 10-stamp mill at a spring in West Northumberland Canyon, now marked by stone ruins. Sporadic silver mining continued until 1891. Gold was discovered just east of the old silver workings in 1936 and the Northumberland Mining Co was operating from 1939 until 1942 when the gold mine was closed. Gold exploration was resumed in the 1960s by Homestake , Idaho Mining Co., and others in the 1970s resulting in the mining of the low-grade gold deposit in 1981, first by Amoco (later Cyprus Minerals), with mining continuing off and on to the present at the rate of 3000 tpd heap leached ore. Standard Oil Co. spun off Cyprus in 1985.
Newmont drilled seven widely spaced holes on the property in 1989 to test targets in Tertiary volcanic tuffs and encountered shallow oxide gold mineralization. In 2003, the NewWest Resources Group's Nevada Western Gold Corporation announced that Newmont Mining Corporation had signed a joint venture agreement for the exploration and development of its Northumberland project. Newmont would be pursuing its exploration program at Northumberland and was embarking on a drilling program in 2004.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Deposit

Kleinhampl, F.J. and Ziony, J.I., 1984, NBMG Bull 99-A and B.
Deposit

Kral, V. E., 1950, NBMG Bull 50.
Deposit

Unpublished notes, Nbmg mining district file 42, Item 2.
Deposit

Nevada Mining Association Newsletter, Oct., 1980.
Deposit

Field examination of the property, and discussion, L.J. Garside and H.F. Bonham, Jr.,NBMG, May, July, 1981.
Deposit

Smith, P. and Bentz, J., 1981, NBMG Field Examination.
Deposit

Tingley, J.V. and Quade, Jack, 1986, NBMG OFR 86-14.
Deposit

Goldstein, I.J., 1973, Gold Mineralization at the Northumberland Gold Mine, Nye Co., NV; GSA Abstr. Poster session
Deposit

McKee, E.H., 1974, NBMG Report 19
Deposit

Motter, J.W. and Chapman, P.E., 1984, AEG Field Trip Guidebook.
Deposit

Ott, L.E., 1983, Geol. and Mineralization at Northumberland Gold Mine, Nye Co. Nv; MS Thesis; Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology.
Deposit

NBMG MI-1987
Deposit

NBMG Mining District File 242, news Clippings.
Deposit

NBMG, MI-79 thru MI-84, MI-86 thru MI-03
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. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-206, 33 p., one 3.5 inch diskette.
Deposit

NBMG Map 91, 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
Deposit

Amer. Mines (1989), 1989 thru Amer. Mines (2001), 2000
Deposit

websites - Newmont and NewWest Resources Group.

General comments

Subject category	Comment text
Deposit	There are 3 main veins at the deposit: Lady Cummings, Northumberland, and Detroit veins. Disseminated gold mineralization occurs largely in a carbonaceous shale bed near contact of granitic intrusive. Ore is present in both upper and lower plate rocks along thrust fault. Siltstone and limestone have been considerably replaced by jasperoid, which is locally hydrothermally brecciated. Late-stage veinlets contain coarse barite crystals. Ore is strongly altered, iron-oxide-stained, thin-bedded carbonaceous shale. On the west side of the canyon are highly altered, fractured volcanic rocks. Gold occurs in microfracture fillings of quartz and barite in silicified horizons of the Ordovician Pogonip Group associated with the margins of a monzonite intrusive. Disseminated gold mineralization occurs largely in a carbonaceous shale bed near the contact with a granitic intrusive. Ore is present in both upper and lower plate rocks along a thrust fault. Siltstone and limestone have been considerably replaced by jasperoid, which is locally hydrothermally brecciated. Late stage veinlets contain coarse barite crystals.

Subject category

Comment text

Deposit

There are 3 main veins at the deposit: Lady Cummings, Northumberland, and Detroit veins. Disseminated gold mineralization occurs largely in a carbonaceous shale bed near contact of granitic intrusive. Ore is present in both upper and lower plate rocks along thrust fault. Siltstone and limestone have been considerably replaced by jasperoid, which is locally hydrothermally brecciated. Late-stage veinlets contain coarse barite crystals. Ore is strongly altered, iron-oxide-stained, thin-bedded carbonaceous shale. On the west side of the canyon are highly altered, fractured volcanic rocks. Gold occurs in microfracture fillings of quartz and barite in silicified horizons of the Ordovician Pogonip Group associated with the margins of a monzonite intrusive. Disseminated gold mineralization occurs largely in a carbonaceous shale bed near the contact with a granitic intrusive. Ore is present in both upper and lower plate rocks along a thrust fault. Siltstone and limestone have been considerably replaced by jasperoid, which is locally hydrothermally brecciated. Late stage veinlets contain coarse barite crystals.

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.

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

Newmont Mining Corporation — renamed to Newmont Corporation (2019)
Renamed from Newmont Mining Corporation to Newmont Corporation in early 2020 (after the 2019 merger with Goldcorp).

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.

External references

Wikidata: Q49437163 (Northumberland 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.