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Mindora Mine

Past Producer in Mineral county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Molybdenum
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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. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Ownership information
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310367
MRDS ID M233189
Record type Site
Current site name Mindora Mine
Alternate or previous names Bigongiar Property

Comments on the site identification

  • This is a new record for the Mindora significant deposit. It incorporates all pertinent material from earlier record M233189 which may be deleted from the database.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.31873, 38.45214 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 2000(meters)
Relative position The Mindora property is located 5 miles west of the town of Luning about 7 miles south of US Highway 95

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Mineral(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Mable Mountain(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Excelsior Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Walker Lake(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Walker Lake(hydrologic unit)

Walker(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 Mineral

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 007N 033E 20 21 Nevada

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary
Molybdenum Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: gold, molybdenite
  • Gangue Materials: quartz

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Quartz Gangue

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 Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metavolcanic Rock
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Triassic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.31873, 38.45214
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Besides the major east-west shear, there are numerous, lesser north-south structures.

Ore body information

  • General form tabular; SOME OF THE VEINS CAN BE TRACED ON THE SURFACE FOR OVER 1000 FEET
    Length 3352.8M
    Width 3.05M

Comments on the geologic information

  • The structure is an apparent laccolith, 2100 feet long and 1100 feet wide. Vertical exposure is around 500 feet. The mineralized area was intruded into a limestone.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes

Mining district

District name Garfield District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Century Gold LLC.
    Year 2006
  • Type Owner
    Owner Bigongiari, C.

Comments on the workings information

  • There are three shafts, 14 adits, and numerous prospects. The main shaft has three working levels. The mine has a total of about 2800 feet of underground workings. The major shaft was sunk on a N 80 degrees E 70 degrees S shear. Many of the adits were driven south from different elevations crosscutting at least three nearly parallel veins. The veins were located by crosscuts at various levels in the mountain. At the top level (level I) the vein is strongly brecciated with iron staining and quartz, with a width of 4 to 10 feet. Level II has a crosscut of 575 feet with a drift of 800 feet and stoping of 400 feet. The third level has a crosscut of 415 feet with 200 feet of drifting.

Comments on other economic factors

  • In 1988 there was a resource estimate of 1.04 million tons of material grading 0.037 ounces of gold per ton and 1.78 ounces of silver per ton. More than 10,000 tons were mined but the dollar amount is not known.

Comments on development

  • The Garfield district was originally discovered in 1882. A variety of deposits occur within the district. Gold, silver, lead and tungsten have been produced from quartz veins. Gold, silver, copper, and tungsten have been produced from skarn deposits. The total production from the district is unknown.

    In the 1980s a small junior resource company, Eureka Resources conducted exploration at Mindora. Eureka had two goals, to develop a reserve at Mindora, and find additional resources near the deposit. A series of short rotary holes successfully delineated a reserve of one million ounces, with grades of 0.037 opt gold, and 1.78 opt silver. The deposit is still open along strike to the west-southwest, and at depth. The reserve is essentially at the surface. A mine plan was developed by Eureka Resources, but a declining gold price in the 1990s prevented the project from going into production. In 1995 Eureka Resources was assessing the molybdenum potential of its Mindora property. It was worked in the early 1980s as a heap-leach, gold-silver operation. The property is also known to contain a potential resource of more than 50 million tons grading 0.11% molybdenum. Eureka Resources was considering drilling four 1,000-foot-deep holes to test the deposit. Subsequently the property was listed as owned by Century Gold LLC, and consisting of 18 unpatented mining claims that surround a one million ton reserve at defined by shallow drilling in the 1980s.
    Eureka Resources was restructured in 1998. The claims on Mindora property was subsequently allowed to lapse. In 2002, Nevada Sunrise LLC located 12 claims on the reserve at Mindora. The Nevada Sunrise claims left open the areas needed for infra-structure in the Eureka Resources mine plan, and the open projections of the Mindora deposit. Century Gold LLC located 18 claims to cover these extensions in early 2003.
    The size of the system is comparable to other systems that host large sedimentary rock hosted gold deposits. Mindora represents an under tested target with the potential to host multi-million ounce deposits.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Garfield district is located within the Walker Lane, a north-northwest trending +300 mile long zone of Tertiary right lateral strike slip faulting. Large gold districts are near Mindora, notably the nearby Paradise Peak mine, and the Santa Fe district.
Mineralization consists of 3 parallel veins extending NE and SW, and can be traced on the surface for more than 1,000 feet. The veins were located by crosscuts at various levels in the mountain. At the top level (level I) the vein is strongly brecciatd with iron staining and quartz, with a width of 4 to 10 feet. Level II has a crosscut of 575 feet with a drift of 800 feet and stoping of 400 feet. The third level has a crosscut of 415 feet with 200 feet of drifting.
Some of the veins can be traced on the surface for over 1000 feet.
At the Mindora property a section of Triassic and Jurassic sedimentary and volcanic rocks are exposed. The lower to mid Mesozoic rocks are intruded by late Cretaceous quartz monzonite dikes, and small plugs of Tertiary andesite and basalt. West of the property, the Mesozoic sequence is overlaid by Tertiary ash flow tuff and tuffaceous sediments. At Mindora, limestone of the Triassic Luning Formation has been re-crystallized, and extensively altered. The alteration at Mindora resembles the alteration in the Luning Formation in the Santa Fe deposit nine miles away to the northeast.
The top -level vein is iron-stained quartz breccia. The other veins are not highly brecciated. A sample was taken from a brecciated vein near the main shaft and open stopes above a line of crosscutting adits to the east.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-81 Royse, Sue E. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Updater 01-JUL-91 Marcus, S. (Doebrich, J.) U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 01-NOV-06 LaPointe, D. D. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Editor 01-SEP-07 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

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