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Atlanta Mine

Producer in Lincoln county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Uranium, Iron, Manganese
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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 10310401
MRDS ID W031572
Record type Site
Current site name Atlanta Mine
Alternate or previous names Atlanta Home Claim, Atlanta Nos. 1-3 Claim, Atlanta Strip No. 1 Claim, Hillside Claim, Sparrow Hawk Claim, Pactolion Fraction Claim, Belle Claim, Standard Slag Mine
Related records 10080425

Comments on the site identification

  • This record is a new record that includes all material in earlier MRDS record W031572 as well as additional new information.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -114.32251, 38.46578 (WGS84)
Elevation 2090
Relative position The Atlanta Mine is located 50 miles northeast of Pioche, Nevada.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Lincoln(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Atlanta(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Wilson Creek Range(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lund(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Spring-Steptoe Valleys(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(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 Lincoln

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 007N 068E 14 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Atlanta Mine is located at the north end of the Wilson Creek Range about 0.5 mile east of Atlanta site.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Uranium Tertiary
Iron Tertiary
Manganese Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: native gold
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, pyrite, chert, jasper, limonite, manganese oxides, clay, alunite

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Quartz Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Chert Gangue
Jasper Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Clay Gangue
Alunite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Alteration consists of silicification (jasperoid formation) and oxidation. Adjacent to the silicified zone, intracaldera volcanic rocks are altered to illite with some pyrite. Dolomite within the caldera wall is partly recrystallized and contains barite, calcite, and disseminated hematite. Weathering of pyrite in altered rocks produced supergene kaolinite alteration, which overprints much of the mineralized area.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 104
USGS model code 25a
Deposit model name Hot-spring Au-Ag
Mark3 model number 45

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Tank Hill Limestone
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Ordovician
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock unit name Eureka Quartzite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Ordovician
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Middle Ordovician
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier ash-flow tuff
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff > Ash-Flow Tuff
    Rock type qualifier rhyolitic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Volcanic Breccia (Agglomerate)
    Rock type qualifier rhyolitic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock unit name Escalante Desert Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock type qualifier rhyolitic
    Rock unit name Escalante Desert Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyodacite
    Rock unit name Escalante Desert Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock unit name Escalante Desert Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Oligocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -114.32251, 38.46578
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Basin-and-Range-style extension produced widely spaced normal faults that clearly cut all caldera-related structures and volcanic units, including the 28 Ma Ryan Spring Formation and some Quaternary gravels.
Type of structure Local
Structure description Faults and breccia zones associated with the intersection of two caldera systems; the Atlanta Fault Zone, Mine Fault, and the Gold Fault. Ore is associated with a north-south trending caldera rim fracture.

Ore body information

  • General form pipe

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Atlanta?s gold mineralization is structurally controlled, associated with caldera collapse features. Locally, gold occurs in faults and a silicified breccia zone.

Comments on the geologic information

  • The stratigraphy of the district includes Ordovician and Silurian limestone, quartzite, and dolomite that are unconformably overlain by five Tertiary ash-flow tuffs, associated lavas, and sedimentary deposits. The oldest of these eruptions occurred about 33 Ma from a caldera approximately 35 km southeast of the district, producing rhyolite lavas and bedded tuffs of the Escalante Desert Formation in this area. The next two tuffs erupted from calderas that are partly exposed in the Atlanta district the Wah Wah Springs Formation overlies the Escalante Desert Formation, and was erupted from the Indian Peak caldera about 29.5 Ma. This formation includes andesite lavas, a voluminous crystal-rich dacite ash-flow tuff, tuff dikes that are believed to be feeders for the ash-flow tuff eruption, a granodiorite porphyry plug, collapse breccias and sedimentary deposits along the caldera margin. All members of this formation are hydrothermally altered to varying degrees. Unmineralized rhyolite ash-flow tuff of the Ryan Spring Formation overlies the Wah Wah Springs Formation.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1869
Year of first production 1870
Year of last production 1985
Production years 1871-1878, 1906-1915, 1934-1938, 1948, 1953-1955, 1966-1985

Mining district

District name Atlanta (Silver Park, Silver Springs) District

Land status

Ownership category Private
Area name Ely BLM administrative district

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Golden Chief Resources, Inc.
    Year 2001

Comments on the workings information

  • Underground workings include two shafts, a raise, a winze, crosscuts, and drifts. The open pit is south of the main shaft.

Comments on other economic factors

  • The Atlanta mine in Lincoln County, NV, produced over 100,000 ounces of gold during the time period 1870-1985. Current inferred plus drill-indicated gold resources are about 460,000 ounces of gold and 3,900,000 ounces of silver at a cutoff grade of 0.02 ounces of gold per ton. Golden Chief reported measured reserves on the property as 300,000 ounces of gold and 3 million ounces of silver.

    Total production in the 1970s was approximately 120,000 ounces of gold (1.5 million tons grading 0.08 opt Au) when the Standard Slag Company was the operator.

Comments on development

  • The Atlanta mine produced over 100,000 ounces of gold during the time period 1870-1985, mostly from an open-pit mine that was reactivated by the Standard Slag Company in a joint venture with Bob Cat Properties, Inc. in fall of 1974. Production from this operation began in 1975 and lasted through much of the 1980s. Capacity of the cyanide plant was gradually increased from 300 tpd to an average of 570 tpd in 1982. The property was listed as an active open pit mine and mill in 1983 employing a total of 45 persons. In 1996, Golden Chief Resources planned to drill eight holes on the Atlanta Gold property to test gold mineralization trending from the main Atlanta pit to the south and southeast. The property was still owned in 2001 by Golden Chief Resources, Inc.
    In August 2000, Franc-Or Resources Corporation announced that the Cordilleran Nevada syndicate, of which it is a forty percent partner, signed a lease agreement on the ground adjoining its Atlanta claim block in east-central Nevada. The lease will add 183 unpatented claims to the Cordilleran property, bringing the total land position to 447 unpatented claims. The lease does not include the 26 unpatented and 13 patented claims that cover the existing pit, dumps, and milling facilities

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Garside, L. J., 1973, Radioactive Mineral Occurrences in Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines Bulletin 81, P. 69.

  • Deposit

    Tschantz, C. M., Pampeyan, E. H., 1970, Geology and Mineral Deposits of Lincoln Co., Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines Bulletin 73, pp. 162- 163.

  • Deposit

    Hill, J., 1916, USGS Bull 648.

  • Deposit

    Hulse, P., 1978, Gold Operations at the Atlanta Mine, Min. Eng, vol. 30, Sept, 1978, p. 1299-1301.

  • Deposit

    Meyers, P. W., 1915, Developments at Atlanta, Nevada; Eng. and Min. Jour, vol. 99, no. 12, p. 541-542.

  • Deposit

    NBMG mining district file 164, items 2, 3, 4, 6, 8,9

  • Deposit

    Cox, John W., 1981, Geology and Mineralization of the Atlanta District, Lincoln County, Nevada; M. S. Thesis, Univ. of Nevada, Reno.

  • Deposit

    NBMG, 1994, MI-1993

  • Deposit

    LaBerge, Rene D.,1995, Epithermal gold mineralization related to caldera volcanism at the Atlanta District, east-central Nevada; in Geology and ore deposits of the American Cordillera; symposium proceedings, Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States (USA), Coyner, Alan R; Fahey, Patrick L., eds.

  • 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

    S. Olmore, 2005, The Atlanta Gold Mine, Lincoln County, NV - Mineralization and Exploration Potential: 2005 SME Annual Meeting & Exhibit, February 28 - March 2; Salt Lake City, Utah.

  • Deposit

    Northern Miner, 6/3/96

  • Deposit

    NBMG MI-1996.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Mineralization occurs in silicified breccia and jasperoid, adjacent to a low-angle normal fault separating Oligocene ash-flow tuffs and Ordovician carbonate rocks. Potential exists for disseminated mineralization in fractured ash-flow tuffs and deep jasperoids in carbonate rocks beneath the Atlanta open pit. Prominent irregular jasperoid bodies, pods and lenses, commonly accompanied by either iron or manganese oxides, occur along the Atlanta ore zone that dips about 45 SW. In places, breccia pipes and fault zones in the dolomite overlying the Eureka quartzite are extensively silicified into drusy quartz and brecciated greenish-gray jasperoid. Commonly these brecciated, mineralized zones carry sub-microscopic gold, silver minerals, and minor amounts of uranium. The ore deposit contains brecciated fragments of limestone, quartzite, volcanic rocks, and jasperoid, cemented by quartz. Gold is submicroscopic.
The Atlanta mine is situated near the intersection of two caldera systems. The older Indian Peak caldera is bounded by a fault zone that dips 70-90 degrees into the caldera, and is exposed in the Atlanta open-pit gold mine. The caldera-bounding fault is a one- to six-meter-wide breccia zone associated with tuff dikes that has accommodated over 500 m of subsidence of the caldera floor. South of the mine area, the location of Indian Peak caldera margin is constrained by exposures of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks outside the caldera and thick collapse breccias containing large blocks of Paleozoic rocks, which thin into the caldera. The Indian Peak caldera margin is truncated by the Ryan Spring caldera near the center of the district. The fault zone that bounds the Indian Peak caldera locally contains ore-grade gold, silver, and uranium mineralization within silicified breccias. Silica-pyrite mineralization is localized along the caldera-bounding fault zone and near tuff dikes within the Atlanta mine.
Ore occurred in a hematite-rich silicified breccia of limestone and Tertiary volcanic rocks, along a north-south trending caldera rim fracture.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-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.

External references

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.