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Leeville Mine Deposits

Producer in Eureka county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Mercury, Silver, Zinc, Lead, Copper, Thallium
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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 10310420
Record type Site
Current site name Leeville Mine Deposits
Alternate or previous names West Leeville Orebody, Four Corners orebody, Turf orebody
Related records 10040611, 10310467

Comments on the site identification

  • Leeville will be Newmont's first underground mine in Nevada accessed via a shaft. The mine consists of three distinct deposits called West Leeville, Four Corners, and Turf.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -116.32399, 40.91184 (WGS84)
Elevation 1950
Relative position The mine area is located near the western crest of the Tuscarora Mountains, about 20 miles northwest of Carlin, NV.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Eureka(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Rodeo Creek NE(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Battle Mountain(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)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Eureka

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 035N 050E 02 10 11 12 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The West Leeville deposit is located about a mile north of the main Carlin Mine, and the Turf, Four Corners are located within a half mile north and west of West Leeville. The historic Big Six Mine lies within a mile to the east of the Leeville Mine deposits the deposit is located beneath the western flank of the mainTuscarora Mountains at the eastern margin of Little Boulder Basin.
    UTM is to central portion of the West Leeville orebody surface projection.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Mercury Secondary
Silver Secondary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Lead Tertiary
Copper Tertiary
Thallium Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: gold
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, dolomite, kaolinite, illite, montmorillonite, alunite, K-feldspar and pyrite

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Quartz Gangue
Dolomite Gangue
Kaolinite Gangue
Illite Gangue
Montmorillonite Gangue
Alunite Gangue
Feldspar Gangue
Pyrite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Decalcification and silicification are the dominant alteration types.

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock type qualifier impure silty
    Rock unit name Popovich Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Devonian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Dolomite
    Rock type qualifier impure silty
    Rock unit name Popovich Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Devonian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type
    Rock unit name Roberts Mountains Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Devonian
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Wenlock
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granodiorite
    Rock unit name Little Boulder Basin granodiorite stock
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic
    Chronological age 153
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type
    Rock unit name Vivian sills

Nearby scientific data

(1) -116.32399, 40.91184
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Several major faults and fault zones in the North Lynn subdistrict were developed during multiple tectonic episodes ranging from Mississippian to late Tertiary in age. These main structures include: the Roberts Mountains thrust; Lynn fault; Basin Bounding fault; Four Corners structural corridor; Vivian Gulch fault; Silbar fault, and Turf fault. The northeast-striking, northwest-dipping Lynn Fault is the easternmost structure within the Turf deposit. It is an important mineral control at the historic Big 6 mine workings. Important stuctures at West Leeville are the northwest-striking Rodeo Creek fault and the West Bounding fault.
Type of structure Regional
Structure description The deposit formed in the lower plate of the Roberts Mountains thrust.
The Leeville mine area is located on the Carlin trend, and formed in the lower plate of the Roberts Mountains thrust, in the Lynn window. Some workers believe the windows in the thrust are due to doming of the Paleozoic sediments by intrusions at depth. Leeville lies near the crest of the N-NW- striking Tuscarora Mountains Anticline. The regional scale Leeville fault system (the "Leeville Corridor") consists of numerous high angle fault strands that strike NNW and form an important ore-controlling feature along the eastern edge of mineralization.

Ore body information

  • General form tabular flatlying lenses

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore formation at West Leeville is confined to 2 zones of decalcified upper Roberts Mountains Formation where relatively impermeable micrite of the Popovich Limestone capped the stratabound gold system in the underlying Roberts Mountains Formation. Although mineralization at West Leeville is stratabound, northeast- and northwest-striking high-angle faults acted as both fluid conduits and boundaries to gold deposition.
    Gold mineralization in the Turf deposit is controlled primarily by the north-striking, 50-60.W-dipping Turf fault and by ancillary parallel structures in the footwall of the Turf fault. The Turf fault was the principal conduit for the circulation of hydrothermal fluids in the mineralizing system.

Comments on the geologic information

  • At West Leeville, the entire section of Popovich limestone is silicified over the core of the deposit. The silicified Popovich limestone at West Leeville is generally barren of gold and anomalous in base metals, which suggests early, pre-gold deposition of base metals and quartz. Early silicification is also suggested by the relationships of strong silicification to high-grade gold mineralization.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1994
Discoverer Newmont Gold
Year of first production 2005

Mining district

District name Carlin District
District name North Lynn subdistrict
District name Lynn District
District name Carlin Trend

Land status

Ownership category Private
Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Elko Administrative District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Newmont, the Gold Company
    Year 2004

Comments on the workings information

  • Leeville will be Newmont's first underground mine in Nevada accessed via a shaft. The mine plan outlines ramps and drifts to mine three distinct deposits called West Leeville, Four Corners and Turf, all located approximately 1,400 to 2,100 feet below surface. Leeville is being developed as an underground mine accessible via the Leeville Drift. Shaft-accessible underground mine will use underhand cut and fill and long-hole stoping mining methods Refractory ore will be processed through the Carlin roaster. The average mining rate will be 3,500 tons per day. The proposed Leeville Project will include surface support facilities, access and haul roads, a waste rock facility, stockpiles, power lines, dewatering wells, pipelines, and water treatment facilities. Proposed mining operations and dewatering would last for approximately 18 years, through the year 2020. Surface disturbance is anticipated on approximately 453 acres of public land and 33 acres of private land.

Comments on other economic factors

  • At the end of 2002, Newmont reported Leeville?s reserves were 2.7 million ounces with an expected seven-year mine life. Mineralized material not in reserves at that time was reported at 2.6 million tons grading 0.5 ounces of gold per ton.
    Initial production from the Leeville Mine is expected in the fourth quarter of 2005 at the rate of 550,000 to 600,000 ounces per year at total cash costs of between $195 and $205 per ounce.
    The Turf deposit as described in 2002 is a gold resource of approximately 1.22 million ounces (38 t) with an average undiluted gold grade of 0.42 ounces of gold per ton (14.4 grams of gold per tonne) and a sulfide content of 3-4%. At that time, Turf was not yet included in Newmont?s mine plan.
    End of 2002 reserves: for Leeville were 2.7 million ounces (12/31/02)plus mineralized material not in reserves: 2.6 million tons grading 0.5 ounces of gold per ton.

Comments on development

  • In 1907, small scale gold placer mining began along Lynn Creek and a series of narrow auriferous quartz veins were discovered approximately 1.5 km north of the Carlin orebodies. These veins were developed as the Big Six Mine, located just east of Leeville, and achieved maximum production of about 500 oz. of gold between 1935 and 1936. The main Carlin orebodies to the south were discovered in 1962, and were mined until 1987.
    In 1992 and 1993, Newmont identified the Leeville Corridor, an extensive zone of high-grade gold mineralization at depths of 1,500 to 2,000 feet below the surface and extending 1.5 miles northwest from the Carlin deposit. In 1994, exploration drilling targeted the footwall of a north-northeast striking fault zone, the West Bounding fault, along the western margin of the Leeville Corridor and intersected the West Leeville deposit. Most of the West Leeville deposit occurs within the High Desert property, where Newmont was majority interest holder and operator of a joint venture with High Desert Minerals Corporation from 1992 through 1995. After discovery of the West Leeville deposit, Barrick Gold Corporation bought High Desert's 40% interest in the Venture in 1995. During 1995 and 1996, infill drilling and prefeasiblity studies were conducted. In 1999, Newmont acquired Barrick's interest in the West Leeville deposit and High Desert property, as a result of an asset exchange between the two companies. Turf was discovered in 1994 by Newmont Exploration Ltd. during the first drill test of the Four
    Corners structural corridor.
    Leeville will be Newmont's first underground mine in Nevada accessed via a shaft. The mine plan outlines ramps and drifts to mine three distinct deposits called West Leeville, Four Corners and Turf, all located approximately 1,400 to 2,100 feet below surface. Development at Leeville commenced in 2002 with the beginning of an almost mile-long drift from the Carlin underground mine, northward to the Leeville deposit. This drift serves as an exploration platform and as secondary access to Leeville.In early 2003, sinking of the ventilation shaft and the adjacent production shaft to an ultimate depth of 1,875 feet began. The project is currently on budget and on schedule for fourth quarter of 2005 gold production.
    Capital expenditures for the project include a surface de-watering system, offices, shaft hoisting systems, surface backfill plant and underground mining support facilities.
    Newmont expected to begin producing ore from Leeville toward the end of 2005, and the underground mine will produce 550,000 - 600,000 ounces of gold per year through 2020 with an average mining rate of 3,500 tons per day. Production will come from three deposits, West Leeville, Four Corners, and Turf, and the refractory ore will be trucked to Newmont?s roaster for processing. In March, 2003, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection issued a Water Pollution Control Permit to Newmont Mining Company authorizing the construction, operation, and closure of the Leeville mining facilities.
    By early 2006, Newmont Mining?s Leeville underground operation began production and is scheduled to produce approximately 600,000 ounces of gold per year.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    USBM, 1975, Mineral Industry Surveys: USBM Mercury Quarterly

  • Deposit

    Noble, L.L., Radtke, A.S., 1978, Geology of the Carlin Disseminated Replacement Gold Deposit, Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Report 32, p. 40-44.

  • Deposit

    Roberts, R.J., et al., 1967, Geology and Mineral Resources of Eureka County, Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 64.

  • Deposit

    Radtke A.S. and Dickinson, F.W., 1976, Structural Controls and Genesis of Carlin Type Deposits: Open-File Report 76-I-39.

  • Deposit

    US Bureau of Mines (Winnemucca) MILS No. 299, Ref. No. 3201100027, Mineral Property File 30.016.

  • Deposit

    Roberts, R.J., et al., 1971, Gold-Bearing Deposits in North-Central Nevada and Idaho: Economic Geology, v. 6, 14 p.

  • Deposit

    Radtke, A.S., 1985, Geology of the Carlin Ore Deposit, Nevada, USGS Professional Paper 1267.

  • Deposit

    Bakken, B., 1990, Gold Mineralization, Wall-Rock Alteration, and the Geochemical Evolution of the Hydrothermal System in the Main Orebody, Carlin Mine, Nevada, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Stanford University.

  • Deposit

    Newmont Gold Company, Annual Report for 1990.

  • Deposit

    Ryneer, R., 1992, Economic History of the Carlin Trend, in Buffa, R. and Coyner, A., Eds., Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin-Field Trip Guidebook Compendium, The Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, p. 838-843.

  • Deposit

    Lewis, P., 1992, Carlin Mine Geology, in Buffa, R. and Coyner, A., eds., Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin-Field Trip Guidebook Compendium, The Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, p. 854-858.

  • Deposit

    Kuehn, C.A., 1989, Studies of Disseminated Gold Deposits near Carlin, Nevada: Evidence for Deep Geologic Settings of Ore Formation, Unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 350 p.

  • Deposit

    Roberts, R. J., 1960, Alinement of Mining Districts in North-Central Nevada: USGS Prof. Paper 400-B, Art. 9, p. B17-B19.

  • Deposit

    NBMG, 1994, MI-1993

  • Deposit

    Nevada Division of Minerals, 1994

  • 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

    Newmont Gold website, 2004.

  • Deposit

    Mac Jackson, Margie Lane, and Brad Leach, 2003, Geology of the West Leeville Deposit, in NBMG Bull. 111.

  • Deposit

    Jerry W. Mohling, 2002, Geology and Gold Mineralization of the Turf Deposit; in NBMG Bull. 111.

  • Deposit

    Adella Harding, Elko Daily Free Press, 8/6/02, 10/21/02.

  • Deposit

    BLM, 2002, Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Newmont Gold Company?s Leeville Project.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The Leeville mine deposits are 2,300-foot (700 meter) deep consisting of three distinct deposits called West Leeville, Four Corners, and Turf, all located approximately 1,400 to 2,100 feet below the surface.
West Leeville is a high-grade, deep, non-hornfelsed, stratabound replacement type deposit of carbonaceous, sulfide refractory, gold ore. High grade (>0.200 opt [6.9 g/t]) gold mineralization in the West Leeville deposit is largely conformable to bedding and occurs in two, 20- to 150-foot (6-45 m) thick, stratabound zones within the upper Roberts Mountains Formation. Mineralization is associated with a broad envelope of strongly decalcified rock and local silica replacement. The thickest and highest-grade part of the West Leeville deposit is located near the intersection of the northwest-striking Rodeo Creek fault and the West Bounding fault. West Leeville ore occurs in gray to black, decalcified and weakly to moderately silicified rocks composed of quartz, dolomite, kaolinite, illite, and pyrite.
The Turf deposit is also a deep, highgrade, refractory gold orebody centered about a half mile (0.8 km) north-northwest of the West Leeville deposit.Gold mineralization at Turf is controlled primarily by the Turf fault and by parallel structures in the footwall of the Turf fault. Stratabound, high-grade gold extends up to 300 feet laterally away from the fault along favorable carbonate beds. The micron-sized, disseminated gold is associated with decalcification, silicification, and late-stage sooty fracture-filling veins that postdate the main episode of gold deposition. Gangue minerals, such as montmorillonite, illite, alunite, and K-feldspar, are minor and do not have a direct correlation with gold ore.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-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.

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