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Corcoran Canyon Project

Producer in Nye county in Nevada, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Arsenic, Mercury, Molybdenum, Antimony
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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 10310492
MRDS ID M042801
Record type Site
Current site name Corcoran Canyon Project
Alternate or previous names Silver Reef Prospect, Silver Reef claims, NBMG sample site 3187
Related records 10100734

Comments on the site identification

  • This project encompasses the area covered by the earlier Silver Reef prospect described in MRDS record M042801, from which material has been incorporated into the current new record.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -116.80535, 38.67076 (WGS84)
Elevation 2320
Relative position The Corcoran Canyon Project is located 80 km north of Tonopah and 19 km east of the Round Mountain gold mine.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nye(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Corcoran Canyon(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

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 Nye

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 010N 046E 20 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The prospect is accessible via good road west of Monitor Valley.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Secondary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary
Mercury Tertiary
Molybdenum Tertiary
Antimony Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: ruby silver (pyrargyrite); other sulfides, gold
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, pyrite, alunite, clay, sericite

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Pyrargyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Alunite Ore
Clay Ore
Sericite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Host rocks have been silicified, argillized, and 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) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock type qualifier altered rhyolitic volcanic
    Rock unit name Tuff of Corcoran Canyon
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Oligocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier altered tuff
    Rock unit name Tuff of Corcoran Canyon
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Oligocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -116.80535, 38.67076
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description A northeast-trending structural zone defined by alteration, veining, gold-silver mineralization, faulting and intrusions.
Type of structure Regional
Structure description fractures associated with the margin of the Mount Jefferson caldera

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore is associated with a brecciated, silicified zone.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

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

Mining district

District name Barcelona District

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Corcoran Canyon Mining Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bullion River Gold Corp.
    Year 2004
  • Type Operator
    Owner Brancote U. S., Inc.
    Year 2004

Comments on the workings information

  • The prospect area had been developed by one small adit, many roads, drill pad and considerable drilling and coring when examined in 1986.

Comments on other economic factors

  • There has been no known recorded production from the Corcoran Canyon property.
    The district contains a significant Ag-Au resource, the "Silver Reef" deposit, defined by drilling in the 1980's. The indicated and inferred resource calculated in 1988 using 50-foot cross sections is: 1.61 million metric tonnes grading 175 g/t Ag and 0.86 g/t Au (3.086 g/t Au eq.).
    In 1991 an estimated resource of 4 million tons of material grading 0.04 opt gold and 30.05 opt silver was reported.
    In 2004 a resource of 9 million ounces of silver and 33,000 ounces of gold was reported from material grading 4.24 opt Ag, and 0.026 opt Au.

Comments on development

  • The first mining of the Corcoran Canyon property for silver was said to have been done by native Americans. Bob Bottom held the ground in 1986 and various companies held it in the last 35 years. Considerable drilling and coring was ongoing in 1986, at which time Round Mountain Gold held the property. Corcoran Canyon was drilled to shallow depths between 1970 and 1988 and an "inferred resource" of about 9 million ounces of silver at a grade of about 5 ounces per ton silver and 0.025 ounces per ton gold was calculated by an independent consultant. The district contains a significant Ag-Au resource, the "Silver Reef" deposit, defined by drilling in the 1980s. An indicated and inferred resource calculated in 1988 using 50-foot cross sections is:
    1.61 million metric tonnes grading 175 g/t Ag and 0.86 g/t Au (3.086 g/t Au eq.).
    In 2003 Senator Minerals Inc acquired an option on the 41 claim Corcoran Canyon property to explore the property for gold. In 2004, surface sampling and mapping by Bullion River identified a significant strike length of over 3 miles, which led to the staking of additional 80 claims by the company. Bullion River executed a drill program in conjunction with a three dimensional model to test strike and depth extensions. In 2004, the Corcoran Canyon property consisted of forty unpatented claims under lease and an adjacent 89 claims controlled 100% by Corcoran Canyon Mining Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bullion River Gold Corp.In 2004, Corcoran Canyon Mining Corp., backed by a loan from Bullion River, acquired an option from Golden Spike Mining to acquire a 100% undivided interest in 41 unpatented mineral claims on the Corcoran Canyon Property. They completed a 3-dimensional analysis of the existing silver-gold resource and initiated a phase 1 drilling program to test extensions of the known resource and a new target. Preliminary work indicates potential for additional mineralization down dip and to the west, northwest, and possibly northeast of the resource, and these extensions include areas concealed by alluvium and post-mineral volcanics. They expected to complete phase 1 drilling during the third quarter of 2005. If the results are positive, they plan to undertake an extensive second phase of further soil sampling, geophysical surveys, trenching or drilling to identify commercially viable reserves.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Corcoran Canyon is a volcanic-hosted, low-sulfidation, silver-gold, epithermal system extending for more than 5.5 km along a northeast-trending structural zone defined by alteration, veining, gold-silver mineralization, faulting and intrusions. Mineralization occurs in quartz-vein stockworks and breccias within sericitized, argillized and silicified volcanic rocks. Arsenic, mercury, thallium and antimony are strongly elevated with Au and Ag; base-metal contents are low.
Silver mineralization is associated with veins and silicified zones in a Tertiary volcanic tuff. Geochemical sampling has revealed anomalous arsenic, mercury, molybdenum, antimony and spotty gold. Fine-grained pyrite is associated with brecciation in a silicified matrix of a vein bearing N45E, dipping 50NW in a hanging wall complex. Sample 3187 was from a narrow 6-12 inch vein bearingN25E. Quartz vein had visible ruby silver and other sulfides developed by a small adit in the hanging wall.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-2005 La Pointe, 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.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Nevada resources

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