1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Pamlico Gold Property

Past Producer in Mineral county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Arsenic, Manganese
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
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 10310558
Record type Site
Current site name Pamlico Gold Property
Related records 10037453

Comments on the site identification

  • The current record is for American Bonanza Gold Corp.?s Pamlico gold property which encompasses all the historic Pamlico workings in the central part of the district. Material has been incorporated into the current record from several of the historic mine property records, together with new information.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.47289, 38.45548 (WGS84)
Elevation 1680
Relative position The Pamlico Mining District is located on the south flank of the Garfield Hills, approximately 10 miles SE of Hawthorne.\n

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Mineral(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Pamlico(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 031E 13 14 23 24 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • UTM is to a centralized location within a cluster of shafts, adits and prospects which comprise the central historic Pamlico Mines area.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Lead Secondary
Zinc Critical Secondary
Arsenic Critical Tertiary
Manganese Critical Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: free gold, argentiferous galena, copper sulfides
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, limonite, pyrite

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Galena Ore
Quartz Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Wall rocks adjacent to veins show chloritization, argillation, seritication

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Latite
    Rock type qualifier tuff
    Rock unit name Excelsior Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock type qualifier latite
    Rock unit name Excelsior Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Volcanic Breccia (Agglomerate)
    Rock type qualifier latite agglomerate
    Rock unit name Excelsior Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock unit name Excelsior Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Rhyolite
    Rock type qualifier laminated tuff
    Rock unit name Excelsior Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Pyroclastic Rock > Tuff
    Rock type qualifier laminated rhyolite
    Rock unit name Excelsior Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Middle Triassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type
    Rock unit name Gold Range Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metavolcanic Rock
    Rock unit name Dunlap Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Jurassic
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type
    Rock unit name quartz monzonite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Jurassic
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Cretaceous

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.47289, 38.45548
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description The Luning-Fencemaker Thrust Belt lies directly east of the Sierra Nevada batholith and comprises a 500- kilometer long, 100 kilometer wide belt of intensely folded and thrusted Triassic and Jurassic marine sedimentary rocks. Individual thrust systems of note include the Luning, Fencemaker, Pamlico, Boyer, and Wild Horse thrusts (Speed and others, 1988). Thrusts of the LFTB generally carried deep-water, fine-grained turbiditic facies eastward and juxtaposed them against shallow-marine facies of the same age.
Type of structure Local
Structure description The Pamlico Anticline trends NW, derived on basis of relation between latite tuff and agglomerate unit with overlying rhyolitic tuff; this contact forms main localizing structure for Pamlico veins.

Ore body information

  • General form irregular lenses

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Gold occurs as lenses along veins intimately associated with gouge and breccia. Most veins occur along NW- trending faults.

Comments on the geologic information

  • The district is bounded on the north by a large intrusive body of quartz monzonite.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1885
Year of first production 1886

Mining district

District name Pamlico (Ashby, Oro, Hawthorne ) District

Land status

Ownership category Private
Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Walker Resource area of the Carson City BLM administrative district

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner American Bonanza Gold Mining Corp.
    Year 2004

Comments on the workings information

  • The historic Pamlico mines were developed by numerous inclined shafts and adits with several miles of workings. There are many shafts and adits satellitic to the main Pamlico mine area. Open pit.

Comments on other economic factors

  • The district yielded nearly a million dollars worth of gold between 1885 and 1900. Estimated production for the Pamlico mine from 1886 to 1889 was 324 tons of ore at a gross value of $167,542.

Comments on development

  • The Pamlico Mine was located in the Pamlico Mining District, situated in the western Garfield Hills, ten miles southeast of Hawthorne, Nevada. The district yielded nearly a million dollars worth of gold between 1885 and 1900. Estimated production for the Pamlico mine from 1886 to 1889 was 324 tons of ore at a gross value of $167,542. The Pamlico Mining Company operated from Hawthorne, Nevada with John Forbes as president. H.M. Yerington, treasurer and S. A. Knopp, mine superintendent.
    In 1994, Pamlico Gold was testing eight separate areas by 15,000 feet of reverse circulation drilling in 20 to 30 holes at the Pamlico property. Geochemical and geophysical work outlined extensive zones of quartz veining and induced polarization responses and anomalous gold-silver values were found in rock samples. Pamlico Gold could earn a 51% interest in the property from Cactus West Exploration by spending $1.3 on exploration, development, and option payments
    In 1995, Cactus West Explorations and Pamlico Gold joint venture reported they were evaluating the results of 50 holes drilled on the Pamlico property. Thirteen of the reverse-circulation holes were in the vicinity of an earlier drill hole which showed 120 feet grading 0.65 opt gold. Drilling indicated the presence of a gold bearing zone or structural system 200 feet by 400 feet or larger, open to the northeast and east. Gold is associated with abundant iron and manganese oxides but with very little quartz veining.
    In 1999, Vengold Inc. controlled the Pamlico property and was exploring it for gold. The company completed mapping and sampling of the underground workings as well as drilling In 2003 American Bonanza Gold Mining Corp. encountered favorable gold mineralization in its drilling program on the Pamlico property. The drilling program, totaling 1,608 feet in eight holes, was designed to confirm and expand mineralization encountered in previous drilling and in underground workings. Encouraging results of 1.62 opt Au over 3 feet and 2.79 opt Au over 1 foot were obtained. Four distinct mineralized structures were targeted and all four were encountered by the drilling.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Hill, J. M., 1915 , Some mining districts in NE Calif. and NW Nevada, USGS, Bull. 594

  • Deposit

    Vanderburg, 1937, Reconnaissance of Mining Districts n Mineral Co., Nev., USBM, Information Circular.

  • Deposit

    Ross, D. L., 1961 , Geology and Mineral Deposits of Mineral Co., Nev., NBMG Bull. 58

  • Deposit

    Archbold and Paul, 1970,Geology and mineral deposits of the Pamlico mining district, Mineral County, Nevada, NBMG Bull. 74.

  • Deposit

    Tingley, Joseph V., 1990, MINERAL RESOURCE INVENTORY BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, CARSON CITY DISTRICT, NEVADA, NBMG OPEN-FILE REPORT 90-1, p170-173.

  • Deposit

    Northern Miner, 12/26/94, 2/27/95, 4/10/95, 6/14/99

  • Deposit

    BLM Files, Carson City District

  • Deposit

    McArthur, Gerald F., October 9, 2002, SUMMARY GEOLOGICAL REPORT FOR THE GOLD BAR PROPERTIES, EUREKA COUNTY AND THE PAMLICO PROPERTY, MINERAL COUNTY NEVADA, U.S.A. SEC Disclosure form.

  • Deposit

    American Bonanza Gold Mining Corp., 2/24/03

  • Deposit

    The records of the historic Pamlico Mining Company are archived in the Special Collections of the University of Nevada, Reno library. They are contained in one Hollinger archival document case and cover the time period from 1888 through 1904. The material consists mainly of correspondence and financial statements and accounts. Most of the material is original and handwritten.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Workings have been developed along four main veins. Vein A strikes N65W and dips 27-55 SW; vein B strikes N55-70W and dips 25-70NE; vein P strikes N30-80W and dips 25-60NE; and a trough-shaped P-branch vein plunges 30SE with both flanks dipping 30 degrees towards the axis of the trough. Some ore forms irregular replacement bodies consisting of siliceous, ferruginous, locally jasperoidal, gossan material occupying a fracture zone.
Vein filling is predominantly quartz, most commonly massive with substantial amounts of limonite and rare grains of pyrite. Small amounts of secondary copper minerals rarely coat fractures in veins.
Gold reportedly formed wires and nuggets in the veins and was associated with pyritic portions of veins.
Gold values in veins are erratic; reportedly some veins were followed for 300 ft. without finding any ore. Most veins now exposed underground are barren.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JAN-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.

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.