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Gold Bank Mine

Past Producer in Butte county in California, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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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. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Bibliographic references
  16. General comments
  17. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310622
Record type Site
Current site name Gold Bank Mine
Alternate or previous names Forbestown Consolidated Gold Mines

Comments on the site identification

  • This mine later became the main property holding in the Forbestown Consolidated Gold Mines. This group also included the Golden Queen, Golden King, Shakespeare, and Miller mines, among others. Logan (1930) considered the group to probably be the most important lode property in the county.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -121.26713, 39.53573 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 100(meters)
Relative position The mine is about one mile north of the settlement of Forbestown, which is approximately 15 miles east of the city of Oroville.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Butte(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Forbestown(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Chico(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Chico(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle Fork Feather(hydrologic unit)

Lower Sacramento(hydrologic accounting unit)

Sacramento(hydrologic subregion)

California(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Plumas National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States California Butte

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 019N 006E 02 California

Comments on the location information

  • Location selected for latitude and longitude is the Gold Bank adit symbol on the USGS 7.5-minute Forbestown quadrangle.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Commodity Info: the sulfides were erratically distributed in bunches and formed 2-7 percent of the ore. Gold and silver are present in the sulfides.
  • Ore Materials: Native gold, pyrite
  • Gangue Materials: Quartz, tellurides

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue
Telluride Gangue

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 Metamorphic Rock > Schist > Amphibole Schist
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesozoic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesozoic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Syenite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Mesozoic

Nearby scientific data

(1) -121.26713, 39.53573
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form Tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore shoots within gold-bearing quartz veins; gold-bearing stringers at a nearby mine.

Comments on the geologic information

  • REGIONAL GEOLOGY

    The Gold Bank Mine is situated within the westernmost part of the Sierra Nevada geologic province. This province is characterized by extremely complex lithologies and structures that were assembled through various plate-tectonic processes.

    Paleozoic-Mesozoic metamorphic complexes intruded by various Mesozoic plutons compose the basement of the province. This basement is overlain at higher elevations by erosional remnants of Cenozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, including gravels. Most of these various lithologies contain gold in places.

    Structurally, the metamorphic rocks and some of the plutonic rocks have been deformed by folding and faulting. The major fault zones typically trend northerly or northwesterly, although in places intrusion of the younger plutons has deformed some of the zones so as to assume other trends as well. In contrast, the overlying Cenozoic rocks are relatively undeformed.

    LOCAL GEOLOGY

    The mine is situated in a unit mapped by Saucedo and Wagner (1992) as metavolcanic rock of the Jurassic Smartville Complex. Logan (1930) described the country rock as amphibolite schist. To the north is intermediate-composition plutonic rock of the Mesozoic Bald Rock Pluton and to the south is gabbroic rock of the Smartville Complex.

    The main vein strikes approximately east and has an average dip of 35o north. Its width averages about six feet. The hanging wall reportedly is diorite, while the footwall reportedly is syenite. The ore is solid white quartz with subordinate ribbon structures near the walls. It formed as lenses on both walls.

    Gold is present in native form and in sulfides (primarily pyrite with some unspecified copper sulfide). Silver is also present, and there is some evidence of tellurides.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1887

Mining district

District name Forbestown District

Comments on the workings information

  • Early operations consisted of multiple adits and an inclined shaft on the main vein. Logan (1930) reported the largest stope to be about 450 feet along strike and 600 feet along dip. The stope width observed at one location ranged from 3 to 11 feet.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Total output of the Gold Bank Mine to 1930 was estimated at about $2 million.

Comments on development

  • The Gold Bank Mine was worked prior to 1887. Principal mining activity took place from 1888 to 1904. At its height of production, a 60-stamp mill was in operation. Logan (1930) reported the last work done on the Gold Bank was in 1916.

    Chlorination and amalgamation were used at this mine.

    An exploratory project was conducted at this mine in the 1980?s.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Clark, W. B., 1970, Gold districts of California: California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193, p. 48-49.

  • Deposit

    Logan, C.A., 1930, Butte County: California State Mining Bureau, 26th Report of the State Mineralogist, p. 373-376.

  • Deposit

    Miner, J.A., 1890, Gold Bank Mine: California State Mining Bureau, 10th Report of the State Mineralogist, p. 125-127.

  • Deposit

    Saucedo, G.J. and Wagner, D.L., 1992, Geologic map of the Chico Quadrangle, California: California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology Regional Geologic Map Series, Map No. 7A, scale 1:250,000.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit This deposit is typical of others in the Sierra Nevada foothills in that gold and silver mineralization is found in quartz veins and low concentrations of disseminated sulfides. The main vein exploited at the Gold Bank Mine is east-west-trending, dips moderately to the north, and averages about six feet in width. It contains native gold, silver, and 2-7% sulfides, which are dominantly pyrite with some copper sulfides. Telluride minerals may also be present. Elsewhere in the Forbestown District, some mineralization at the Shakespeare Mine is present in the form of quartz stringers; galena is also present here.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 02-AUG-2006 Higgins, Chris T. California Geological Survey CGS (Formerly CDMG)
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 California resources

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