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Oroville District

Past Producer in Butte county in California, United States with commodities Gold, Platinum
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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 10310662
Record type District
Current site name Oroville District

Comments on the site identification

  • This district is mainly a dredging field that extends from just west of the city of Oroville southwest along the Feather River to a point about five miles due east of the town of Biggs. The field is one to two miles wide and nine miles long. The extent of the district, as defined by distribution of tailings, is more clearly displayed on the Gridley 15-minute quadrangle than on the corresponding 7.5-minute quadrangles.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -121.60105, 39.46392 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 100(meters)
Relative position This district extends southwesterly from the city of Oroville along the main Feather River.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Butte(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Palermo(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Yuba City(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Chico(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Sacramento(hydrologic accounting unit)

Sacramento(hydrologic subregion)

California(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States California Butte

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 018N 003E California
Mount Diablo 019N 003E California
Mount Diablo 019N 004E California

Comments on the location information

  • Location selected for latitude and longitude is a pit symbol near the north edge of Section 35, T19N, R3E, on the USGS 7.5-minute Palermo quadrangle. This location represents an approximate center of the large dredge field that extends from the city of Oroville to the vicinity of East Biggs.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Platinum Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Commodity Info: the gold was fine and was present chiefly in the gravels. Fineness ranged from 915 to 930. Minor amounts of platinum were recovered.
  • Ore Materials: Native gold, native platinum
  • Gangue Materials: Metamorphic rock, igneous rock, quartz (as clasts)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Platinum Ore
Quartz Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Sand and Gravel
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Quaternary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -121.60105, 39.46392
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form Irregular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Mechanical accumulation within stream-channel lag gravels, bars, and point-bar deposits.

Comments on the geologic information

  • REGIONAL GEOLOGY

    The Oroville District is situated at the westernmost edge of the Sierra Nevada geologic province where it adjoins the Sacramento Valley 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 in places 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 of the basement 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 Oroville District is mainly associated with modern alluvial deposits of the main drainage of the Feather River where it discharges into the Sacramento Valley after passing through the Sierra Nevada basement terranes. The materials in these deposits have been derived by erosion of the various basement and older Cenozoic rocks at higher elevations. In places, the basement rocks contain gold within quartz veins and altered rock, while the Cenozoic deposits contain placer gold derived by erosion of these older basement rocks. Erosion of both the gold-bearing basement rocks and the older Cenozoic rocks provided the gold that was eventually deposited in the modern placer deposits along the main Feather River. Platinum was probably derived from erosion of ultramafic rocks and serpentinite in the Sierra Nevada basement.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1849

Mining district

District name Oroville District

Comments on the workings information

  • Most mining in this district was accomplished through surface placering and dredging, although there was some underground mining at the city of Oroville. Digging depths ranged from 25 feet upstream to as much as 55 feet downstream.

    Vast deposits of dredge tailings still remain in this district.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Clark (1970) estimated the production of dredging in the district at about 1,964,000 ounces of gold. Dredge recoveries ranged from $0.15 to $0.25 gold per cubic yard at $35/oz.

Comments on development

  • The area was settled in 1849. Shallow placers were mined during the gold rush. Bucket-line dredging was introduced here in 1898, the first in California. The field was highly productive from 1903 to 1916; in 1908 there were 35 dredges active. Output later declined, with dredging sporadically active until the 1950?s. The dredge field is now an important source of sand and gravel.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Doolittle, J.E., 1908, Gold dredging in California: California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 36, p. 68-88.

  • Deposit

    Clark, W. B., 1970, Gold districts of California: California Divisions of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193, p. 103-104.

  • Deposit

    Helley, E.J. and Harwood, DS., 1985, Geologic map of the late Cenozoic deposits of the Sacramento Valley and northern Sierra foothills, California: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1790, scale 1:62,500.

  • Deposit

    Lindgren, W., 1911, Tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 73, p. 89-90.

  • 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.

  • Deposit

    Unruh, J.R., 1990, Stratigraphy and late Cenozoic deformation in the Oroville area, east-central Sacramento Valley, California: Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis, 305 p.

  • Deposit

    Winston, W.B., 1910, Gold dredging in California: California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 57, p. 111-158.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit One of the most productive placer districts in California, production of gold was estimated by Clark (1970) at $55 million. The gold is present in river gravels and adjacent terrace gravels on the flood plain of the Feather River. The gravels rest on a bedrock of soft but compact andesite and rhyolite tuff. Coarse boulders, which become finer downstream, alternate with sand layers.

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.