Leeville Mine Deposits

Eureka County, Nevada, United States

GoldMercurySilverZincCopperThalliumLead

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Description

Newmont Gold

Commodities

PrimaryGold

SecondaryMercury, Silver

TertiaryZinc, Copper, Thallium, Lead

Commodity typeM

Deposit

Deposit typestratabound replacement

Model173: Sediment-hosted Au

Deposit sizeN

Orebody formtabular flatlying lenses

Ore controlOre 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. \n 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.

Materials

Ore mineralsGold

GangueQuartz, Dolomite, Kaolinite, Illite, Montmorillonite, Alunite, Feldspar, Pyrite

Geology

Host rockLimestone,Dolomite · "Popovich Formation", "Roberts Mountains Formation"

Associated rockGranodiorite · "Little Boulder Basin granodiorite stock", "Vivian sills"

StructureSeveral 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., The deposit formed in the lower plate of the Roberts Mountains thrust. \nThe 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.

Tectonic settingAntler orogenic belt; paleo-continental margin

AlterationDecalcification and silicification are the dominant alteration types.

Economic & production

Development statusProducer

First production2005

Discovery year1994

Identification

Deposit ID10310420

Alternate namesWest Leeville Orebody, Four Corners orebody, Turf orebody

RegionNA

Data scoreA

Coordinates40.91184, -116.32399

References

USBM, 1975, Mineral Industry Surveys: USBM Mercury QuarterlyNoble, 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.Roberts, R.J., et al., 1967, Geology and Mineral Resources of Eureka County, Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 64.Radtke A.S. and Dickinson, F.W., 1976, Structural Controls and Genesis of Carlin Type Deposits: Open-File Report 76-I-39.US Bureau of Mines (Winnemucca) MILS No. 299, Ref. No. 3201100027, Mineral Property File 30.016.Roberts, R.J., et al., 1971, Gold-Bearing Deposits in North-Central Nevada and Idaho: Economic Geology, v. 6, 14 p.Radtke, A.S., 1985, Geology of the Carlin Ore Deposit, Nevada, USGS Professional Paper 1267.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.Newmont Gold Company, Annual Report for 1990.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.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.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.Roberts, R. J., 1960, Alinement of Mining Districts in North-Central Nevada: USGS Prof. Paper 400-B, Art. 9, p. B17-B19.NBMG, 1994, MI-1993Nevada Division of Minerals, 1994Long, 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.Newmont Gold website, 2004.Mac Jackson, Margie Lane, and Brad Leach, 2003, Geology of the West Leeville Deposit, in NBMG Bull. 111.Jerry W. Mohling, 2002, Geology and Gold Mineralization of the Turf Deposit; in NBMG Bull. 111.Adella Harding, Elko Daily Free Press, 8/6/02, 10/21/02.BLM, 2002, Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Newmont Gold Company?s Leeville Project.