Hansen Creek Deposit

Humboldt County, Nevada, United States

SilverGoldArsenicTungstenAntimonyMercuryBarium-BariteMolybdenumFluorine-FluoriteThalliumTelluriumBismuthTinLeadZincCopper

⌖ Show on map USGS source ↗

Description

Edward Knight and Emmet Chase

Commodities

PrimarySilver, Gold

SecondaryArsenic

TertiaryTungsten, Antimony, Mercury, Barium-Barite, Molybdenum, Fluorine-Fluorite, Thallium, Tellurium, Bismuth, Tin, Lead, Zinc, Copper

Commodity typeB

Deposit

Deposit typeReplacement

Model173: Sediment-hosted Au

Deposit sizeM

Orebody formIndividual orebodies are roughly tabular

Ore controlEconomic amounts of gold are restricted to tabular sheet-like zones (termed "veins" by Joralemon) within the Getchell fault zone and within favorable calcareous lithologies.

Materials

Ore mineralsGold, Silver, Electrum, Orpiment, Pyrite, Scheelite, Pyrrhotite, Arsenopyrite, Marcasite, Magnetite, Stibnite, Ilsemannite, Cinnabar, Hubnerite, Calcite, Chabazite, Sericite, Chlorite, Barite, Gypsum, Fluorite, Getchellite, Galkhaite, Laffittite, Arsenolite, Guerinite, Haidingerite, Pharmacolite, Weilite, Coloradoite, Bismuthinite, Cassiterite, Molybdenite, Ferrimolybdite, Galena, Sphalerite, Covellite, Chalcocite, Garnet, Epidote

GangueRealgar

Geology

Host rockShale,Limestone · Preble Formation

Associated rockGranodiorite · Osgood Mountains pluton

StructureGold mineralization is generally found at the intersection of a number of high-angle and low-angle fault sets. The low-angle faults and associated folds are the result of Devonian and Permian-age compressional events and the higher angle faults and fracture sets formed during Tertiary extension. Mineralization is both structurally and stratigraphically controlled. \nThe Getchell fault is a zone of overlapping fractures which have an overall strike of N10W. Hotz and Willden (1964) offer evidence for up to 3500 feet of left lateral strike slip displacement and only a relatively small amount of dip slip movement along the Getchell fault. McCollum and McCollum (1991) indicate that the sense of movement on the Getchell fault is right lateral., thrust faults to the north and NNW-trending faults.

AlterationAlteration comments: there is a metamorphic aureole around the Osgood Mountains granodiorite which has produced in the surrounding shaly rocks a mineral assemblage consisting of cordierite-, biotite-, and andalusite-hornfels. Locally limy beds are recrystallized and calc-silicate minerals are developed. Hydrothermal alteration consists chiefly of decarbonatization accompanied by silicification in the limestone beds. Cordierite, andalusite, and biotite of the metamorphic aureole are altered to sericite and/or chlorite. Igneous dikes and portions of the main stock are altered such that plagioclase is altered to sericite and kaolinite and biotite is altered to sericite, chlorite, and pyrite.

Economic & production

Development statusProducer

Production years1938-1945; 1948-1950; 1962-1967; 1985-1999

First production1938

Last production1999

Discovery year1933

Identification

Deposit ID10310490

Alternate namessatellite deposit of Getchell Gold Mines

RegionNA

Data scoreA

Coordinates41.20989, -117.25874

References

McCollum, L. B. and McCollum, M., 1991, Paleozoic rocks of the Osgood Mountains, Nevada, in Raines, G. L., et al, eds., Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin, The Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, p. 735-738.Bagby, W. C. and Cline, J. S., 1991, Constraints on the pressure of formation of the Getchell gold deposit, Humboldt County, Nevada, as interpreted from secondary-fluid-inclusion data, in Raines, G. L., et al, eds., Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin, The Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, p. 793-804.Madden-McGuire, D. J., 1991, Stratigraphy of the limestone-bearing part of the lower Cambrian to lower Ordovician Preble Formation near its type locality, Humboldt County, North Central Nevada, in Raines, G. L., et al, eds., Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin, The Geological Society of Nevada, Reno, p. 875-893.Berger, B. R. and Tingley, J. V., 1985, History of discovery, mining, exploration of the Getchell mine, Humboldt County, Nevada, in Hollister, V. F., ed., Discoveries of epithermal precious metal deposits, case histories of mineral discoveries vol. 1, Society of Mining Engineers, New York, P. 49-51.Berger, B. R., 1985 Geological and geochemical relationships at the Getchell Mine and vicinity, Humboldt County, Nevada, in Hollister, V. F., ed., Discoveries of epithermal precious metal deposits, case histories of mineral discoveries vol. 1, Society of Mining Engineers, New York, p. 51-59.Dunning, Gail E., 1988, calcium arsenate minerals new to the Getchell Mine, Nevada, The Mineralogical Record, Vol. 19, No. 4, p. 253-257.Erickson, R. L., Marranzino, A. P., Oda-Uteana, and Janes, W. W., 1964, Geochemical exploration near the Getchell Mine, Humboldt County, Nevada, USGS Bulletin 1198-A, 26 pp.Hardy, R. A., 1940 Geology of the Getchell Mine, AIME Technical Publication No. 1240, 3 Pp.Wise, F. and Wark, C. W., 1940, Metallurgy and milling practice at Getchell Mine, AIME Technical Publication 1260, 9 Pp.First Mississippi Corp., Annual Reports for fiscal years 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991.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.Placer Dome Gold Company website, 2003