Description
Homestake Mining Co.
Commodities
PrimaryGold
SecondarySilver
Commodity typeM
Deposit
Deposit typehydrothermal stockwork, disseminated
Model173: Sediment-hosted Au
Deposit sizeS
WorkingsSurface
Orebody formThe shape of the deposit is irregular.
Ore controlthe Wood Gulch deposit is localized near the intersection of the tomasina fault and a conjugate shear zone. Mineralization was apparently floored by a stratigraphic transition from broken sandstone/siltstone to an underlying barren shale/siltstone.
Materials
Ore mineralsGold
GangueQuartz, Pyrite
Geology
Host rockArgillite,Sedimentary Breccia · Schoonover Formation
Associated rockDacite,Andesite
Structurelow-angle thrust faults, The mine area is cut by high-angle faults along N-S, NW, and NE trends. The Tomasina fault is the major structural feature in the mine area.
Tectonic settingthrust belt
AlterationThe rocks are argillically altered on a microcopic scale. Schoonover sediments have been silicified and dacites have been argillized. The altered dacitic volcanic rocks were not as good host rocks for mineralization as the brittle, siliceous, Schoonover lithologies.
Economic & production
Development statusProducer
Production years1988-1990
First production1988
Last production1990
Discovery year1986
Identification
Deposit ID10310517
MRDS IDM242965
RegionNA
Data scoreB
Coordinates41.67934, -115.96649
References
USDA Forest Service, 1988, Environmental Assessment - Wood Gulch Project Gold Mine Operation, Elko County, Nevada.NBMG, 1992, The Nevada Mineral Industry 1991, NBMG Special Publication MI-1991.Rocky Mountain Pay Dirt, June, 1989.The Mining Record, 2/8/89Long, 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.Tingley, J. V., 1989, NBMG field examination and sample analyses; NBMG filesHomestake Mining Company, 1987, Wood Gulch Project Plan of operations, NBMG File 44, item 13.Baker, D. J., Stanley, W. R., and Dickerson, R. B., 1990, Geology of the Wood Gulch Mine Area and the Doby Prospect, Northern Independence Range, Elko Co., Nevada, unpublished report, NBMG file 44.