Esmeralda County Nevada Gold Production
In the Hornsilver district, which is 20 miles south-southwest of Goldfield, prospectors were active in 1868, but their discoveries were not very productive (Ransome, 1909b, p. 41-42). In 1907 larger ore bodies were found, and the district prospered for a few years. No activity was reported from 1956 through 1959.
Total gold production from the Hornsilver district from 1903 through 1959 was about 25,000 ounces.
The rocks of the district are limestone and calcareous shale that were intruded and metamorphosed by masses of granite (Ransome, 1909b, p. 41-42). The veins strike N. 55°-60° W. and cut across the bedding of the shale. Most production has come from the Great Western and Grand Central veins. The important ore constituents are native gold and silver chloride (Ransome, 1909a, p. 41-42).
LONE MOUNTAIN DISTRICT
Located in eastern Esmeralda County, in T. 1 S., R. 41 E., the Lone Mountain district is predominantly a silver camp with a recorded production from 1903 through 1949 of 31,961 ounces of gold. No activity was reported from 1949 through 1959.
The bedrock is Cambrian limestone and shale complexly folded and intruded by masses of diorite and by dikes and sheets of diorite porphyry (Ball, 1906, p. 57, 58). Deposits containing cerussite, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, galena, and pyrite occur in altered limonite-stained limestone near its contact with diorite porphyry sheets.
SILVER PEAK DISTRICT
The Silver Peak (Mineral Ridge) district is in central Esmeralda County, in T. 5 S., R. 39 E.
The first discoveries in this district were made in 1864. These were silver deposits which were worked for several years with rather meager returns. Some time later gold lodes were discovered, and these soon became the more important. The Drinkwater and Crowning Glory have been the major mines.
The gold production to 1905 was about 59,100 ounces (Spurr, 1906, p. 35). The interval 1906-15 was one of high production, but during 1915-31 only about $50,000 in gold was produced per year. Total production during 1903-32 was 323,085 ounces (Nolan, 1936b, p. 60). The mid-1930's to early 1940's was another period of high production, followed by the abrupt decline in production caused by World War II. From 1943 through 1959 there was only small-scale activity in the district. Total gold production of the district through 1959 was about 568,000 ounces.
The rocks of the district consist of Cambrian and Ordovician limestones, slates, and quartzites that were intruded by a Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous alaskitic rock (Spurr, 1906, p. 9-12). The gold deposits are in quartz lenses in the limestones and probably are genetically related to the late siliceous phase of the alaskite. Native gold is finely disseminated in the quartz. Gold is also associated with scattered sulfides in the lenses.