Lander County Nevada Gold Production
The Bullion district is on the east slope of the Shoshone Range, 23 miles southwest of Beowawe, in sees. 8, 9, 16, and 17, T. 28 N., R. 47 E.
Ore was first discovered in the early 1870's; silver was the chief product. In 1905 gold was discovered and a small rush to the camp of Tenabo began (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 39). Later, placer gold was found near Tenabo. In recent years the Gold Acres open pit has been the largest operation mining solely for gold in the State, but in 1958 and 1959 its production was surpassed by the Round Mountain district.
No reliable statistics on production are available for the district before 1902 (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 39). Gold production from 1902 through 1959 was 146,154 ounces of lode and 10,373 ounces of placer gold.
The country rock in the district comprises Carboniferous sedimentary rocks that have been intruded by granodiorite. Locally, patches of Tertiary andesite cap the sediments (Lincoln, 1923, p. 111). Fissure veins occur in all these rocks. Most of the ore is made up of various sulfides in which the gold probably occurs.
HILLTOP DISTRICT
The Hilltop district is on the northwest slope of Shoshone Peak, 18 miles southeast of Battle Mountain, in sees. 3, 4, 5, and 6, T. 29 N., R. 46 E.
No important discoveries were made in this area until 1907, and a rush started the following year. After 1921, however, the district declined; most of the activity was conducted by lessees. The principal mines have been the Hilltop and the Pittsburg Red Top (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 47).
Production of the district from 1909 through 1959 was 119 ounces of placer gold and 17,834 ounces of lode gold. Considerable quantities of silver and small amounts of lead and copper were produced.
The bedrock in the district consists of Carboniferous quartzite, cut by dikes of altered granodiorite (Lincoln, 1923, p. 111-112). Ore occurs in a zone of fractured quartzite that is cut by small intrusive bodies of leached porphyry. Quartz stringers that carry free gold occupy parts of the shattered zone; bodies of pyrite and galena that contain silver and gold are in other parts.
LEWIS DISTRICT
The Lewis district is 17 miles southeast of Battle Mountain, in the southeast quarter of T. 30 N., R. 45 E.
Silver deposits were discovered here in 1867, and shortly afterward the gold deposits of the Pittsburg and Morning Star mines were discovered (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 59). In the early 1920's the Betty O'Neal mine produced silver ore on a large scale, but most of the early production is attributed to the Pittsburg and Morning Star mines whose production was chiefly gold. Vanderburg estimated (1939, p. 59) that about $1,200,000 worth of ore was produced before 1903. Assuming that the bulk of this was in gold, about 48,000 ounces of gold is estimated. From 1902 through 1959 the output was 3,124 ounces, about half of which was byproduct gold from silver ores.
The rocks of the district are Carboniferous sedimentary rocks, intruded by a mass of granodiorite porphyry, and quartz porphyry dikes (Emmons, 1910, p. 122-123). The ore deposits are fissure veins that carry auriferous pyrite and occur in quartzite and granodiorite porphyry. The silver deposits are replacement bodies in limestone with barite as a gangue.