Nye County Nevada Gold Production |
ELLENDALE DISTRICT
The Ellendale district is a few miles east of Tono-pah, in T. 2 N., R. 43 E. High-grade gold ore was discovered in 1909, and for the next few years the district flourished but by 1916 was deserted (Ferguson, 1917, p. 122). According to Krai (1951, p. 56), the only later activity was in 1938-39, when dump material valued at $7,215 was shipped from the Ellendale mine, the only mine of any importance in the district. Total recorded production of gold to 1948 was $166,015 (about 8,060 ounces), but estimates put the total production at between $1/2 and $1 million (Krai, 1951, p. 55). Because much production by lessees was not reported, the true production of the district must be in excess of 8,000 ounces.
Ferguson (1917, p. 123) noted that most of the deposits are in rhyolite near its contact with andesite porphyry. The ore bodies are in irregular veins filled with iron-stained quartz.
GOLD HILL DISTRICT
The Gold Hill district is 6 miles north of Round Mountain, in the southern Toquima Range, in T. 11 N., R. 44 E. It is mentioned only briefly in the published literature. Ferguson and Cathcart (1954) noted that the major production of the district was in 1931-32, when 24,725 ounces of gold was mined. The district was dormant from 1933 through 1959. According to Couch and Carpenter (1943, p. 120), the total value of production of the district was $902,152, but how much of this was in gold is not known.
The major production came from a single quartz vein in rhyolite (Ferguson and Cathcart, 1954). The veinfilling is fine-grained banded quartz that contains some calcite, small particles of free gold, auriferous pyrite, and argentite.
JACKSON DISTRICT
The Jackson (Gold Park) district is on the west slope of the Shoshone Mountains in northwestern
Nye County (lat 39"7' W., long 117"33' E.). Originally called the North Union district, the name was changed in 1878 to Jackson. Early production data are fragmentary, but Krai (1951, p. 76) estimated an output of $V2 to $1 million, principally in gold. There has been little activity in the area since 1911. The oldest rock in the area is meta-andesite of Carboniferous (?) age which is overlain by Tertiary rhyolite tuff (Krai, 1951, p. 76). Ore occurs in quartz veins that cut the meta-andesite. Variable amounts of galena and pyrite and small amounts of chalcopyrite are present.
JEFFERSON CANYON DISTRICT
The Jefferson Canyon district is 6 miles northeast of Round Mountain (lat 38"43' N., long 117" E.) on the west slope of the Toquima Range.
Gold and silver were discovered here in 1866, but no activity was reported until 1871. The principal mines were the Jefferson and the Prussian. Lincoln (1923, p. 171) reported the early production of combined silver and gold at $1 million; the amount of gold represented by this figure is not given. In the past several decades there has been only sporadic activity in this district. Only 3 ounces of gold was produced from 1932 through 1959.
The country rock consists of Ordovician limestone, Cretaceous granite, and Tertiary rhyolite porphyry (Krai, 1951, p. 80-81). The Prussian vein, the principal vein in the district, is along the contact of the limestone and porphyry. Silver minerals - sulfides, sulfantimonides, and chlorides - are the most valuable constituents of the Prussian vein; however, gold is the important component in many other veins.
