Tonopah Mining District, San Antonio Mountains, Nye County, Nevada, USAi

Regional Level Types
Tonopah Mining District	Mining District
San Antonio Mountains	Mountain Range
Nye County	County
Nevada	State
USA	Country

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A former Ag-Pb-Cu-Au-W-As mining area located in T2 & 3N, R42E, MDM, around the town of Tonopah. Discovered by James L. Butler in 1900 and started production the same year. Operated during the period 1900 to 1947.

Principal mines include the Mizpah, West End Consolidated, Halifax Tonopah, Jim Butler Tonopah, MacNamara, Mizpah Extension, Montana - Tonopah, North Star, Rescue Eula, Tonopah Belmont, Tonopah Extension, and Tonopah Midway Mines. The most productive of the Tonopah mines were centered between Mount Oddie and Mt. Brougher, near the south end of the San Antonio Mountain Range. Some of the more productive mines were on the southwest flanks of Mount Oddie.

Mineral occurrence model information: Model code: 150; USGS model code: 25c; Deposit model name: Epithermal vein, Comstock; Mark3 model number: 16.

Local rocks include: Welded and non-welded silicic ash-flow tuffs, rhyolitic flows and shallow intrusive rocks. Andesite and related rocks of intermediate composition.

The deposits are hosted in volcanic rocks, including the Early Miocene Mizpah Trachyte (Chronological age: 20.4 with an uncertainty of 0.6); Miocene andesite of the Tonopah Formation; the Tertiary West End Rhyolite; rhyolitic
tuff; volcanic breccia (agglomerate); and tuffaceous sedimentary rocks. Associated rocks include Tertiary rhyolite dikes and intrusives; the Miocene Extension Breccia; the Miocene Sandgrass Andesite and rocks of the Late Pliocene-Late Miocene Esmeralda Formation. Complex faulting has affected rocks in the district. Tertiary volcanic host rocks are nearly flat lying.

Controls for ore emplacement: There is strong structural control of all orebodies. Orebodies are localized by breccia and gouge zones along the Tonopah fault, the N-S-trending Halifax Fault Zone, the Merton fault, and the Monarch-Pittsburg fault.

Local alteration: The dominant alteration types impacting volcanic host rocks are silicification, sericitization, argillization and kaolinization. Andesite has been altered to chlorite and calcite. Rhyolite has been altered to chlorite, calcite, pyrite, quartz, sericite, and siderite.

Regional geologic structures include the Halifax fault zone, the Tonopah fault. The youngest group trend NE, NW, and N-S with a dip to the W. Local structures include the Tonopah fault.

Major workings consist of the 850-foot Midway No.1 shaft, the 1,625-foot Midway No. 2 shaft, the 972-foot Tonopah Extension No 1 shaft, the 1,440-foot Tonopah Extension No.2 shaft, the 2,375-foot Victor shaft, the 1,650-foot McKane shaft, the 1,670-foot Cash Boy shaft, the 1,718-foot Belmont shaft, the Desert Queen shaft, the 1,050-foot Rescue-Eula shaft, the 462-foot Montana-Tonopah shaft, the 1,000-foot Mizpah Extension shaft, the Wandering Boy shaft, the 300-foot Big Tono shaft, the 490-foot Gold Hill shaft, 238-foot Fraction No. 1 shaft, 400-foot Fraction No. 2 shaft, the 1,200-foot deep Halifax shaft, the 1,212-foot West End shaft, the 800-foot Ohio shaft, and the 700-foot McNamara shaft with workings on the 200, 300, and 375-foot levels as well as many additional underground and surface workings.

Total production from the Tonopah district mines was more than five million tons of ore worth more than $150 million (period value) in silver and gold predominantly, with lesser amounts of copper and lead production. At today’s market, the value of precious metals produced would be in excess of a billion dollars.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region.

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

71 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Rock list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities