Colorado Deposit, Fondaway Canyon Mine (Paperweight-Half Moon; Hamburger Hill), Shady Run Mining District, Churchill County, Nevada, USAi

Regional Level Types
Colorado Deposit	- not defined -
Fondaway Canyon Mine (Paperweight-Half Moon; Hamburger Hill)	- not defined -
Shady Run Mining District	Mining District
Churchill County	County
Nevada	State
USA	Country

Structure: NE-Trending Faults

Alteration: Silicification

Deposit: Sulfides occur in wnw-trending marble beds in fondaway canyon. No skarn is present, but some scheelite is associated with quartz veinlets in the marble. The scheelite occurs As large crystals, up to 10 cm in marble. Cinnabar occurs in late fractures cutting the marble. Stibnite occurs as massive lenses in marble and with Au ore in phyllite. The fault zones are brecciated and silicified, nearly vertical, up to 3 m wide. Sulfide ore contains pyrite, stibnite, and arsenopyrite and is typically carbonaceous. This is one of three deposits explored by tenneco minerals which comprise the fondaway canyon mine. See records re00273 (reed deposit) and re00274 (south mouth deposit) for the other two.

Development: G. Fisk discovered Au mineralization in fondaway canyon in the mid-1970's and began production, in a joint venture with wilbur robertson, in early 1978. The ore was removed from several open cuts on the canyon slopes and hauled to a small millsite in the canyon bottom. Ore was crushed, leached with cyanide in a 1000 ton steel leach vat, and then wasted on an adjacent tailings pile. The pregnant solutions were pumped through a carbon column to absorb the Au values, the Au being later stripped off the loaded carbon and precipitated with zinc dust in a merrill crowe process. Over 2500 oz of Au were reportedly produced by this operation. In 1980, occidental minerals corporation leased the fisk and robertson holdings and performed mapping and geochemical sampling. A number of drill holes were completed in 1981 and 1982 and geophysical surveys were completed. Since 1982 a number of mining concerns reviewed the economic potential of the property leading up to tenneco minerals signing a lease agreement with the owners in february 1987.

Ore(s): Fault Zones

Ore Deposit Type: Carbonate-hosted Au-Ag

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Link to USGS MRDS:	10111472

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