Crescent Valley Placers, Bullion Mining District, Lander County, Nevada, USAi

Regional Level Types
Crescent Valley Placers	Placer
Bullion Mining District	Mining District
Lander County	County
Nevada	State
USA	Country

Commodity: Ore Materials: free gold, electrum, scheelite

Deposit: The alluvium in Mill Gulch is sand and medium boulders from 10 to 45 feet thick, with most of the gold occurring near the underlying bedrock. Gold ranges from fine to coarse-grained, with a fineness of 920. A small amount of scheelite occurs in the gravels with the gold. The Triplett Gulch placer is a half-mile south of Mill Gulch. The alluvial gravels in Triplett Gulch wer 1-12 feet thick, averaging 6 feet thick- placer deposits. The placer material in Triplett Gulch is chiefly sand and soil containing a small proportion of angular rock fragments. Depth of the alluvium ranges from 1 to 12 feet. Average value of dry washed material in 1939 was $2 cu/yd.

Deposit type: Placer Au-PGE

Development: The lode deposits in the district were discovered in 1905, but the Tenabo (Crescent Valley) placer deposits were not discovered until 1916. Some hand work with dry washers and rockers was done by Raleigh and lessees, but no production was recorded until 1931. In 1936, the Mill Gulch Placer Mining Company bought the Mill Gulch placer claims from Raleigh, and filed placer claims over a large area in adjacent Triplett Gulch. The company installed a floating washing plant and a dragline and began 24 hour- a-day production in 1937 continuing at least until 1939 followed by a few more years of small-scale workings. Production from this operation in Mill Gulch is estimated at no less than 6,000 ounces of gold. In 1938 Mrs. G. W. Triplett and E.O. Swackhamer held 9 unpatented placer claims over the main workings in Triplett Gulch. There were up to 40 sublessees working the ground with small-scale dry washing equipment, and processing up to 50 cubic yards of material a day. Triplett Gulch Mines, Inc. operated a non-floating washing plant in Triplett Gulch in 1940. It processed 140,000 cubic yards of placer material yielding 1,627 ounces of gold and 160 ounces of silver. The placer deposits at Mud Springs Gulch and its tributaries a few miles to the north, were discovered by Gus Fowler in 1907 and were worked intermittently by hand methods through the 1930s, producing only a total of about $2,000 worth of gold. The rise in god prices since 2000 generated renewed interest in the old placers, and the area was being prospaected in 2003 by Pacific Gold Corp and Coral Gold Corp., who reported reserves for the Crecent valley placer properties.

Other Databases

Link to USGS MRDS:	10310337

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References