St. Anthony Mine, Toy Mining District, Churchill County, Nevada, USAi

Regional Level Types
St. Anthony Mine	Mine
Toy Mining District	Mining District
Churchill County	County
Nevada	State
USA	Country

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SW side of pluton.
Deposit: The contact of sediments with the quartz monzonite pluton dips 30-70s and cuts across beds at a small angle. Near the collar of the shaft the contact bends across the strike of the beds cutting out the marble eastward. Tactite occurs along the marble/quartz monzonite contact. Scheelite occurs in the- tactite along with quartz, garnet, diopside, epidote, and hor-nblende. Almost all the tactite was tungsten ore, but tactite was present along only a small part of the contact. Below the 5th level, some of the tactite is rich in fluorite and contain-s pods of sphalerite with a little pyrite, galena and chalcopyrite. In the upper portion of the mine, the tactite is oxidized to a porous, friable aggregate of quartz, iron oxides, and Scheelite, and the heavy silicate minerals are almost lacking. The main orebody extends west from the bend in the contact near the shaft for about 225 ft at the surface and becomes shorter with depth. The ore was 1-15 ft wide in upper levels but below the 5th level the orebody is a narro W pipe 2-5 ft wide and -20 ft long. Where the orebody is longest and thickest, the con-tact has the flattest dip. The small lenses of ore exposed west of the main ore body are narrow and appear to be shallow. The average grade of the ore mined was about 1.35 % wo3. Currently (1985) all of the stopes which daylight at surface along the contact display very little skarn (dark silicate) zone. The outcrop of the contact silicate zone is marked by pods of white quartz; pillars remaining in the stopes are largely quartz with a thin layer (6 in to 2 ft) of pale silicate rock occupyin-g the contact between granodiorite and coarsely crystalline marble. The zone is stained with iron and Mn oxides. No sulfides of any type were noted. On the eastern dumps, some blocks of white silicated limestone with strings of small garnet crystal-s along bedding planes.

Deposit type: W skarn

Development: In 1908, two lovelock residents, panning their claims for gold found a heavy white mineral in their concentrates, which was sent to san francisco where david atkins, a mining engineer, identified it As scheelite, and it resulted in the first u. S. Discovery of tungsten in a contact metamorphic deposit. The mining claims surrounding the discovery were sold to the st. Anthony mines co., a subsidiary of atolia mining co., in 1908. Little work was done until 1915, when the demand for tungsten created by wwi caused the price of tungsten to rise. In 1915, 20 tons of scheelite-bearing ore was mined and shipped to atolia, Ca for experimental milling. A mill was built in 1915 and tungsten was produced until the price dropped in 1918 forcing closure, and the mill was dismantled in 1921. Mill tailings were retreated in 1925-1926 by g. W. Poole. In 1940-1943 the rare metals corp mined 2423 tons ore treated at the toulon mill, and the mine was active again 1954-1956. Inactive when visited in 1985.

Geology: Many small faults cross the contact zone but there is no recognized relationship between them and ore distribution-. The contact is cut and apparently offset by faults.in at least one place the contact appears to be generally conformable to sedimentary bedding. Locally the granodiorite footwall follows small folds in the limestone. Marble extends for up to 100 -ft away from the contact; the intrusive itself shows fracturing, iron staining along fractures, and is cut by quartz veins and at least two types of dike rocks.

Ore(s): Contact Between Limestone & Pluton

Mineral List

13 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded