U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Metallic mineral resources in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Winnemucca District and Surprise Resource Area, northwest Nevada and northeast California by Stephen G. Peters 1, J. Thomas Nash2, David A. John3, Gregory T. Spanski2, Harley D. King2, Katherine A. Connors1, Barry C. Moring3, Jeff L. Doebrich4, Dawn J. McGuire5, George V. Albino6, Victor C. Dunn7, Ted G. Theodore3, and Steve Ludington3 Open-File Report 96-712 1996 1 Reno, Nevada 89557 2 Denver, Colorado 80228 3 Menlo Park, California 94025 4 Jeddah, 21431 Saudi Arabia 5 Denver, Colorado; currently at 155 S. 33rd St., Boulder, Colorado 80303-3425 6 Jeddah, 21431 Saudi Arabia; currently with SouthernEra, Toronto, Canada 7 U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Winnemucca, Nevada 89445 This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic Code. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Table of Contents Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................^ INTRODUCTION.............................................^ Definitions of terms used in report............................................................................................................^ Mneraldeposits..............................................» Previous work............................................................................................... Geologic history of minei^deposition...............................................................^ Classification of mmeralnieposittracts.....................................^ Delineation of deposit-model tracts................................................................................................................................!2 Estimation of undiscovered resource potential.......................................................................................................... 12 Estimation of numbers of deposits.................................................................................................................13 Estimation of endowments.................................................................................................................................l3 MINERAL DEPOSIT MODELS................................................^ Porphyry derx>sits................................................................................ Porphyry copper (molybdenum) deposits (models 17, 21a of Cox and Singer, 1986)......... 15 Porphyry molybdenum, low-fluorine deposits (model 21b of Cox and Singer, 1986)...................................................^ Climax molybdenum deposits (model 16 of Cox and Singer, 1986)............................................16 Porphyry copper-gold deposits (model 20c of Cox and Singer, 1986)......................................... 17 Descriptions of tracts for pluton-related deposits................................................................................... 17 Battle Mountain-Gold Run porphyry trend.............................................................................. 18 Humboldt River porphyry tracL..................................................................................................... 19 Kennedy MningDistricL.................................................................................................................20 MajubaHilL..................................^ Occurrences in the western part of the WSRA.....................................................................20 Occurrences in the northern part of the WSRA....................................................................21 Occurrences in the southern part of the WSRA....................................................................21 Estimates of numbers of undiscovered deposits......................................................................................21 Tungsten deposits...........................................................................................................................................^ Tungsten-skarn deposits (model 14a of Cox and Singer, 1986)......................................................22 Tungsten vein deposits (model 15a of Cox and Singer, 1986)........................................................23 Other tungsten debits........................................................ Estimates of numbers of undiscovered deposits......................................................................................23 Other types of skamderx>siL........................................................._ Porphyry copper, skarn-related deposits (model 18a of Cox and Singer, 1986).....................24 Copper skarn deposits (model 18bof Cox and Singer, 1986)..........................................................24 Zinc-lead and polymetallic replacement deposits (models 18c and 19a of Cox and Singer, 1986).............................................................» Iron skarn deposits (model 18d of Cox and Singer, 1986)..................................................................25 Gold skarn deposits (model of Theodore and others, 1991)...............................................................25 Other types of pluton-related deposits.............................................................................................................................26 Distal-disseminated, silver-gold deposits (model 19c of Cox and Singer, 1992)....................27 Polymetallic vein and replacement deposits.............................................................................................28 Replacement manganese deposits (model 19b of Cox and Singer, 1986)..................................29 Hot-spring and epithermal deposits...................................................................................................................................29 High level hot-spring gold-silver deposits (model 25a of Cox and Singer, 1986)....................30 Vein epithermal deposits (Comstock epithermal vein, quartz-sericite-adularia) (models 25c and 25d of Cox and Singer, 1986)........................................................................................31 Epithermal quartz-alunite gold-silver deposits (model 25e of Cox and Singer, 1986)...........31 Hot-spring mercury deposits (model 27a of Cox and Singer, 1986)................................................32 Epithermal manganese deposits (model 25g of Cox and Singer, 1986)........................................32 Description of tracts for epithermal and hot-spring deposits................................................................32 East zone hot-spring mercury-dominant tracts..........................................................................33 Central zone epithermal tracts.........................................................................................................33 Northwest zone hot-spring tracts......................................................................................................35 Estimates of undiscovered deposits..................................................................................................................36 Uranium deposits............................................................................................................................................................................37 Volcanogenic uranium deposits (model 25f of Cox and Singer, 1986)..............................................37 Sandstone uranium deposits (model 30c of Cox and Singer, 1986)....................................................38 Pluton-related vein-uranium deposits..................................................................................................................38 Description of tircts.................................................................» Estimates of undiscovered deposits......................................................................................................................40 Sediment-hosted gold-silver deposits (model 26a of Cox and Singer, 1986)....................................................40 Description of tircts...............................................................~ Estimates of undiscovered deposits......................................................................................................................43 Low-sulfide (Chugach-type) gold-quartz vein deposits (models 36a and 36a.l of Cox and Singer, 1986 andBliss, 1992).........................................^ Description of tircts......................................................................... ^ Estimates of undiscovered deposits......................................................................................................................46 Volcanogenic massive sulfide and associated deposits................................................................................................46 Cyprus-type massive sulfide deposits (model 24a of Cox and Singer, 1986)..................................47 Besshi-type massive sulfide deposits (model 24b of Cox and Singer, 1986)...................................47 Sierran kuroko-type massive sulfide deposits (model 28b of Cox and Singer, 1986)..................48 Sedimentary exhalative zinc-lead (copper, barite) deposits (models 3la and 31b of Cox and Singer, 1986)................................................................^ Volcanogenic