Hilltop-Slaven Gold Property

Producer in Lander county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Antimony, Tin

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310570
MRDS ID M231404
Record type Site
Current site name Hilltop-Slaven Gold Property
Alternate or previous names Independence Mine, Victoria Resource Corporation?s property, Hilltop Gold Mine
Related records 10044080

Comments on the site identification

  • The current record describes an area covered by the Hilltop historic mine deposits described in part by earlier MRDS records M231404 and W702077 from which all material has been incorporated into the current record, as well as additonal new material.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -116.80621, 40.41574 (WGS84)
Elevation 2040
Relative position The Hilltop Gold Mine is located about 18 miles SE of the town of Battle Mountain, Nevada.
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Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Lander

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 029N 046E 04 NW, 04 Nevada

Comments on the location information

  • The Hilltop Gold Mine is located on the east side of Hilltop Ridge in the Northern Shoshone Range.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Copper Tertiary
Lead Tertiary
Zinc Tertiary
Antimony Tertiary
Tin Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Materials: free gold, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, tetrahedrite, stibnite, auriferous pyrite, auriferous arsenopyrite, cassiterite
  • Gangue Materials: quartz, pyrite, barite, marcasite, , calcite, fluorite, jasper, iron oxide

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Galena Ore
Tetrahedrite Ore
Stibnite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Arsenopyrite Ore
Cassiterite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Barite Ore
Marcasite Ore
Calcite Ore
Fluorite Ore
Jasper Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) There have been two main alteration episodes: one pre-ore consisting of pervasive quartz-sericite-pyrite, and one coeval with gold deposition pervasive silicification, bleaching, baritization, and alunitization. Hydrothermal alteration of the Valmy Formation is predominantly bleaching (removal of organic carbon) and recrystallization/silicification resulting from the emplacement of Tertiary igneous intrusions. Tertiary igneous units exhibit typical phyllic alteration with local argillic alteration.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 75
USGS model code 19c
BC deposit profile E03
Deposit model name Distal disseminated Ag-Au
Mark3 model number 18

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Chemical Sediment > Chert
    Rock type qualifier brecciated
    Rock unit name Valmy Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Ordovician
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Argillite
    Rock unit name Valmy Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Ordovician
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
    Rock type qualifier minor
    Rock unit name Valmy Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Ordovician
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
    Rock type qualifier minor
    Rock unit name Valmy Formation
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Ordovician
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Felsic Volcanic Rock > Dacite
    Rock type qualifier dacite porphyry intrusives
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Porphyry
    Rock type qualifier dacite porphyry intrusives
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite
    Rock type qualifier altered quartz monzonite porphyry
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Porphyry
    Rock type qualifier altered quartz monzonite porphyry

Nearby scientific data

(1) -116.80621, 40.41574

Geologic structures

Type Description Terms
Local Hilltop Mine Fault
Regional The Hilltop deposit falls within the Battle Mountain-Eureka mineral belt.

Ore body information

  • General form tabular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Two sub-parallel west-dipping faults served as conduits for mineralization. There has been brecciation of host rocks along a fault zone.

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Year of first production 1907
Year of last production 1919

Mining district

District name Hilltop District
District name Bateman Canyon
District name Slaven Canyon

Land status

Ownership category Private
Ownership category BLM Administrative Area
Area name Battle Mountain BLM administrative district

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Placer Dome
    Year 2003
  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Victoria Resource Corporation (surrounding area)
    Year 2003

Comments on the workings information

  • The historic mine area was developed by numerous shafts, adits and prospect pits and trenches. The Hilltop Mine has been developed as an open pit, heap leach project.

Comments on other economic factors

  • There was a small amount of early production from 1907 until about . In 2003, the Hilltop Mine property of Placer Dome was estimated to contain nearly a gold resource of almost 2 million ounces in material with an average grade of approximately 0.028 ounces of gold per ton. There was an open pit heap leach operation begun on the property, but the amount of production, if any, is unknown.

Comments on development

  • In 1907, high-grade gold ore was discovered in Hilltop Canyon and the Hilltop Mine was located about the same time. Hilltop Mining and Reduction Company built a 10-stamp mill in 1910; in 1914 it was converted to a cyanidation mill. Gulf drilled the Hilltop Property from 1981 to 1983 on 200-ft spacings. Ruskin Developments acquired the property from Gulf Mineral Resources Co. in May, 1984 with intentions of proving up drill-indicated reserves and do a feasibility study based on findings. In summer of 1986, U.S. Precious Metals, Inc. of Vancouver decided to exercise its option to earn 50% of the Hilltop Property with an open pit heap leach project. Noranda became involved in the development in 1987 with an option to earn a 50% interest by drilling and producing a feasibility study over the next 12 months while U.S. Precious Metals, Inc. of Vancouver maintained a 25% ownership and Ruskin Developments a 75% interest. The Hilltop-Slaven property consists of 32 complete and 18 partial sections, plus 19 unpatented mining claims, which constitutes a large portion (approximately 45 square miles or 11,600 hectares) of Newmont's checkerboard private landholdings. Checkerboard refers to every odd-numbered section for 20 miles on either side of the original Central Pacific Railroad route, which traverses the state of Nevada generally east to west. These sections cover much of the NW trend of the Battle Mountain Gold Belt where it crosses the Northern Shoshone Range. Several sections of the Hilltop-Slaven property are adjacent to and partially surround the Hilltop Mine property of Placer Dome, which has a gold resource of almost 2 million ounces at approximately 0.028 ounces of gold per ton. The Battle Mountain Gold Belt is made up of a myriad of historic mines, which cover every section of the area. During 2003, Victoria will focus on structural mapping and mapping of the Eocene dikes that are abundant as N-S, WNW, and NW swarms within the Battle Mountain Gold Belt. These dike swarms are spatially, if not genetically, associated with gold concentrations at Hilltop, Cortez, Gold Acres, and other mines within the gold belt.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    NBMG Mining District File 153, Numerous press clippings

  • Deposit

    Lisle, R.E. and Desrochers, G.J., 1988, Geology of the Hilltop Gold Deposit, Lander County, Nevada in GSN Precious Metals Symposium Technical Volume.

  • Deposit

    Bonham, H.F., 1986, NBMG Map 91

  • Deposit

    Bonham, H.F., 1988, in NBMG MI-1987

  • Deposit

    NBMG, 1994, MI-1993

  • Deposit

    Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Database of significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States; Part A, Database description and analysis; part B, Digital database: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-206, 33 p., one 3.5 inch diskette.

  • Deposit

    Kelson, C.R., Keith, J.D., Christiansen, E.H., and Meyer, P.E., 2000, Mineral paragenesis and depositional model of the Hilltop gold deposit, Lander County, NV, in Cluer, J.K., Price, J.G., Struhsacker, E.M., Hardyman, R.F., and Morris, C.L., eds., Geology and ore Deposits 2000: The Great Basin and Beyond: Geological Society of Nevada Symposium Proceedings, Reno/Sparks, May 2000, p.1107-1132.

  • Deposit

    http://www.arizonastar.com/337/Hilltop-Slaven_Property.htm

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Gold mineralization is associated with sulfide minerals, which are hosted by a brecciated chert unit occupying the hanging wall of a fault. Deposit occurs in both concordant and discordant breccias and in narrow quartz veins. The deposit is distinguished by the occurrence of gold mineralization in quartz-carbonaceous matter-sulfide breccia matrix in a non-calcareous host rock. Veins strike N-S and dip steeply west. In the historic Hilltop workings, the deposit was described as shattered quartzite seamed with stringers of quartz and iron oxide carrying a large amount of free gold. Locally small bodies of pyrite and galena occur in the fracture planes of quartzite and minute stringers of a gray metallic mineral said to contain bismuth. Assays show silver equal by weight to gold. The quartzite near the ore is impregnated with pyrite and locally decomposed to a soft white claylike substance carrying high values in gold. Two sub-parallel west-dipping faults served as conduits for mineralization. Thrust faulting followed by Basin-and-Range style extension along both faults before and during mineralization created a highly permeable megabreccia (the main zone) which received later igneous intrusions and hydrothermal fluid deposition. A discordant quartz breccia pipe hosts both main zone and porphyry-related(?) mineralization. Initial weak porphyry-style Cu-Mo-Au mineralization throughout the Hilltop area was probably associated with a 41.2?0.5 Ma west-northwest trend of diorite-granodiorite intrusions. The porphyry mineralization is localized around the periphery of the intrusions. Precious metal mineralization within the main zone followed the porphyry event and consists of at least six temporally distinct but spatially overlapping events. Main zone mineralization exhibits characteristics of both high- and low- sulfidation epithermal systems. Gold is associated with silica and arsenopyrite in three of six main zone mineralization events and shows no affinity for a particular host rock type

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-FEB-2005 LaPointe, D.D. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Editor 01-SEP-2007 Schruben, Paul G. U.S. Geological Survey Converted from S&A FileMaker format to Oracle. Edit checks on rocks, units, and ages with Geolex search, and other fields.