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Spanish Quartz Mine (Spanish Qtz.; Spanish Mine; Spanish Mng. & S F Com. Co.; Spanish Mng. & S F Commercial Co.; American claim; Spanish claim; Santa Anita claim; Santa Anita Extension claim; Pine Tree claim; Singleton claim; Grizzly claim; Savage claim; Mexican Cons./Santa Anita), Washington, Washington Mining District (Omega Mining District), Nevada County, California, USAi
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
39° 22' 54'' North , 120° 47' 14'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Kรถppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | 185 (2011) | 2.7km |
| Pike | 134 (2011) | 19.2km |
| Alta | 610 (2011) | 19.6km |
| Dutch Flat | 160 (2011) | 20.0km |
| Downieville | 282 (2011) | 20.0km |
Nearest Clubs:
Local clubs are the best way to get access to collecting localities
Local clubs are the best way to get access to collecting localities
| Club | Location | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Nevada County Gem & Mineral Society | Grass Valley, California | 30km |
A former lode Pb-Au-Ag-Zn-Cu-Ba(baryte) occurrence/mine located in secs. 19, EยฝNWยผ sec. 30 & 31, T18N, R11E, MDM, 2.6 km (1.6 miles to 2ยฝ miles) NNE of Washington (2 miles E of the Robbins Ranch; 1 to 2 miles S of Cherry Hill), on National Forest land. It was discovered in 1883. The location selected by the USGS for latitude and longitude is the Spanish Mine symbol on the USGS 7-1/2-minute Alleghany quadrangle. NOTE: This entire property has a very long N-S configuration accounting for the various distances to towns it is related to.
The Spanish Mine is located in the Washington Mining District in east-central Nevada County near the old mining town of Washington. Discovered in 1883, the mine produced continuously until 1898, and intermittently thereafter until 1939. The mine produced from thin gold-quartz stringers within the soft slate hanging wall of a thick, nearly barren quartz vein. Total production is unknown, but ores are reported to have yielded as much as $3.00 to $6.00 (period values) per ton.
The Spanish Mine was discovered in 1883. By 1884, the mine was in operation, at first comprising 10 claims, each measuring 1,500 x 600 feet (207 acres). The mine was operated from 1883-1898, 1903-1906, and then was idle until 1919 when the mine was briefly put back in operation. At that time, the mine consisted of nine patented claims named American, Spanish, Santa Anita, Santa Anita Extension, Pine Tree, Singleton, Grizzly, Savage, and Mexican, totaling 175 acres. The claims covered a two-mile stretch along the vein outcrop. It was equipped with 10 stamps and four Huntington Mills, operated by water under a 600-foot head. Mill capacity was about 4,000 tons per month. Gold recovery ran $0.50 to $1.25 (period values) per ton. By 1931, a 50-ton selective flotation plant had be installed and processed ores ran as high as $3-$6 (period values) in gold, 2-3 ounces silver, 0.6% copper, 1.5% lead, and 2% zinc, producing 5 different concentrates: copper, lead, zinc, iron, and baryte. In 1932, the upper tunnel was driven to 1,803 feet and the lower tunnel to 5,676 feet. In 1933, a 50-ton cyanide plant was installed to treat oxidized ore mined from the Barite Mine (baryte deposit north of the Spanish Mine). In 1938, the mine produced 22,290 tons of ore, which yielded 4,542 ounces of gold, 45,164 ounces of silver, 234,440 pounds of lead, and 114,963 pounds of copper (by then the mine included ores from the assimilated Baryte Mine to the north). The mine was shut down during World War II, and no activity occurred on the mine properties until the 1950's when National Lead leased the properties to produce from the near-surface baryte deposit. The Ostler family purchased the property in the mid-1960's and mined approximately 100,000 tons of baryte. Geo Drilling Fluids leased the property in the 1970's and produced another 100,00 tons of baryte. In 1984, Homestake Mining acquired the property and undertook an exploration program focused on the gold ores. In 1987, Panorama Resources acquired the mineral rights and conducted their own exploration program involving geologic mapping, drilling, geochemical analyses, and geophysical surveying. This program demonstrated the presence of a significant massive- and disseminated-sulfide gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc deposit at depth. A permit to mine was obtained in 1990, but expired 5 years later with no mining activity accomplished.
Mineralization is a vein deposit (Mineral occurrence model information: Model code: 273; USGS model code: 36a; Deposit model name: Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein; Mark3 model number: 27), hosted in Ordovician-Devonian slate of the Shoo Fly Complex, diorite, phyllite, quartzite, and graywacke and siltstone. The ore body is tabular & lenticular, strikes N10-15W and dips 80NE at a thickness of 27.43 meters. Free-milling gold occurs within thin quartz stringers in wall rock adjacent to barren quartz vein. Alteration includes bleaching and alteration of the host rocks. Diorite is chlortized. Local rocks include Paleozoic marine rocks, undivided, unit 4 (Western Sierra Nevada) and/or Mesozoic granitic rocks, unit 4 (Klamath Mountains and Northern Sierra Nevada).
The Washington District is located on the western edge of the Northern Sierra Nevada Eastern Belt (Northern Sierra Terrane) lithotectonic unit. The Spanish Mine is less than 1 mile east of the Melones Fault Zone, which bounds the Feather River Peridotite Belt. Locally, the district is underlain by slate, schist, and quartzite of the Paleozoic Shoo Fly Complex. A few serpentinite bodies intrude the bedrock. The Bowman Lake Batholith lies to the east. The quartz veins in the Spanish Mine are thought to be the southeastern extension of the Jurassic-Cretaceous mesothermal fracture-filling quartz veins, which produce from the famous pocket gold mines in the Alleghany Mining District to the north. The Alleghany fracture system is thought to be both the result of regional compression as well as more local compression associated with the many nearby intrusive rocks. Unlike the Alleghany District quartz veins where the gold is dispersed in pockets throughout the vein itself, most of the gold in the Spanish Mine occurs in thin free-milling quartz veinlets in the soft slate of the hanging wall of a quartz vein system. The foot wall is hard slate. While the entire vein system is up to 90 feet thick, the main vein, which is on the footwall, is only four feet wide. It consists of solid quartz with little to no gold, and was often left in place during mining. It strikes N14W and dips 80W. A smaller vein was encountered about 500 feet above the main workings. It consists of a 2-foot quartz vein with baryte gangue, carrying sphalerite and bornite. As with the main zone, the pay was not in the quartz vein proper, but within 2 feet of the vein in the slate wall rock and gangue.
One and one-half miles north and 1,500 feet shallower than the Spanish Mine vein workings, is a shallow high-grade baryte deposit, which was mined independently of the Spanish Mine. In the 1900's, it became part of the Spanish Mine properties. Associated with the baryte is a shallow oxidized ore body that averaged 0.26 ounce Au and 3.5 ounces Ag. In 1919, average gold recovery from the mine ran from $0.50 to $1.25 (period values) per ton.
Regional geologic structures include the Melones Fault Zone and the Goodyears Creek Fault. Local structures include the Melones Fault Zone.
Workings include surface and underground openings with a length of 3,048 meters and an overall depth of 233.78 meters. They are comprised of 2 tunnels, raises, open cuts, an adit, drifts and crosscuts.
Early mining methods were primitive. By 1888, the mine consisted of one tunnel 1,200 feet long with a vertical depth to surface of 350 feet. Ore was mined to the surface using the glory-hole method. One early account was given by Irelan (1888): "A Chinaman, armed with a churn drill is lowered (from the surface) to a sufficient distance by means of a rope. When the drill hole is deep enough, it is charged with about five pounds of powder and fired, causing a large quantity of the soft slate to slide to the bottom, whence it is taken out through the tunnel. Cars were drawn into the mine by mules, coming out by gravity". The ore averaged about $0.70 per ton. A description of the early crushing and processing operations is also given by Irelan (1888). By 1889, a 1,500-foot lower tunnel had been driven 300 feet below the upper tunnel, from which there were 7 upraises from the tunnel to the surface and 10 crosscuts in the vein. By the 1890's, all mining was being conducted through the lower tunnel. Raises were put up from the ends of the tunnel and the ore in the surface zones was worked by open cuts around the raises so that gravity was fully utilized. By the 1930's, the lower tunnel had been driven to 5,676 feet along the vein and the upper tunnel was extended to 1,803 feet.
Commodity information: Ore materials: free-milling gold-bearing quartz stringers within wallrock adjacent to barren quartz vein with galena, sphalerite and bornite. Gangue materials: quartz, baryte.
Production data are found in: MacBoyle, Errol (1919); Goodwin, Joseph Grant (1957); Logan, Clarence August (1941).
No information is available regarding the total production (tonnages or dollars) from the Spanish Mine. It has been reported that during the early operations, the ore yielded $0.70 (period values) per ton. By the 1930's, ore was yielding $3-$6 (period values)per ton.
Production statistics: Year: 1938 (accurate): Ore: 1,280,400 grams Ag; 128,800 grams Au; 52 metric tons Cu; 106 metric tons Pb.
Comments on the production information: Average estimate 0.50 to $1.25 (period values) Au/ton worked from 1893 to 1899 and from 1931 to 1944. Ag:Au = 10:1; Pb:Cu:Zn = 2:1:1.
Analytical data results: estimated assays: 0.18 to 0.30 ounce Au; 2 to 3 ounces Ag, 0.6% Cu, 1.5% Pb, & 2% Zn.
The Spanish Mine is located in the Washington Mining District in east-central Nevada County near the old mining town of Washington. Discovered in 1883, the mine produced continuously until 1898, and intermittently thereafter until 1939. The mine produced from thin gold-quartz stringers within the soft slate hanging wall of a thick, nearly barren quartz vein. Total production is unknown, but ores are reported to have yielded as much as $3.00 to $6.00 (period values) per ton.
The Spanish Mine was discovered in 1883. By 1884, the mine was in operation, at first comprising 10 claims, each measuring 1,500 x 600 feet (207 acres). The mine was operated from 1883-1898, 1903-1906, and then was idle until 1919 when the mine was briefly put back in operation. At that time, the mine consisted of nine patented claims named American, Spanish, Santa Anita, Santa Anita Extension, Pine Tree, Singleton, Grizzly, Savage, and Mexican, totaling 175 acres. The claims covered a two-mile stretch along the vein outcrop. It was equipped with 10 stamps and four Huntington Mills, operated by water under a 600-foot head. Mill capacity was about 4,000 tons per month. Gold recovery ran $0.50 to $1.25 (period values) per ton. By 1931, a 50-ton selective flotation plant had be installed and processed ores ran as high as $3-$6 (period values) in gold, 2-3 ounces silver, 0.6% copper, 1.5% lead, and 2% zinc, producing 5 different concentrates: copper, lead, zinc, iron, and baryte. In 1932, the upper tunnel was driven to 1,803 feet and the lower tunnel to 5,676 feet. In 1933, a 50-ton cyanide plant was installed to treat oxidized ore mined from the Barite Mine (baryte deposit north of the Spanish Mine). In 1938, the mine produced 22,290 tons of ore, which yielded 4,542 ounces of gold, 45,164 ounces of silver, 234,440 pounds of lead, and 114,963 pounds of copper (by then the mine included ores from the assimilated Baryte Mine to the north). The mine was shut down during World War II, and no activity occurred on the mine properties until the 1950's when National Lead leased the properties to produce from the near-surface baryte deposit. The Ostler family purchased the property in the mid-1960's and mined approximately 100,000 tons of baryte. Geo Drilling Fluids leased the property in the 1970's and produced another 100,00 tons of baryte. In 1984, Homestake Mining acquired the property and undertook an exploration program focused on the gold ores. In 1987, Panorama Resources acquired the mineral rights and conducted their own exploration program involving geologic mapping, drilling, geochemical analyses, and geophysical surveying. This program demonstrated the presence of a significant massive- and disseminated-sulfide gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc deposit at depth. A permit to mine was obtained in 1990, but expired 5 years later with no mining activity accomplished.
Mineralization is a vein deposit (Mineral occurrence model information: Model code: 273; USGS model code: 36a; Deposit model name: Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein; Mark3 model number: 27), hosted in Ordovician-Devonian slate of the Shoo Fly Complex, diorite, phyllite, quartzite, and graywacke and siltstone. The ore body is tabular & lenticular, strikes N10-15W and dips 80NE at a thickness of 27.43 meters. Free-milling gold occurs within thin quartz stringers in wall rock adjacent to barren quartz vein. Alteration includes bleaching and alteration of the host rocks. Diorite is chlortized. Local rocks include Paleozoic marine rocks, undivided, unit 4 (Western Sierra Nevada) and/or Mesozoic granitic rocks, unit 4 (Klamath Mountains and Northern Sierra Nevada).
The Washington District is located on the western edge of the Northern Sierra Nevada Eastern Belt (Northern Sierra Terrane) lithotectonic unit. The Spanish Mine is less than 1 mile east of the Melones Fault Zone, which bounds the Feather River Peridotite Belt. Locally, the district is underlain by slate, schist, and quartzite of the Paleozoic Shoo Fly Complex. A few serpentinite bodies intrude the bedrock. The Bowman Lake Batholith lies to the east. The quartz veins in the Spanish Mine are thought to be the southeastern extension of the Jurassic-Cretaceous mesothermal fracture-filling quartz veins, which produce from the famous pocket gold mines in the Alleghany Mining District to the north. The Alleghany fracture system is thought to be both the result of regional compression as well as more local compression associated with the many nearby intrusive rocks. Unlike the Alleghany District quartz veins where the gold is dispersed in pockets throughout the vein itself, most of the gold in the Spanish Mine occurs in thin free-milling quartz veinlets in the soft slate of the hanging wall of a quartz vein system. The foot wall is hard slate. While the entire vein system is up to 90 feet thick, the main vein, which is on the footwall, is only four feet wide. It consists of solid quartz with little to no gold, and was often left in place during mining. It strikes N14W and dips 80W. A smaller vein was encountered about 500 feet above the main workings. It consists of a 2-foot quartz vein with baryte gangue, carrying sphalerite and bornite. As with the main zone, the pay was not in the quartz vein proper, but within 2 feet of the vein in the slate wall rock and gangue.
One and one-half miles north and 1,500 feet shallower than the Spanish Mine vein workings, is a shallow high-grade baryte deposit, which was mined independently of the Spanish Mine. In the 1900's, it became part of the Spanish Mine properties. Associated with the baryte is a shallow oxidized ore body that averaged 0.26 ounce Au and 3.5 ounces Ag. In 1919, average gold recovery from the mine ran from $0.50 to $1.25 (period values) per ton.
Regional geologic structures include the Melones Fault Zone and the Goodyears Creek Fault. Local structures include the Melones Fault Zone.
Workings include surface and underground openings with a length of 3,048 meters and an overall depth of 233.78 meters. They are comprised of 2 tunnels, raises, open cuts, an adit, drifts and crosscuts.
Early mining methods were primitive. By 1888, the mine consisted of one tunnel 1,200 feet long with a vertical depth to surface of 350 feet. Ore was mined to the surface using the glory-hole method. One early account was given by Irelan (1888): "A Chinaman, armed with a churn drill is lowered (from the surface) to a sufficient distance by means of a rope. When the drill hole is deep enough, it is charged with about five pounds of powder and fired, causing a large quantity of the soft slate to slide to the bottom, whence it is taken out through the tunnel. Cars were drawn into the mine by mules, coming out by gravity". The ore averaged about $0.70 per ton. A description of the early crushing and processing operations is also given by Irelan (1888). By 1889, a 1,500-foot lower tunnel had been driven 300 feet below the upper tunnel, from which there were 7 upraises from the tunnel to the surface and 10 crosscuts in the vein. By the 1890's, all mining was being conducted through the lower tunnel. Raises were put up from the ends of the tunnel and the ore in the surface zones was worked by open cuts around the raises so that gravity was fully utilized. By the 1930's, the lower tunnel had been driven to 5,676 feet along the vein and the upper tunnel was extended to 1,803 feet.
Commodity information: Ore materials: free-milling gold-bearing quartz stringers within wallrock adjacent to barren quartz vein with galena, sphalerite and bornite. Gangue materials: quartz, baryte.
Production data are found in: MacBoyle, Errol (1919); Goodwin, Joseph Grant (1957); Logan, Clarence August (1941).
No information is available regarding the total production (tonnages or dollars) from the Spanish Mine. It has been reported that during the early operations, the ore yielded $0.70 (period values) per ton. By the 1930's, ore was yielding $3-$6 (period values)per ton.
Production statistics: Year: 1938 (accurate): Ore: 1,280,400 grams Ag; 128,800 grams Au; 52 metric tons Cu; 106 metric tons Pb.
Comments on the production information: Average estimate 0.50 to $1.25 (period values) Au/ton worked from 1893 to 1899 and from 1931 to 1944. Ag:Au = 10:1; Pb:Cu:Zn = 2:1:1.
Analytical data results: estimated assays: 0.18 to 0.30 ounce Au; 2 to 3 ounces Ag, 0.6% Cu, 1.5% Pb, & 2% Zn.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsMineral List
Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities6 valid minerals.
Detailed Mineral List:
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| โ | Native Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
| Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
| โ | Bornite | 2.BA.15 | Cu5FeS4 |
| โ | Sphalerite | 2.CB.05a | ZnS |
| โ | Galena | 2.CD.10 | PbS |
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
| โ | Quartz | 4.DA.05 | SiO2 |
| Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates | |||
| โ | Baryte | 7.AD.35 | BaSO4 |
| Unclassified | |||
| โ | 'Chlorite Group' | - | |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| O | Oxygen | |
|---|---|---|
| O | โ Baryte | BaSO4 |
| O | โ Quartz | SiO2 |
| Si | Silicon | |
| Si | โ Quartz | SiO2 |
| S | Sulfur | |
| S | โ Baryte | BaSO4 |
| S | โ Bornite | Cu5FeS4 |
| S | โ Galena | PbS |
| S | โ Sphalerite | ZnS |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | โ Bornite | Cu5FeS4 |
| Cu | Copper | |
| Cu | โ Bornite | Cu5FeS4 |
| Zn | Zinc | |
| Zn | โ Sphalerite | ZnS |
| Ba | Barium | |
| Ba | โ Baryte | BaSO4 |
| Au | Gold | |
| Au | โ Native Gold | Au |
| Pb | Lead | |
| Pb | โ Galena | PbS |
Other Databases
| Link to USGS MRDS: | 10310686 |
|---|
Localities in this Region
- California
- Nevada County
- Washington Mining District (Omega Mining District)
- Washington
- Spanish Quartz Mine (Spanish Qtz.; Spanish Mine; Spanish Mng. & S F Com. Co.; Spanish Mng. & S F Commercial Co.; American claim; Spanish claim; Santa Anita claim; Santa Anita Extension claim; Pine Tree claim; Singleton claim; Grizzly claim; Savage claim; Mexican Cons./Santa Anita)
- Washington
- Washington Mining District (Omega Mining District)
- Nevada County
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North AmericaContinent
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Calaveras-Baker DomainDomain
- Sierra Nevada BatholithVolcanic Arc
USA
- Sierra NevadaMountain Range
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References
Lindgren, Waldemar (1900) Colfax folio, California. Folios of the Geologic Atlas 66. US Geological Survey doi:10.3133/gf66
