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By Kent G. Homewood

The well-being of any company is directly related to the well-being of its employees and to the effectiveness with which the personnel resource is managed. In an era when personnel management has steadily become more complex, there is an increased awareness of employee information systems at all levels of management due to: (1) regulations enacted by federal, state, and local government agencies; (2) technological advances within the mining industry which have resulted in the requirement for highly skilled personnel; (3) increasing concern for the confidentiality of employee information; and (4) management's need for information for planning purposes to control costs and for early recognition of trends and potential problems. In the past it was sufficient to maintain records manually. Today computers are necessary to provide information on short notice and effectively manipulate large volumes of' data. This discussion will describe the following aspects of employee information systems: (1) collection and maintenance of information, and (2) applications which include employee health, salary administration, management re- sources, and labor negotiations.

Jan 1, 1979

By W. Blake, J. Whyatt

Sixty years of rockbursting in the Coeur d’Alene district has taught painful lessons and led to a number of practical advances in controlling rockburst hazards. This paper summarizes those lessons, concentrating on practical measures that have been successfully adopted to reduce hazards. These lessons are explained in the context of district mining history and current understanding of rockburst phenomena. Overall, the paper provides the practicing mine engineer with an appreciation of rockburst hazards and an overview of practical measures that can be used to control these hazards in the context of Coeur d’Alene district experience.

By W. Blake, J. Whyatt

Sixty years of rockbursting in the Coeur d’Alene district has taught painful lessons and led to a number of practical advances in controlling rockburst hazards. This paper summarizes those lessons, concentrating on practical measures that have been successfully adopted to reduce hazards. These lessons are explained in the context of district mining history and current understanding of rockburst phenomena. Overall, the paper provides the practicing mine engineer with an appreciation of rockburst hazards and an overview of practical measures that can be used to control these hazards in the context of Coeur d’Alene district experience.

Jan 1, 2002

By D. M. Clippinger, J. J. Eidel, J. E. Frost

At Ithaca Peak, one of three peaks situated on Duval Corporation's Mineral Park property, a 'Single pulse of quartz monzonite magma intruded the isoclinally folded Precambrian Cerbat complex consisting of schist, quartzfeldspar gneiss, and amphibolite. The magma reacted with the Precambrian rocks, yielding a quartz-diorite rim. As the magma crystallized within the rim, it produced, progressing in'ward, annular bodies of quartz monzonite porphyry, quartz porphyry, and a distinctive quartz porphyry containing abundant podiform, tabular, and irregular quartz masses. These quartz masses are spatially associated with discontinuous crenulate and tabular quartz veinlets. Following crystallization, the Ithaca Peak stock and part of the surrounding Cerbat complex were fractured, producing a stockwork of predominantly northwest and northeast-trending fractures. The stockwork was then mineralized during a period of decreasing temperature by: ( 1) quartz-pyritechalcopyrite veinlets without distinct selvages and with distinct alteration envelopes in which orthoclase was altered to quartz and sericite; (2) quartz-pyrite-chalcopyrite veins and veinlets with distinct selvages and without distinct alteration envelopes; and (3) pyrite-chalcopyrite- galena-sphalerite veins. The Ithaca Peak stock was pervasively sericitized or argillized. The Mineral Park property is surrounded by a zone of propylitization Alteration and mineralization are coextensive in space and were, at least in part, coincident in time. The Mineral Park property possibly was elevated and exposed twice prior to its present exposure. The protore has been enriched by a factor of three. The Ithaca Peak supergene ore body is conformable with present topography and lies above the present water table. The shape of the ore body was controlled by erosion and oxidation of the previously enriched mineralization. Hematite, goethite, and jarosite present at the surface indicate a high primary pyrite environment, but it is possible to recognize that a small proportion of veins and veinlets contained greater amounts of chalcocite and chalcopyrite than pyrite. The igneous facies on Ithaca Peak are the products of differentiation within a solidifying rim according to Bowen's Reaction series. The innermost facies contain more quartz and orthoclase than the outer facies. Late magmatic quartz in the case of Ithaca Peak contains small amounts of pyrite and molybdenite. It is suggested that this quartz-sulfide mineralization, may also have been the product of differentiation the product of differentiation, may indicate that the later hydrothermal mineralization may also have been the product of differentiation.

Jan 1, 1968

By Jean-Sébastien Lambert, Serge Roberge

"At the end of 2014, Holcim Canada (Demix Aggregates Division) considered the possibility of drillingand blasting a big volume of rock in order to expose a high-quality limestone bench in one of their urbanarea quarries in Laval, Quebec (Canada). The project includes many challenges and has thus been qualified as a high-risk operation."

Jan 1, 2016

By Igor E. Mikhaltsev

The goal of investigation of the midwaters and of the bottom of the world - ocean versus technological possibilities. Manned vehicles and maximum depth decision. The methods of solving of the problem. The science and technology alloy. Mutual venture of Academy of Sciences of the USSR and, Rauma-Repola Oy of Finland. MIR-1 and MIR-2 - as twins. No reasons of copy "Sea Cliff" and "Nautilus". Six landmarks of specificity of "MIR"-type submersibles. The manned spheres and three ballast spheres are made of maraging steel; the electric power resource (100 kwh) and maximum underwater speed (5 knots) is two times more than of the analogous vehicles while the batteries are of NiFe type; the MIR submersibles have the seawater ballast (and trim) system which means practically unlimited vertical manoeuvrability ; and the weight in air is equal to "Nautilus" - 18,6 tons (in case of equal energy resource the weight of MIR-1 or MIR-2 would be 17 tons). Some remarks on standard life support (248 man-hours) safety systems and specificity of launch & recovery system.

Jan 1, 1988

By Aly M. Mohammad

The Delaware River Tramway will link civic and retail developments in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey. Twin 300-foot towers will anchor the cables at either side of the river. Four high capacity drilled shafts designed by the Geotechnical Department of DMJM+HARRIS support each of the towers. At the Philadelphia tower, each 6-foot diameter shaft extends 130 feet deep and terminates with a 30-foot rock socket. The shafts are situated within the footprint of an existing relieving platform, which complicates the typical construction sequence. Also, the subsurface conditions at the site provide a unique challenge in both the design and construction of the drilled shafts. During the construction of the four-drilled shafts for the Philadelphia tower, a 6000-ton Osterberg load test was performed on the first shaft to verify design assumption and confirm the shaft capacity. The results of the test were utilized to establish load transfer characteristics and develop foundation design parameters suitable for the site conditions. By doing so the Design Engineer was able to reduce the length of the rock sockets on the remaining production shafts by approximately 5 feet per shaft. As a result, the test provided a significant cost saving to the Owner by eliminating 15 feet of rock drilling from the construction costs. This paper presents a description of the unique design and construction methods adopted for the foundations, also on the Osterberg load test including equipment used, number and locations of strain gages, and interpretation of results. The results and findings presented in this paper could benefit both the design and construction industries because it provides a comparison between geotechnical design assumption and actual field measurements; which has always been a challenge particularly for rock formation.

Jan 1, 2002

By Donald F. Hammer, Donald W. Peterson

The Magma mine at Superior, Arizona, has produced over 13 million tons of ore yielding 1.5 billion pounds of copper. It is a mesathermal deposit, and, although the bulk of the ore has come from the Magma vein, most of the recent production has come from replacement deposits in limestone. The mine lies in a Precambrian and Paleozoic sequence of rocks that includes schist, diabase, quartzite, shale, and limestone; nearby, these rocks are intruded by igneous bodies of Mesozoic age that were probably the source of the ore-bearing fluids. Locally, these rocks are overlain by Cenozoic volcanic rocks and conglomerate. Layered rocks at the mine dip eastward about 30°. The area is extensively faulted, and surface faults are grouped into an earlier east-trending set and a later northtrending set. An additional set of diagonal faults that trends northwest and northeast is recognized underground. The east-trending Magma vein-fault, with its splits and branches, is the principal mineralized structure of the district. The bulk of the ore occurs in large ore shoots that plunge steeply westward and are sporadically connected by irregular ore shoots dipping gently eastward. The main ore controls apparently are selective zones of permeability related to the transverse faults. A bed of crystalline limestone near the base of the Martin Limestone (Devonian) is the host for the replacement ore bodies-discontinuous tabular pods dipping eastward parallel to the bedding. Selective permeability is again the apparent ore control, caused both by local hydrothermal solution of limestone and by deformation along faults. The principal copper minerals in the vein are chalcopyrite, bornite, enargite, tennantite, chalcocite, and digenite; these minerals vary in abundance according to a distinct zoning pattern. The upper part of the mine yielded considerable zinc as sphalerite, and the oxidized zone was rich in silver. The chief gangue minerals are pyrite, quartz, and hematite. In the limestone replacement bodies, chalcopyrite and bornite are the chief ore minerals.

Jan 1, 1968

By David Martell, Wilf Ingram

For over 100 years mine hoists have been used in Cape Breton Coal mines which are situated on the eastern coast of Canada. Most of the coal seams have been inclined and as the mine advanced, longer lengths of haul were required. This paper describes the successful operation of slope hoists with rope capacities of up to 6100 m (20,000 ft.) at Cape Breton Development Corporation. A general description of the hoists is given. The braking systems, controllers and man riding cars used are discussed. The operational problems of using such long lengths of rope are described.

Jan 1, 1981

By Tim O’Neil

“America’s mining industry brings good jobs to communities across America and provides the energy, minerals and equipment that are vital to our economic security and our way of life.” That was the surprise videotaped greeting from President George Bush at the official opening ceremony of MINExpo 2004in the Las Vegas, NV Convention Center. Jack Gerard reinforced the upbeat mood at MIN-Expo. He praised Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn for his support of the mining industry, the state’s largest manufacturing sector. Gerard is the president and chief executive officer of the National Mining Association, the sponsor of MINExpo 2004.

Jan 1, 2004

By Robert L. Clayton, Arthur Baker

Two massive sulfide zinc-copper ore bodies are in quartz-sericite schist (probably formed by regional metamorphism of sediments) and andesite of the Precambrian Yavapai Series, on opposite sides of a large rhyolite mass. The Copper Queen ore body is conformable with bedding of its schist host rock, but the Old Dick ore body probably crosscuts the strata. A lens of low-grade mineralization in chlorite schist, associated with the Old Dick ore body, crosscuts through 150 feet of strata. The ore bodies are almost entirely enclosed by premineral faults with less than 150 feet of displacement. The minerals of the ores are pyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite, with minor arsenopyrite and galena and small amounts of intimately associated chlorite, sericite, and calcite. Old Dick sphalerite-chalcopyrite intergrowths have mutual boundaries, and sphalerite grains contain abundant exsolved chalcopyrite. Copper Queen sphalerite-chalcopyrite intergrowths have extremely ragged boundaries, the sphalerite contains no exsolved chalcopyrite, and the ore overall has a schistose texture. The pre-mineral fault on the hanging wall of the Copper Queen ore body has had 100 feet of post-mineral displacement. Wall rocks of the Old Dick ore body locally have been sericitized. Andesite and quartz-sericite schists for at least several hundred feet around both ore bodies have been chloritized erratically and contain traces of copper.

Jan 1, 1968

By Robert H. Carpenter

Molybdenite mineralization occurs in the hood zone of the Questa mine aplite-porphyry intrusive, one of the three sil ica-rich intrusive5 occurring along the east-west trending Red River Trench that crosses the northerly trending Sangre de Cristo Mountains in north-central New Mexico. The Trench is located immediately north of the circular Gold Hill positive block between the Red River and Cabresto Creek drainages. The aplite-porphyry bodies intruded a mid-Tertiary volcanic section consisting of lower andesites, overlain by latites and rhyolites. They occur largely in the andesites and were emplaced mainly by metasomatism rather than by sloping. Hydrothermal alteration occurs both as blanket propylitization in the volcanics and sericitization and kaolinization in the porphyries and as halo-type alteration outward from veins and shear zones resulting in strong biotization in the volcanics and sericitization and kaolinization in the aplitic rocks. Mineralization consists of: ( 1) molybdenite- quartz veinlets; (2) banded molybdenite, quartz veins frequently with biotite and potash feldspar along the walls and occasionally with minor lead, zinc, and copper sulfides and with fluorite and carbonates when again reopened; ( 3) high grade molybdenite locally along shear zones; and ( 4) molybdenite paint along joint and fracture surfaces. The mineralization was associated with faulting that resulted from numerous periods of gravity adjustment along the Trench and was controlled by the major shear systems that trend northeast, east-west and north-south to northwest. Molybdenite has been well oxidized in nearsurface exposures to ferrimolybdite and the molybdenum-bearing ferric hydroxide, akaganeite. The oxidation of the abundant pyrite within the veins and shear zones and of the alteration pyrite in the volcanics resulted in a low pH environment under which the acid molybdate ion released by oxidation was fixed either in the ferrimolybdite or the akaganeite molecule in the veins and shear zones or in the soils. Little has been lost in the runoff.

Jan 1, 1968

By S. Warren Hobbs

The section of the Northwestern United States that includes the northern Rocky Mountains and adjacent areas to the west and east is one of large mineral production and important mineral potential. The metallic ore deposits vary widely in age and type and their geologic settings are similarly diverse. A brief resume of the region's physiographic characteristics and geology sets the framework for the selected ore districts that are described in following papers and makes it possible to place these ore deposits in their proper reference to space and time.

Jan 1, 1968

By Walter Stephen

MODERN developments in alloy steels have been so rapid and diverse that engineering practice has scarcely had time to re-appraise all items of past experience wherein conclusions became axiomatic under conditions that no longer apply. A case in point is the wet screening of abrasive ores within the fine range still looked upon as belonging exclusively to classifiers. By virtue of the development of stainless steels (18 per cent Cr, 8 per cent Ni), it is no longer true that classifiers are more economical than screens in closed circuit with large-tonnage ball or rod mills at 65 or even 100 mesh, provided a selective overgrind of the higher-gravity constitu-ents of the ore is not desired. Wet screening of ores is a highly corrosive as well as an abrasive opera-tion, because of the inevitably high degree of oxygenation of the water. Screen cloth of ordinary or spring-steel wire almost at once becomes pitted and covered with a film of corrosion products, which causes rust-blinding of fine-mesh screens and offers high frictional impedance to the flow of ore particles. On the other hand, the well-known properties of stainless steel enable it to maintain a bright surface, and so to eliminate blinding either by ore particles or by corrosion products. That a large-tonnage mill grinding hard ore to 65 mesh can be oper-ated economically in closed circuit with screens instead of classifiers has recently been demonstrated at the Copper Cliff concentrator of the International Nickel Co.; in the test to be described, a 6 ½ by 12 ½ -ft. Marcy rod mill ground from 625 to 820 tons. of ore per day to approxi-mately 65 mesh, operating in closed circuit with three 4 by 5-ft. Hum-mer screens, without any classifier.. Stainless-steel cloth gave an indicated life of several months. There was no difficulty with blinding, yet dilution and spray water could be controlled so that screen undersize averaged not less than 40 per cent solids. In contrast, ordinary carbon steel was pitted and blind with rust within 40 hours.

Jan 1, 1938

By Walter M. Stephen

MODERN developments in alloy steels have been so rapid and diverse that engineering practice has scarcely had time to re-appraise all items of past experience wherein conclusions became axiomatic under conditions that no longer apply. A case in point is the wet screening of abrasive ores within the fine range still looked upon as belonging exclusively to classifiers. By virtue of the development of stainless steels (18 per cent Cr, 8 per cent Ni), it is no longer true that classifiers are more economical than screens in closed circuit with large-tonnage ball or rod mills at 65 or even 100 mesh, provided a selective overgrind of the higher-gravity constituents of the ore is not desired. Wet screening of ores is a highly corrosive as well as an abrasive operation, because of the inevitably high degree of oxygenation of the water. Screen cloth of ordinary or spring-steel wire almost at once becomes pitted arid covered with a film of corrosion products, which causes rust-blinding of fine-mesh screens and offers high frictional impedance to the flow of ore particles. On the other hand, the well-known properties of stainless steel enable it to maintain a bright surface, and so to eliminate blinding either by ore particles or by corrosion products. That a large-tonnage mill grinding hard ore to 65 mesh can be operated economically in closed circuit with screens instead of classifiers has recently been demonstrated at the Copper Cliff concentrator of the International Nickel Co.; in the test to be described, a 6 ½ by 12 ½ -ft. Marcy rod mill ground from 625 to 820 tons of ore per day to approximately 65 mesh, operating in closed circuit with three 4 by 5-ft. Hum-mer screens, without any classifier. Stainless-steel cloth gave an indicated life of several months. There was no difficulty with blinding, yet dilution and spray water could be controlled so that screen undersize averaged not less than 40 per cent solids. In contrast, ordinary carbon steel was pitted and blind with rust within 40 hours.

Jan 1, 1938

By Gordon B. Brox, Joseph F. Mcaleer, Charles C. Goddard, Edward P. Shea, Robert G. Ingersoll, Lester G. Zeihen, George J. Burns, John M. Guilbert, Richard N. Miller, Charles Meyer

The Boulder batholith is a composite intrusive in which the Butte quartz monzonite is the dominant rock type. Quartz porphyry dikes intruded the quartz monzonite in directions which were subsequently followed by the eastwest- striking Anaconda system of veins, the earliest major veins in the district. Anaconda veins are faulted by northwest-striking veins of the Blue system, which are most prominent in the central third of the district. Anaconda veins are the major producers in the western third of the district and also in the eastern third, where the "horsetail" zones break off from them. Individual oreshoots are thousands of feet long as well as deep on both systems of veins, but they are generally more persistent and thicker on the Anaconda veins. Viewed broadly, the mineralization in the big veins is arranged in crudely concentric zones of zinc and manganese around a central zone of copper. Only slightly offset from these zones, but earlier structurally, is a zone in which quartz-molybdenite veinlets are prominent. This zone tops at about the 2800 level and widens downward. The pattern of distribution of Cu-Fe-S series minerals in the large veins of the copper zone is not symmetrical with respect to the metal zones. There is a fringe of chalcopyrite-bornite all around the copper front. However, within the copper zone, pyrite-chalcocite-enargitecovellite- digenite assemblages are prevalent near its eastern edge from the 3800 level to the surface, whereas deep on the large Anaconda veins in the western part of the copper zone, chalcopyrite is dominant. Here the chalcopyrite grades upward into bornite-chalcocite ores and eastward into the high-sulfur assemblages of the Leonard mine. Sericite-biotite-K-feldspar alteration envelopes, containing up to about 2 per cent copper as chalcopyrite, are present on some of the quartz-molybdenite veinlets at deep mine levels in the molybdenite zone. These envelopes contrast sharply mineralogically and chemically with the later sericitic and argillic alteration envelopes around Main Stage veins. K'0-Ar'0 ratios indicate that they may be older by about 4 m.y. Secondarily enriched copper ores are mined in the Berkeley pit in the southeastern part of the district. At the present time they account for about half of Butte's production of copper.

Jan 1, 1968

By Verne C. Fryklund, S. Warren Hobbs

The Coeur d'Alene district in the panhandle of Idaho is one of the major lead-zinc-silver producing areas in the world. The value of recorded production to date has exceeded $2 billion. Country rock comprises six formations of the fine-grained, highly siliceous, and slightly metamorphosed Precambrian Belt Series. Small stocks of monzonitic rocks and several varieties of dikes intrude the sediments. The district is at the intersection of a north trending major anticlinal uplift and the west northwest-trending Lewis and Clark line of which the Osburn fault is the dominant feature. The district structure is complicated and comprises folds, some of which are overturned, and a complex of faults of diverse ages and directions of movement. Late Cretaceous stocks but are also probably Cretaceous in age. The productive veins are localized within a series of 12 subparallel, straight mineral belts that trend approximately N65°W and that appear to be controlled by deep fractures in the basement rocks. The mineral belts are in two groups, separated by 15 miles of post-mineralization movement on the Osburn fault. Veins and ore shoots are variously disposed within each mineral belt. Many crop out at the surface, but others apex several thousand feet beneath it. Local controls that influence the position of ore shoots within the mineral belts include the brittle character of host rock attitude of bedding relative to the mineralized fracture, and the amount and direction of movement on faults. Depth appears to have had little effect on the occurrence or type of ore. Ore occurs in a series of steeply dipping replacement veins of relatively simple mineralogy. Six periods of mineralization, ranging from Precambrian to Tertiary in age, are recognized. The productive galena sphalerite-bearing and tetrahedrite-bearing veins-of the main period of mineralization-are younger than the

Jan 1, 1968

By A. L. Slaughter

The Homestake mine, located in western South Dakota, was discovered in 1876. The first reported production was in I 878. Total production through 1965 is 6,554,249 troy ounces of silver and 27,961,276 troy ounces of gold, worth $987,000,000 at present prices. Precambrian sedimentary formations at Lead total 20,000 feet. The Poorman Formation, the oldest, is chiefly ankerite carbonate. The Homestake Formation is iron-magnesium carbonate. The younger formations are argillaceous with some quartzites. The Cambrian Deadwood Formation unconformably overlies the Precambrian. All are cut by Tertiary intrusives. Sideroplesite schist of the Homestake Formation was converted to cummingtonite schist in the zones of higher-grade metamorphism. The Precambrian rocks show the effects of extreme isoclinal folding. A second stage of folding ( cross folds) may have been caused by the Tertiary intrusives. All folds plunge to the southeast. The Homestake ore bodies are pipe-like replacements of the Homestake Formation in zones of cross folding. It is believed that dilatation of the schists has increased permeability in these zones. Chloritization of the schists is the most widespread effect of the mineralization which is divided into four stages. Principal minerals of the first stage are quartz, chlorite, and arsenopyrite; in the second stage, quartz, ankerite, and pyrrhotite. In the third stage only pyrrhotite was deposited. The fourth stage followed the intrusions of Tertiary dikes and deposited mostly pyrite and calcite. Gold accompanies all stages and is always the last mineral to be deposited. It is most closely associated with arsenopyrite of the first stage but can be interpreted as having been deposited during the fourth stage and superimposed on the products of the earlier stages.

Jan 1, 1968

By Roy A. Anderson, Roger H. McConnel

The Metaline district from 1906 through 1965 has produced nearly 16 million tons of ore yielding 400,808 tons of zinc and 178,062 tons of lead. The sediments, ranging from Precambrian into the Devonian, are schist, phyllite, conglomerate, greenstone, quartzite, limestone, dolomite, and carbonaceous slates. Quartz monzonite and granodiorite of the Cretaceous(?) Kaniksu batholith are exposed over a large area beginning a few miles south of the district. There is minor Tertiary conglomerate and basalt. Abundant glacial deposits obscure much of the bedrock. Northeasterly trending folds, having steep to overturned northwesterly limbs, and thrust faults, striking northeasterly and dipping southeasterly, characterize the deformation of the Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks. Recent drilling indicates that the Slate Creek fault, too, is also a southeasterly dipping thrust fault. This new evidence suggests that the Valley Block, like the other major structural blocks, may in part be a thrust plate rather than a graben, and that thus the district may have greater structural unity with the surrounding region than has heretofore been apparent. The Cambrian Metaline Formation of limestone and dolomite contains essentially all the lead-zinc mineralization. Most of the ore mined to date has come from a carbonaceous and irregularly siliceous breccia of sedimentary and diagenetic origin, locally called the "Josephine Horizon," that makes up the top few to 200 feet of the formation. The Josephine Unit is a breccia of gray limestone, coarse light gray dolomite, very thin-bedded, dark gray siliceous dolomite, and "zebra rock" believed to be of algal origin, embedded in a matrix of black dolomite or black jasperoid or some mixture of these two. The jaspcroid fragments and irregular blobs embedded in the black dolomite matrix and the jasperoid laminae in the very thin-bedded dark gray dolomite suggest that jasperoid was formed at the same time as the breccia matrix and as the laminated dolomite. So too, the marked tendency of sphalerite and galena to be disseminated mainly in the dark breccia matrix and their tendency to be most abundant in the jasperoid laminae of the very thin-bedded dark gray dolomite, even where the mineralized and laminated dolomite is fragmented and engulfed in black dolomite breccia matrix, suggests that in these ha bits the sulfides also were deposited contemporaneously with the sediments. Yet very commonly, veins and vague veinlets and patches of white quartz, usually carrying rather coarse sphalerite and sometimes galena crosscut all rock types. These contradictory relationships throughout the Josephine Unit suggest that both the black jasperoid and the sulfides were original constituents of the Josephine Unit but that, locally, they later were remobilized and deposited as white quartz and coarser grained sulfides. Possibly, at least in part, this "metamorphism" is one of the effects produced during or shortly after the intrusion of the Kaniksu batholith.

Jan 1, 1968

By Roy P. Full, Robert M. Grantham

Regional structural adjustments in early Tertiary time resulted in the development of the Republic graben, a major down-dropped block that is from 6 to 10 miles in width and more than fifty miles in length. The graben became the center of extensive volcanic activity during Eocene and Oligocene time, resulting in a thick sequence of water-laid tuffaceous sediments, volcanic flows, and associated intrusives. A younger series of sediments, pyroclastics, and flows were deposited in structural depressions within the graben following the period of widespread volcanic activity. The Republic mining district is located along one of the major intragraben structural zones, where continuing subsidence during the period of volcanic activity resulted in an increased thickness of flows and associated flow breccias and pyroclastics. Intrusive masses in part healed early graben-forming faults, but later subsidence reopened old faults and created new fracture zones which later became the control for the gold-quartz veins. Considerable block adjustment along the subsidence area is evidenced by the structural pattern in the mines, and telescoped vein structures indicate north-south compressional stresses and east-west graben-forming tensional stresses prior to and during the emplacement of the veins. The veins, varying from a few feet to more than 50 feet in width, are filled primarily by fine-grained quartz, commonly chalcedonic or porcelain-like in appearance. Finely laminated dark-gray to black concentric banding within the veins generally distinguishes the better-grade ore zones, which contain finely disseminated sulfides and ore minerals that include principally electrum, stephanite, naumannite, and native silver.

Jan 1, 1968