The Battle Mountain District, Lander County
The Battle Mountain District, Lander County
The
Battle Mountain District lies southwest of the town of Battle
Mountain (see Map). For many years it was a major producer of
copper. Within the boundaries of the District, the copper is
found in several different types of deposits, particularly a
porphyry like Bingham Canyon, and in veins.
Although silver was discovered in 1863, the first mining claims were not located until 1866. Most of the claims and later activity were centered in Copper Canyon and Copper Basin.
The Battle Mountain District contains several subdistricts. The two most important are Copper Canyon and Copper Basin. The Copper Canyon Mining Company operated mines in both areas from 1916 to 1955. In addition, it operated a mill at Copper Canyon from 1941 to 1957.
In the period 1866 to 1961, the area produced 15,000 tons of copper, 150,000 ounces of gold, 2,000,000 ounces of silver, 5,000 tons of lead, and 1,500 tons of zinc.
In 1967, Duval Corp. acquired claims at Copper Basin and Copper Canyon from American Smelting and Refining Co. Copper was produced from both milling and leaching processes. With modern methods, the amount of copper produced increased dramatically. From 1967 to 1974, 102,083 tons of copper came from the combined milling and leaching operations.
Low copper prices depressed the copper market. In 1977, copper production by milling was phased out, and the mill was converted to a facility to process gold. Battle Mountain remains as a thriving town near Nevada's booming gold mines, and as a travel center adjacent to an interstate highway.
Geology
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