Fitting District – Mineral County, Nevada
You can drive directly to the mine entrances.
High clearance 4WD required to access the claim.
Contact us for exact coordinates

The Green Talc Gold Mine is a sister mine to the Dover Mine. The two mines are often referred to together in documentation as the Dover and Green Talc. Historically small bits of free milling gold was mined and processed on site at the Green Talc Mine. These deposits were found in the heavily oxidized copper sulfide veins. The waste dump is substantial and indicates that a substantial amount of workings should exist. It is assumed that there are likely underground workings that are currently obscured. There is a series of open pits and small prospects. This was reported in the 1937 and 1955 reports. The mine has not been actively worked since 1929 according to documentation. The mine was primarily worked for gold, which is noted as a secondary element of interest at the mine. Today it's more of a higher priority. There is good access to the mines via a county dirt road. It does require high clearance 4WD to access and may be subject to seasonal washouts. The road will need to be improved to facilitate larger dump trucks or heavy equipment. The mines are noted for andalusite ores but Gold is and has been the primary element of interest at the mine. The gold in this mine is found in small particulates, most notably in columns of ore near quartz and oxidized copper deposits. The heavily oxidized copper bears a crumbling, almost talc-like appearance. It is likely that this is where the mine name was derived from. Gold will be processed from this mine by chemical separation. The gold being too small to be recovered by conventional methods. There are a variety of buildings in states of disrepair on the claim. An old workshop, a large tipple with an office built on top. The office has collapsed but the tipple still stands. The claim is remote and at the end of a dead end road. There are no resources available on the claim, water, shade and other amenities will need to be addressed. This claim should be considered for miners with some advanced knowledge of processing and separation. It is likely there will be a Notice of Operation required to profitably work the site. This claim would not be of benefit for Casual Use miners as the gold is not free milling and would be difficult if not impossible to separate without chemicals and mechanized processing methods.

From a 1937 report,

The fitting district comprises an area roughly 16 miles long and 6 miles wide in the southeast end of the Gillis Range in central Mineral County. The most recent mining development in this region is the production of andalusite rock from an unusual deposit on the southern flank of the Gillis Range. This is the only commercial occurrence of andalusite in Nevada.

The Dover group of three unpatented claims owned by B.H. Donnelly of Hawthorne is 5 miles east of Thorne, the nearest shipping point. The property is known as the Donnelly Mine.

Andalusite rocks was discovered by Donnelly in this area in 1929. In 1936, the property was leased to the Tillotson Clay Co. of Los Angeles for a 3-year period. Six men are employed at the property, and the production up to October 1936 was 450 tons of andalusite rock. The material is shipped to the Tillotson Clay Co. plant at Los Angeles for the manufacture of refractories.

Development work includes a 1 1/2-compartment vertical shaft 50 feet deep, two open-cuts, and a number of surface trenches. Workings comprise a total of 200 feet. The largest open-cut at the west end of the deposit is 30 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 15 feet deep. The shaft has been sunk near this cut, and a crosscut 56 feet long has been driven from the bottom of this shaft. Both shaft and crosscut are in andalusite rock. About 2,500 feet to the east of the shaft the second open-cut has exposed the andalusite for a width of 25 feet, a length of 20 feet, and a depth of 12 feet.

Equipment on the property includes an Ingersoll Rand Imperial Type 14 portable compressor, and Essex geared hoist driven by a gasoline engine, and a blacksmith shop. Hoisting is done with 1,000-pound capacity bucket.

The andalusite formation strikes approximately east and west. Near the shaft the andalusite rock is covered with a mantle of surface debris and clay up to 12 feet thick. The clay and surface debris are traversed with seams of gypsum.

In addition to andalusite, the rock contains gold, corundum, quartz, sericite, and probably a little dumortierite. There is considerable variation of the mineral constituents in the rock. Corundum predominates in some specimens, while in others andalusite is the most abundant mineral. After the material is mined it is hand-sorted into two grades, according to specific gravity and mineral constituents.

Insufficient work has been done to block out tonnage, but in all probability this deposit contains large reserves.[1]

A 1955 Radioactivity Scanning Report stated:

Green Talc Mine and Bismark Mine Mineral County, Nevada:

The Green Talc mine and the Bismark mine are located 10 to 12 miles northeast of Hawthorne, Nevada. Mineralization is sillimanite, with the alumina minerals occurring as replacement along shear zones in metavolcanic rocks of Triassic age, meta-andesites, and meta-tuffs. The shear zones are recrystallized into schists. Dikes of dibase or basalt intrude the metavolcanics. Minor minerals are quartz, andalusite, corundum diaspore, halloysite, sericite, pyrophyllite, pyrite, hematite, epidote, and others in trace amounts~ The core material from the Green Talc mine showed a consistent low response of o.ooB percent to 0.003 percent u3 o8 equivalent. The Bismark core showed a more widely scattered low response.[2]

Access to the Mine: You can drive directly to the mine entrances.
Tailings Present: 50,000 + tons, Dark iron quartz with some galenas.
Entrance: Solid Rock
Mine Cut: Adit and pit
Depth / Length: Not applicable
Minerals in the Mine: Quartz, Gold, Oxidized copper
Foot Traffic in the Mine: None
Last Worked: 1929 (reported)

Federally Registered Mining Claim ID: NMC1141827