Mineral resources of the Skedaddle Mountain Wilderness Study Area, Lassen County, California, and Washoe County, Nevada

Abstract

At request of U.S. Bureau of Land Management, approximately 39,420 acres of Skedaddle Mountain Wilderness Study Area (CA-020-612) were evaluated for mineral resources (known) and mineral resource potential (undiscovered). In this report, studied is referred to as study area or simply the study any reference to Skedaddle Mountain Wilderness Study Area refers only to that part of wilderness study for which a mineral survey was requested by U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Field work was carried out in 1985 to assess mineral resource potential of area. Demonstrated subeconomic perlite resources are about 184,000 short tons in and adjacent to western part of study area. There are six areas of mineral and (or) geothermal energy resource potential in Skedaddle Mountain Wilderness Study Area. Geologic and geochemical evidence suggests that study has potential for occurrence of silver, gold, mercury, and antimony metallic deposits. The central part of Spencer Basin, upper Thousand Springs Canyon, and south fork of Wendel Canyon have high mineral resource potential for gold, silver, mercury, and antimony while surrounding these locations has moderate mineral resource potential for same metals. An in Wendel Canyon has moderate mineral resource potential for perlite, and an adjacent to south has low mineral resource potentialforthe same commodity. The Skedaddle Mountain Wilderness Study Area includes part of Wendel-Amedee Known Geothermal Resource Area. The southwest corner of study has moderate resource potential for geothermal energy and much of west half of study has low potential for geothermal energy. There is no oil or gas resource potential in study area. Character and Setting The Skedaddle Mountain Wilderness Study Area is located in eastern part of Modoc Plateau in Lassen County, northeastern California, and Washoe County, northwestern Nevada (fig. 1). The study encompasses 39,420 acres 25 mi east of Susanville, Calif. It is bounded on three sides by dirt roads; south boundary parallels Wendel Road. The Skedaddle Mountains lie in northern part and Amedee Mountains lie in southern part of study area. Elevations range from 4,3 00 ft at base of Amedee Mountains to 7,680 ft at summit of Hot Springs Peak in Skedaddle Mountains. Steep rim-rock walls and taluscovered canyons are common along the.west edge of area; rest of study is moderately sloping. Vegetation is sparse, consisting mainly of desert sage-scrub species. The rocks in study consist mostly of Tertiary (see appendixes for geologic time scale) basalt, andesite, dacite, rhyolite, and lahar deposits. South of study lakebed features, including tufa deposits and strandlines from Pleistocene Lake Lahontan, are present. The central part of Mineral Resources of Skedaddle Mountain Wilderness Study Area, Lassen County, California, and Washoe County, Nevada C1 Spencer Basin is underlain by highly altered volcanic rocks which probably originally consisted of andesite, dacite, and lahar deposits. Identified Mineral Resources The identified resources in Skedaddle Mountain Wilderness Study Area consist of 46,000 tons of measured subeconomic resources and about 138,000 tons of indicated subeconomic resources of perlite. Additional nonmetallic occurrences present in study consist of basalt, pozzolan, stone, and sand and gravel. There are no identified resources of these commodities and they are not currently of economic significance. There are no identified resources of metallic minerals in study area, but metallic mineral occurrences present in and near study consist of small amounts of gold and mercury in vein-type deposits. The gold and mercury occurrences and perlite resources are spatially related to a volcanic center in Skedaddle Mountains. There are no known mines or mining operations in study area. None of prospects or claims in or within 1 mi of study have recorded production. At least 276 recorded lode, 6 located but unrecorded lode, and 29 placer claim locations are present in and within about 1 mi of study area. Approximately 191 of these are in study area; four of these were actively held in 1985. None of study was being explored by private industry in 1985, but prospects in Skedaddle Mountains may be targets for future exploration for both precious metals and perlite. 120°30' 120° 15' 120°00'