Project Summary
Tungsten-bearing manganese prospect examined and mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey. Samples collected by the Superintendent of Rare Metals Corp. averaged about 0.7% WO₃ (published USGS assays of two samples ran 0.21 and 0.39% WO₃ with 11.57% and 24.78% MnO), and the main mineralized zone crops out for 60 feet at an average width of 15 feet, estimated to average at least 10% tungsten-bearing manganese oxides. A historical reserve of about 1,000 tons at 10%+ oxides was estimated between the upper adit and surface, with a possible further 250 tons at 20% oxides above the lower adit, and the USGS noted that exploration at greater depth might develop a larger reserve of about the same grade.
The Dixon Tungsten project is located approximately 8 miles east of Carson City, Nevada. Coordinates: 39.170420, -119.615257.
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Geology
The prospect is underlain by Tertiary rhyolitic volcanics, with dull red flow-banded rhyolite overlying a lithic rhyolite tuff that is locally brecciated and intensely silicified, separated in part by a narrow granite porphyry sill. Veinlets of tungsten-bearing manganese oxides cement the brecciated zones in the altered tuff. The principal zone lies near, and roughly parallel to, the rhyolite-tuff contact, cropping out for 60 feet with an average width of 15 feet and estimated to average at least 10% tungsten-bearing manganese oxides; the lower adit crosscuts a similar zone at depth that is believed to be a faulted segment of the same body.
Samples collected by John H. Heizer, Superintendent of Rare Metals Corp., averaged about 0.7% WO₃, while the published USGS entry for the prospect reports two samples assaying 0.21% and 0.39% WO₃ with 11.57% and 24.78% manganese oxides, a potential co-product. Heizer considered rock carrying 10 to 20 percent oxides amenable to concentration at the property by crushing and tabling, with the concentrate shippable to Golconda for chemical treatment.
The USGS estimated about 1,000 tons of mineralized tuff averaging at least 10% tungsten-bearing oxides between the upper adit and the surface, a possible 250 tons averaging 20% oxides above the lower adit level, and concluded that exploration of the lower zone at greater depth might develop a larger reserve of about the same grade.
History
The claims were located and explored for manganese in the 1930s by the Dixon Brothers, well-known western Nevada prospectors. In 1941 John H. Heizer of Rare Metals Corp. sampled the property and found that the manganese oxides contained worthwhile amounts of tungsten. Development consists of two adits: a 120-foot angling crosscut on the lower level and, 35 feet above it, a 40-foot angling crosscut that cuts the mineralized zone at shallow depth.
The U.S. Geological Survey examined the prospect in 1943, with M. R. Klepper and P. Joralemon mapping the geology and topography and cutting chip samples across the best ore zones in both adits, including a 13-foot chip sample in the lower adit (corrected width about 10 feet) and a 24-foot chip sample in the upper adit (corrected width about 17 feet).