Barite

specimen number:
2102349

location:
Dee Mine, Elko Co., Nevada, USA

description:

Lustrous mostly gemmytabular crystals of barite measuring to 3.5 cm on edge across the top of matrix. In good condition, this is quite fine for this locality.

The Dee mine, situated at the far northern end of the prolific Carlin Trend within the Bootstrap mining district of Elko County, Nevada, United States, is a historically significant gold deposit operated via both open-pit and underground methods. Geologically, this classic sediment-hosted, Carlin-type gold deposit is localized along major north-northwest-striking fault structures, where mineralizing fluids altered sedimentary host rocks including the Devonian-age Popovich Formation, Rodeo Creek unit, and the silty limestones of the Silurian-Devonian-age Roberts Mountains Formation. During the late Eocene epoch, hydrothermal fluids dissolved carbonate minerals and deposited microcrystalline, auriferous pyrite as thin rims on pre-existing iron sulfides, creating a major orebody that also produced highly localized, collectible specimens of micro-crystalline stibnite and barite within late-stage quartz veins. Historically, the deposit was discovered in 1981 by geologists working for the Cordex Syndicate, leading to the formation of the Dee Gold Mining Company, which initiated formal open-pit production and milling operations in October 1984. Surface mining ran continuously for over a decade until the primary oxide open pit was exhausted in 1997, after which operations transitioned to underground decline exploration and periodic heap-leach processing of low-grade stockpiles under Glamis Gold. The property experienced a major resurgence when Barrick Gold acquired it and developed the Deep Dee underground mine, which extracted high-grade refractory ore from 2008 until its planned closure around 2011.

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