Geology and Mineralization

Geology and Mineralization

The Jerritt Canyon Gold District is located in the Great Basin, north and northeast of the Carlin Trend of gold deposits. Carlin-type gold mineralization at Jerritt Canyon is hosted by silty carbonate or carbonaceous siliciclastic rocks originally deposited as shelf sedimentary rocks during the Paleozoic Era. The Paleozoic host rocks have been imbricated, faulted, and folded through several orogenic events through the Paleozoic Era and Mesozoic Era. Carlin-type gold deposits were emplaced in the Middle to Late Eocene period during an initial phase of extensional tectonics at which time high potassium calc-alkaline magmatic rocks were emplaced. Mafic dikes were emplaced during this phase of igneous activity and trended north-northeast and west-northwest.