Flowery Lode, Comstock Mining District, Storey County, Nevada, USAi

Regional Level Types
Flowery Lode	Lode
Comstock Mining District	Mining District
Storey County	County
Nevada	State
USA	Country

Structure: Flowery Lode shear zone

Alteration: Silicification accompanies ore. Also present is a suite of hydrothermal alteration minerals, including kaolinite, dickite, illite, chlorite, alunite and carbonate in the bleached Miocene volcanic rocks.

Commodity: Ore Materials: chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, pyrite, gold, native silver Gangue Materials: iron and manganese oxides, quartz, kaolinite, dickite, illite, chlorite, alunite and carbonate

Deposit: The Flowery is a parallel lode to the main Comstock Lode and considered a part of the same mineralized system. The Flowery is a well-defined lode of altered and mineralized andesitic rock mineralized over a 100-ft width by a network of gold-bearing quartz stringers. Mining was done by strinkage stopes by all slime cyaniding, and later by mill hole. The Flowery Lode deposit consists of many veinlets of gold-and silver-bearing quartz in shattered and sheared andesite gold ore, fairly free from silver, in the footwall of the lode. The ore in the hanging-wall side carries silver-lead and zinc minerals characteristic of the Comstock, but no free gold ore. THE LADY BRYAN MINE IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST PATENTED CLAIMS IN THE DISTRICT, WITH A 600 FT SHAFT ON ONE SIDE OF A GULCH AND A 900 FT SHAFT ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE APPARENTLY THE PRODUCTION OF A GOLD-SILVER ORE WAS FROM THE UPPER LEVELS ONLY. BY 1876 THE MINE WAS CREDITED WITH A PRODUCTION OF 3425 TONS OF A GROSS VALUE OF 64,507. COMPANY OPERATIONS WERE SUSPENDED IN 1881 WITH INTERMITTENT SMALL TONNAGEO MINED THEREAFTER UNTIL THE MINE WAS TAKEN OVER UNDER LEASE BY THE FLOWERY MINES COMPANY IN THE 1920'S.

Deposit type: Epithermal vein, Comstock

Development: The mines at Flowery were discovered around the same time as those near Virginia City, from which, shortly thereafter, the City of Flowery sprung. The Flowery district has produced several million dollars in bullion, and is today capped by an open pit operation which involves three different pits: the Lady Bryan, the Berry (just north of the Lady Bryan), and the North Bonanza Pit, about a half mile east of the Lady Bryan and Berry pits. Anaconda, the lessee in 1983, was looking for a partner in developing the Flowery Gold property, owned by Flowery Gold Mines Co. Anaconda had been exploring the area for several years. The lease was assigned in 1983 to East Comstock Gold Corp. and was subleased to Alhambra Mines in 1986. Alhambra drilled 8 holes and did a feasibility study and secured the necessary permits. Projected start up was in early 1987 with a 3-4 year mine life. It was slated to recommence production in mid-1987. THE LADY BRYAN MINE IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST PATENTED CLAIMS IN THE DISTRICT. SHAFTS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE GULCH. OPERATIONS SUSPENDED IN 1881 WITH SPORADIC SMALL TONNAGES MINED THEREAFTER UNTIL THE MINE WAS TAKEN OVER BY FLOWERY MINES CO. IN THE 1920'S, UNDER LEASE.

Ore(s): Ore deposition was controlled by the Flowery Lode shear zone

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Link to USGS MRDS:	10310359

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