GOLD 455 
 
boldt County; Silver King Mines Inc. and County and from the Thomason Mine
in Pacific Silver's Star Pointer near Ely; Coeur Baker County. Closure of
Silver King d Alene s project at Rochester FMC Corp s Mines Iron Dyke Mine
in Baker County Paradise Peak project near Gabbs in Nye during 1984 and only
sporadic work there County; Atlas Corp.'s Gold Bar property in during 1985
sharply reduced the State's Eureka County; the Florida Canyon project lode
gold production. 
of Pegasus near Winnemucca; and the Top According to a State review of the
year's deposit of Placer U S m northeastern mining and exploration activities
' °explora White Pine County. tion and development activity in 1985
genDepressed
gold and silver prices led to erally declined from 1984 levels, with the

the closure of several mines including industry apparently continumg to shift
its the Gooseberry Mine and United Mining interests away from metallic minerals
and Corp s Comstock operations both in Storey toward nonmetallic mmerals
Properties reCounty. ported to have undergone some manner of Periodical news
media reports dealing exploration from rudimentary investiga 
with mineral exploration were rarely with tion through drillmg or rehabilitation
of old out reports on new developments in Ne- workings included the Bald
Mountain Ibex vada In addition to reports about ongomg Bear Creek Buttes
Cable Cove Castle Rock projects and discoveries associated with Coyote Hills
Dixie Meadows Fall Creek some of the operating mines discussed Copper Flagstaff
Flagstaff Butte Goff above nearly 36 exploration projects were Gold Bug Gold
Note John Hall Little reported under way many more smaller Baldy Meadow Lake
Miller Mountain operations were undoubtedly in progress Quartz Mountam Red
Butte Rejax Sunday One of the most notable discoveries report Hill Susanville
and Turner Albright ed during the year was Gold Fields Chun Nearly one-third
of the properties under ney Creek Prospect discovered near Gol investigation
were in Baker and Grant conda m Humboldt County Gold Fields Counties 
estimated that the new disseminated depos South Dakota —Gold developments
for it contains 2 million ounces of gold the year were centered about the
town of 
New Mexico —Citing impending deple- Lead in Lawrence County in
the
Black tion of economic ore reserves and increased Hills area of the State
Gold production at mining costs associated with deeper ore and the Homestake
Mme the Nation s largest greater waste removal costs, Gold Fields gold mine,
increased to 343,103 ounces in Operating Co a wholly owned subsidiary of
1985 16% greater than its 1984 production Consolidated Gold Fields of London
United of 295 941 ounces The average cost of proKingdom, announced in mid-1985
that its duction decreased to. $294 per ounce, comOrtiz Mine at Cerrillos
would cease produc- pared with $324 per ounce in 1984. The tion in 1986.
The open pit, heap-leaching lower costs not only reflected results from a
operation had been in production since cost-cutting program begun in early
1985, February 1980. but also from record mine efficiency and 
A number of small surface and under- mill throughput; the quantity of ore
milled ground gold mines were active throughout was the highest in the mine's
century of exthe State during 1985. istence. The average grade of ore from
the 
Oregon.—Developments in Oregon were underground operation was 0.174
ounce per confmed to exploration or intermittent pro- ton, essentially the
same as that of 1984. duction from small lode and placer oper- Mining and
exploration work in 1985 conations. Of the 24 mining operations active tinued
below the 6,800-foot level, the deepin Oregon during 1985, 12 were placer
est current working level. Major developmines. Most of these mines or mining
areas ment work was continued on three deeper were in Baker, Douglas, Grant,
Jackson, levels, extending to 8,000 feet below the and Josephine Counties;
only a few produc- surface. 
ed over 50 ounces of gold. The most produc- Testing of the Terraville or
open pit area, tive areas were in Baker and Grant Coun- site of the original
strike more than a ties of eastern Oregon along Pine Creek century ago, confirmed
earlier reserve estinear Hereford, on Clark Creek on the upper mates. A decision
was thus made to put the Burnt River, and on Boulder Creek near area into
full-scale production by 1987. Granite. Homestake also began a program to
place a 
Small seasonal lode-mine operations were greater emphasis on exploration
both at the again reported from the Pyx Mine in Grant mine and in the surrounding
Black Hills