West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

Locatable Minerals: Known and undiscovered locatable metallic mineral deposits occurringand expected to occur include gold, silver, base metals (copper, lead, and zinc), tungsten andiron. Zones of moderate and high potential for precious and base metals are scattered throughoutthe plan area, with the exception of the military bases where data is scarce, and alluvial filledvalleys to the southwest where exposures are poor. Mining claim density for locatable (metallicand industrial) minerals may be found on Maps 3-23, 3-24, 3-25 and 3-26.Areas of potential for the occurrence of placer gold deposits include the Rand Mountains– Fremont Valley area, the Coolgardie Camp-Superior Valley area and Dale District. TheCoolgardie area has 1,806 acres having moderate potential and 9,890 acres having high potentialfor metallic mineral resources within the Lane Mountain milkvetch HCA (and Superior-CroneseDWMA). There is no estimate for the number of ounces of unrecovered gold for the Coolgardieplacer area in San Bernardino County but there is a persistent occurrence of placer gold over anarea of about 4 square miles (Leszcykowski, et al., 1993, p. 43).Areas having high potential for the occurrence of hard rock gold (disseminated and inveins) include the Randsburg and Mojave Districts in Kern County. Gold production, mostlyfrom Randsburg in Kern County, is estimated to be over $25 million per year. Gold reserves atthe Yellow Aster were estimated in 1993 to be 46.8 metric tons with a grade of 0.02 ounces perton (opt) of gold (0.63 grams per metric ton) (Leszcykowski, et al., 1993, p. 37).High potential areas for tungsten are from brines located at Searles Lake, and from quartzvein and metasomatic lode deposits around Atolia, northeast of Lane Mountain, the ShadowMountains, and scattered locations in the Sierra Nevada. Iron potential zones occur inmetasomatic deposits associated with carbonate rock and plutonic intrusions in the CaveMountain area, upper Johnson Valley, and the Bullion Mountains northwest of Dale Lake. Thereare manganese resources in the Cady Mountains, particularly at Sleeping Beauty Mountain in thesouthern part of the range.Potential zones for nonmetallic minerals are associated with known outcrops. Limestoneis known to occur along the east side of the Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi Mountains, Iron Mountain(between Victorville and Barstow), Oro Grande, Victor Valley, Lucerne Valley, Afton Canyon,and the Alvord Mountains.High potential zones for feldspar are located east of Fremont Peak (proposed Superior-Cronese DWMA) and near the Ord Mountains (Ord-Rodman DWMA). Barite resources occurin the Calico Mountains, the Cady Mountains, and the Waterman Hills north of Barstow.Borates are known to occur in Searles Lake, near Kramer Junction (proposed Fremont-KramerDWMA), the Calico Mountains, Daggett Ridge, and near Hector. Zeolites are known to occur inthe Mud Hills, Opal Mountain (both proposed Suerior-Cronese DWMA), near Hector, AlvordMountain, and the El Paso Mountains. Hectorite clay occurs near the Hector railroad siding offof Highway 40, and bentonite occurs in the Mud Hills, Kramer Hills, and the El Paso Mountains.Leasable Minerals: The Coso Known Geothermal Resource Area (KGRA) has highpotential for geothermal steam development beyond the area that has already been developed.The hills east and southeast of Goldstone Lake on Ft. Irwin have high potential for geothermalChapter 3 3-222