Geologist Peter Lange's Master
Thesis on the Telegraph Mine
Geologist Peter Lange used the Telegraph Mine Ore Deposit as the subject of his master’s thesis. The Illustrative Depth Profile for Stage III, IV and V Mineralization Along Strike Length of Vein document summarizes the results of his extensive analysis of the deposit.
Peter Lange’s thesis on the Telegraph Mine is referenced extensively in the 1991 Evaluation of Metallic Mineral Resources and their Geologic Controls in the East Mojave National Scenic Area report by the US Department of the Interior. This report validates all of Lange’s assessments of the Telegraph Mine, including the following:
Thesis Highlights:
Although we assigned the mineralization at the Telegraph Mine to a gold-silver, quartz-pyrite type of occurrence, the mineralization there seems definitely to be of an epithermal variety, showing relatively high gold/silver ratios for the ores (Lange, 1988). Total production from the Telegraph Mine has been 2,178 tons of ore that included 2,178 oz gold; 5,423 oz silver; and 500 lb of copper with 1948 as the last year of recorded production (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1990a). Hewett (1956) shows production from the Telegraph Mine to include a total of 2,548 oz gold. Drilling in 1968 sponsored by the Office of Mineral Exploration of the U.S. Geological Survey resulted in the blocking out of 72,750 tons at a grade of 0.5 oz Au/ton and 1.16 oz Ag/ton at the Telegraph Mine (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1990a).
Mineralization at the Telegraph Mine is associated spatially with structures interpreted by Lange (1988) as Riedel shears (see Riedel, 1929; Tchalenko, 1970; Ramsay and Huber, 1987). These types of secondary shears are oriented generally at low angles to the general trace of a broad zone of shear. This type deposit at the Telegraph Mine in the EMNSA is particularly significant in terms of resource evaluation because a similar type occurrence in the Mesquite Mining District, Calif., is a world-class gold deposit.
Lange, P.C., 1988, Geology of the Telegraph Mine tectono-hydrothermal breccias, San Bernardino Co., Calif.: Fort Collins, Colo., Colorado State University, M.S. thesis, 190 p.