Tennessee Mountain
Tennessee Mountain Tungsten Project, Nevada offers potential for a domestic US source of tungsten
The Tennessee Mountain Project includes four patented lode claims covering the historic Garnet Mine in Elko County, Nevada:
- NV106359075 – Tennessee Mountain
- NV106359076 – Tennessee Mountain 2
- NV106359077 – Tennessee Mountain 3
- NV106359078 – Tennessee Mountain 4
The project, located in the Alder Mining District, includes the historic Garnet Mine, which last produced tungsten during the 1970s. The mineralisation occurs within skarn bodies along the contact of the Coffeepot granodiorite with reactive carbonate units of the Tennessee Mountain Formation.
Historic work focused on skarn zones hosting scheelite and powellite mineralisation, with associated molybdenum, copper, and bismuth.
Resource Estimate
Tennessee Mountain has a historical estimate of 780,000 short tons (708,602 tonnes) grading between 0.3% and 0.5% WO₃ reported by the US Defense Minerals Exploration Administration (DMEA) in 1957.
The resource is based on work completed before the introduction of the JORC Code or any other reporting code. It is therefore not reported here in accordance with the JORC Code (2012 Edition), nor any other reporting code. A Competent Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a Mineral Resource in accordance with the JORC Code. It is uncertain whether, following evaluation or further exploration, this historical estimate will be able to be reported as a Mineral Resource in accordance with the JORC Code.
This estimate was generated under the DMEA’s program during the 1950s and early 1960s, which aimed to secure domestic supplies of strategic metals such as tungsten. The program culminated in a “Certified Discovery” at the Garnet Mine, confirming the presence of a significant tungsten resource by the standards of that era.
Recorded production from the Garnet Mine was limited to intermittent activity in the 1970s.
Geological Setting
Tungsten mineralisation at Tennessee Mountain occurs in classic skarn-style deposits, formed where a granitic intrusion (the Coffeepot stock) interacted with chemically reactive limestone and shale of the Tennessee Mountain Formation (TMF). The heat and fluids from the intrusion altered these rocks to form skarn, a hard, garnet-rich rock that hosts fine-grained scheelite and powellite, the main tungsten minerals. This geological setting is well understood, providing clear targets for future exploration.
Exploration Potential
The potential for discovering additional tungsten resources in the immediate environment of the Tennessee Mountain Tungsten Project is considered high. Furthermore, the vertical extent of the system is almost entirely unknown; historic workings were shallow, and the potential for stacked or blind skarn bodies at depth remains altogether untested. The district has not been subjected to systematic modern exploration techniques, leaving its exploration potential largely untested.
Trigg has secured historic exploration data, uncovering results including:
- 9m at 0.65% WO3 from 7.68m (GH-14), including 10.67m at 0.98% WO3 from 19.81m, and 2.13m at 2.06% WO3 from 28.35m.
- 11m at 0.71% WO3 from surface (GH-08)
- 38m at 0.72% WO3 from surface (GH-09), including 13.17m at 0.91% WO3 from surface