Mercur Today
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This page was last updated on January 30, 2026.
Mercur Today
(The focus of this page is the surface workings of the Mercur mine, as visible in photographs, as well as a general description of the mine, with minimal coverage of the geology and financial returns. Also to establish a timeline using sources not previously readily available.)
The Mercur Project includes four informally named sub-areas. These are known as the Main Mercur area, South Mercur area, West Mercur area and North Mercur area.
Historically, 2.6 million ounces of gold were produced from the Mercur District.
The (Main) Mercur Mine are Rover pit, Marion Hill pit, Golden Gate pit, Mercur Hill pit and the Sacramento pit.
Mercur experienced renewed activity on a small scale between 1931 and 1945. Recorded production for this period totaled 194,194 ounces of gold and 173,955 ounces of silver.
"Production from the Mercur district after 1913 was minor and intermittent until continuous gold production resumed with increased gold prices from 1933 until 1942. Then the U.S. government closed all gold mines to conserve manpower and materials for World War II. Following the brief mining of some silver-rich silica flux for Asarco's Garfield copper smelter, production in the Mercur district ceased again in 1945." (Utah Geological Survey)
Newmont (1969)
"In 1968, Newmont Mining Corporation recognized the similarity of Mercur to their Carlin gold mine, indicating that Mercur was a Carlin-type deposit. They acquired the old Marion Hill and Sacramento mines as well as adjoining areas in the southern part of the Mercur district. Newmont drilled a series of unsuccessful exploration holes before dropping their interest in the district. Gold Standard, Inc., then consolidated the major land holdings in the central part of the district in the early 1970s, and sold the property to Getty Oil Company in 1973. In 1983, Getty restarted production in the Mercur camp, following the increasing price of gold, with a large open pit mine and leach-heap operation." (Utah Geological Survey)
Newmont Exploration Ltd. was the first modern explorer known to have evaluated the Mercur area. In 1969 they conducted sampling, trenching, and drilling before dropping the project that same year.
Getty (1973-1985)
In 1973, Gold Standard, Inc. began consolidating the fractured land position at Mercur and secured an exploration agreement with Getty Oil Company. Getty continued land consolidation and conducted an extensive drilling campaign, resulting in the delineation of reported reserves of 15 million tons at 0.09 ounces gold per ton, although the accuracy of this estimate is in question due to the methods used.
In later years, subsequent mining by Getty and Barrick, who processed a total of over 34 million tons of mineralized material proved an average grade of 0.06 ounces gold per ton from the Main Mercur area.
Construction of an open pit mine and 3,000 tons-per-day carbon-in-leach mill complex began in 1981. Commercial gold production began in April 1983 with a targeted production rate of 80,000 ounces of gold per year.
From 1973 on, Getty Oil Company consolidated its land position (ownership or rights) at Mercur, and Homestake Mining Company consolidated a large land position around the historic underground mines at South Mercur. Getty's work ultimately led to the development of the Mercur open pit mine and a Carbon-In-Leach (CIL) mill complex in 1983.
The CIL mill began operating in April 1983 under Getty ownership.
South Mercur (1980-2020)
In 1980 Homestake Mining Company consolidated a large group of parcels in the South Mercur area, centered on the historical Sunshine and Overland mines. Homestake collected large amounts of rock samples, which god mineralization of gld and other minerals at the surface where the rocks below the Long Trail Shale crop out. In addition, tailings samples were obtained to investigate the possibility of reprocessing
the still-extant tailings piles. Homestake drilled a number of exploration holes between 1981 and 1984.
In 1984, Touchstone Resources optioned the South Mercur project from Homestake and drilled exploratory holes, but took no other action.
By 1986, Homestake assigned their South Mercur project to Priority Minerals Limited and WCC, Inc., which commenced exploration drilling and in 1988 produced a study based on its exploatory drilling. In addition, McClelland Laboratories of Sparks, Nevada, was commissioned to conduct limited metallurgical tests on the South Mercur project, based on drill samples, and on samples of the historical tailings at the Overland and Sunshine mines. These tests found that the dump materials were amenable to heap leaching treatment at the 1-1/4 inch feed size. Priority and WCC continued exploration in 1989 and 1990. In 1990, the project was assigned to Rochester Minerals which entered into an agreement with Kennecott, who drilled more exploratory holes in 1991. Barrick leased the South Mercur properties in 1996 and drilled still more exploaratory holes. In 1997 Kennecott leased the South Mercur properties again and drilled more holes. Despite these efforts, the deposits at South Mercur have not yet been developed. Priority acquired WCC's interest in South Mercur in 1997. Priority’s final exploration effort in 2013 included more core drilling. The South Mercur area of the property has been idle since 2014. Priority merged into Ensign Gold (US) in 2020, and Ensign owned mineral interests in the properties that encompass most of the known mineralization at South Mercur. In 2024, Revival Gold acquired the interest of Ensign Minerals.
The South Mercur project area remains undeveloped.
West Mercur and West Dip (1980-2011)
The northern part of West Mercur, north of the mouth of Mercur Canyon, which is known historically as West Dip, produced about 36,900 ounces of gold from several underground mines active between 1895-1913 and 1933-1941. Two of the larger historical operations, the Daisy and the La Cigale mines, accounted for most of the historical production. Both mines are located about 5 kilometers west of the Main Mercur area.
Modern exploration at West Mercur included geologic mapping, limited soil sampling, geophysical test surveys and drilling by Getty in 1981-1982 in the vicinity of the historical underground mines along West Dip. Getty drilled holes but found the mineralization to be too erratic.
In 1986 Barrick drilled holes near the mouth of Mercur Canyon. These tests found that mineralization in this area was different from the mineralization at West Dip. Barrick took no action on this different mineralization, and drilled more holes in 1988 with no significant results.
In 1996 Barrick conducted a survey with seismic survey lines to evaluate the thickness of alluvial cover at West Mercur. The results indicated less than 100 meters of alluvial cover for a large portion of the alluvial area. But Barrick was looking for a continuation of its Mercur mineral beds and took no actin. More holes were drilled in 1996 totaling with no significant results.
In 1999 Barrick continued drilling holes, taking soil samples and mapping north of Mercur Canyon to evaluate potential mineralization of the area between the Mercur mineral beds and the gold-bearing beds at West Dip, without significant results.
Also in the 1990s, Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation drilled more than 20 holes during two campaigns in the West Mercur area. No action was taken by Kennecott.
In 1996 BHP Minerals drilled seven holes in the northern part of the West Mercur area. The results were unsuccessful.
In 2011, Mr. David Mako reviewed a remote sensing study of the Mercur area that was published after Barrick’s Mercur mine had closed. Subsequent field visits identified previously unmapped limestone bedrock and gold-bearing outcrops within the area.
Barrick (1985-1998)
In June 1985, a subsidiary of American Barrick Resources, predecessor to Barrick Gold Corporation acquired the Mercur mine from Getty. Barrick immediately increased the mill throughput to 4,000 tons-per-day and added a dump leach facility to increase production. The mill capacity was further increased to 4,500 tons-per-day in 1986, which raised annual production levels above 110,000 ounces gold per year.
In 1988, Barrick added a 750 tons per day autoclave to pre-treat refractory material for the CIL mill circuit to treat refractory material, and in 1991 the mill and autoclave capacities were increased to 5,000 tons-per-day and 875 tons-per-day, respectively. After these upgrades by Barrick, the mine produced over 100,000 ounces of gold per year until 1995 when the economic reserves were exhausted.
Operations at Mercur from 1983 to 1985 (Getty) and 1985 through 1995 (Barrick) indicate three different processing streams were used; gold-bearing oxide ore was processed via a carbon-in-leach plant, gold-bearing refractory sulphide ore was processed via an autoclave pressure oxidation circuit followed by carbon-in-leach, and low-grade gold-bearing ore was processed via a leach-heap. Over 27 million tonnes of ore were processed and over 1.3 million ounces of gold were produced during this time.
The refractory feed included over 1.5 million tons of low-grade historical tailings of the old Golden Gate mill which were mined to expose the underlying gold mineralization in the Golden Gate pit and for environmental remediation.
Barrick initiated the first of three dump leach facilities in 1985. The alkaline pressure oxidation autoclave circuit was added in February 1988 to pre-treat the refractory gold mineralization associated with sulfide minerals and organic carbon. The sulphide materials were mined as open-pit overburden.
The autoclave circuit was discontinued in February 1996 due to the exhaustion of refractory ores at that time. Active mining was halted in March 1997, but the oxide circuits from the CIL mill continued to recover gold until April 1998.
Barrick closed the mine in 1998 due to low gold prices, and substantially completed reclamation of the Mercur site.
(Read more about the events of 1973 to 1998 for the Mercur gold mine)
After 1998
2011
Rush Valley Exploration (RVX; David Mako) noted a geological anomaly in the alluvial area in 2011, five kilometers west of Mercur in what is now known as the West Mercur area. Further tests revealed previously unmapped limestone outcrops in the alluvium, along with local outcrops of gold-bearing material. These tests generated interest in the potential for previously unknown gold deposits along the range front near Mercur. RVX consolidated several land parcels at West Mercur, compiled historical data, and collected rock and soil samples to generate exploration targets.
(The Mercur mine remained inactive during this time.)
2020
Ensign MInerals, Inc., acquired the RVX properties in 2020 and commenced acquisition of additional prospective mineral lands throughout the Mercur district. Subsequently, Ensign worked to determine the extent potential gold deposits, including drilling 114 exploration wells.
May 2021
Ensign Minerals entered into an option agreement in May 2021 with Barrick to acquire 100 percent of Barrick Gold's interests in the Mercur area. Barrick's interests included 2,460 acres of mineral interests.
(The Mercur mine remained inactive during this time.)
May 2024
Revival Gold acquired the Mercur Gold Project from Ensign Minerals in May 2024. The project consists of approximately 15,460 acres (about 23.5 square miles) of mineral interests in Utah's Mercur District, where the known mineralization occurs on primarily 463 patented and 395 unpatented privately held mining claims and lodes, three unpatented mill sites, and six Utah state leases. The property holdings include Mercur, West Mercur, South Mercur and North Mercur. Revival Gold's Mercur Project was created by way of five agreements with mining companies, four leases with private parties and the staking of additional new mining claims.
December 22, 2025
Revival Gold Inc. announced that it had exercised its option to acquire 100 percent of Barrick Mining Corporation's interest in the Mercur Gold Project in Utah, marking a significant step forward on the path to re-starting production. The option was granted and exercised pursuant to the Mineral Lease and Option-to-Purchase Agreement dated May 13th, 2021. The Option Agreement covered mineral interests amounting to 996 hectares (2,460 acres), bringing the total Mercur project area to approximately 7,200 hectares (17,700 acres). Revival Gold and its affiliates had previously, in 2024, acquired mineral lands in the South Mercur area held by Priority Minerals, as successor to Homestake Mining Company and various other owners.
Revival Gold completed a preliminary assessment on the Mercur Gold Project in mid-2025 and undertook a drill program to support a planned 2026 study and start the mine permitting process in Utah. Revival was planning on a Heap Leach operation with a life-of-mine average production of 95,600 ounces of gold per year over a 10-year mine life.
As of January 2026, Revival Gold continues its active exploration program within the boundaries of the Mercur district. "Revival Gold is one of the largest, pure gold mine developers in the United States. The Company is advancing development of the Mercur Gold Project in Utah."
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