Gold Cliff Premier

The Gold Cliff Premier is a copper, silver, gold, lead, and zinc mine located in Alaska.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

Satelite View

MRDS mine locations are often very general, and in some cases are incorrect. Some mine remains have been covered or removed by modern industrial activity or by development of things like housing. The satellite view offers a quick glimpse as to whether the MRDS location corresponds to visible mine remains.

Site Name

Primary: Gold Cliff Premier

Commodity

Primary: Copper
Primary: Silver
Primary: Gold
Primary: Lead
Primary: Zinc

Location

State: Alaska
District: Hyder

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Prospect
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Polymetallic veins

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Intense pyritization of country rocks. Hostrock identified as quartzite may represent silicification of pelitic country rock.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Pyrrhotite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Quartz

Comments

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Claims originally staked in 1920 and restaked in 1925 (Buddington, 1929, p. 90).

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Polymetallic veins

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Buddington, 1929

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Prospect was explored by opencuts, probably in the 1920's.? Early assays of samples of pyritized tuffaceous country rock showed as much as 1 oz Au and 3-4 oz Ag per ton.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The country rocks in the area of the prospect are pelitic metasedimentary and subordinate andesitic metavolcanic strata of the Jurassic or older Mesozoic Hazelton Group; the Texas Creek Granodiorite, which underlies and locally intrudes the Hazelton; the Eocene Boundary Granodiorite, which intrudes the Hazelton and Texas Creek rocks; and still-younger Tertiary lamprophyre dikes that cut all of these rocks (Smith 1973, 1977; Koch, 1996).? the deposit (Buddington, 1929, p. 90) is in quartzite, tuff and slate cut by Triassic and Eocene porphyritic granodiorite dikes and consists of intensely fractured and pyritized quartzite, and of sheared tuffaceous rock mineralized with a 2.5 foot band of pyrite, quartz, and calcite. Samples of the mineralized band assayed as much as 1 oz Au and 3-4 oz Ag per ton. Elsewhere on the property, there is a narrow stringer of galena, and a 1-inch stringer of sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, and pyrrhotite.

References

Reference (Deposit): Buddington, A.F., 1929, Geology of Hyder and vicinity, southeastern Alaska, with a reconnaissance of Chickamin River: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 807, 124 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, J.G., 1973, A Tertiary lamprophyre dike province in southeastern Alaska: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 10, p. 408-420.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, J.G., 1977, Geology of the Ketchikan D-1 and Bradfield Canal A-1 quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1425, 49 p.

Reference (Deposit): Elliott, R.L., and Koch, R.D., 1981, Mines, prospects, and selected metalliferous mineral occurrences in the Bradfield Canal quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 81-728-B, 23 p., 1 sheet, scales 1:250,000 and 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Koch, R.D., 1996, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Bradfield Canal quadrangle, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 81-728-A, 35 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

The Top Ten Gold Producing States

These ten states contributed the most to the gold production that built the West from 1848 through the 1930s. The Top Ten Gold Producing States.