Castle Island

The Castle Island is a barium-barite 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

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Site Name

Primary: Castle Island

Commodity

Primary: Barium-Barite
Tertiary: Silver
Tertiary: Lead
Tertiary: Zinc
Tertiary: Gold
Tertiary: Copper

Location

State: Alaska

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Massive sulfide, kuroko

Orebody

Form: SEE DEPOSIT DESCRIPTION COMMENTS

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: ASSAYS INDICATE 89%-93% BA SO4, 0.79-1.05 OZ/TON AG, 0.01--003 OZ/TON AU, 1.14-1.38% ZN, 0.29% PB, 0.04-0.07% CU

Materials

Ore: Barite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Sphene
Gangue: Magnetite
Gangue: Graphite

Comments

Comment (Deposit): THE ORE BODY CONSISTED OF A LENTICULAR, MASSIVE BARITE LENS ABOUT 300 FEET LONG AND UP TO 200 FEET THICK THAT EXTENDED TO A MAXIMUM DEPTH OF ABOUT 150 FEET BELOW SEA LEVEL. THE EXACT STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONS ARE UNCLEAR BECAUSE MOST OF THE DEPOSIT WAS UNDER SALT WATER. HOWEVER, EXAMINATION OF UNPUBLISHED DRILLING DATA AND CROSS SECTIONS MAINTAINED BY THE MINE INDICATES THAT THE BARITE LENS PROBABLY OCCURRED ALONG THE TROUGH OF A SYMMETRICAL OPEN SYNCLINE TRENDING ABOUT N70W WITH LIMBS DIPPING ABOUT 30 TO 45 DEGREES DRILLING ALSO INDICATED A CONSIDERABLE TONNAGE OF LOWER GRADE BARITE INTERBEDDED WITH 'GRAY SCHIST,' 'CHERT,' AND 'GRAPHITIC SCHISTS,' AND THE POSSIBILITY OF AT LEAST ONE MORE HIGH-GRADE BARITE LENS OFFSHORE. MINE-RUN MATERIAL WAS MASSIVE, WHITE TO LIGHT GRAY, ALMOST PURE BARITE THAT ALMOST INVARIABLY CONTAINED A PERCENT OR SO OF SULFIDES AS TINY DISSEMINATED GRAINS. ASSAYS OF THE MASSIVE BARITE INDICATE THAT IT TYPICALLY CONTAINS ABOUT 0.5-2% ZN, ABOUT 0.5% PB, A

Comment (Deposit): SMALL AMOUNT OF CU, AND ABOUT 1 OUNCE AG PER TON. UNDER THE REFLECTING MICROSCOPE, THE SULFIDES ARE SEEN TO BE SPHALERITE, GALENA, PYRITE, PYRRHOTITE, BORNITE, TETRAHEDRITE-TENNANTITE, AND CHALCOPYRITE, TOGETHER WITH MINOR AMOUNTS OF OTHER ORE MINERALS, ALL AS TINY, GENERALLY EQUANT GRAINS. EXAMINATION OF WASTE DUMPS PROVIDE MANY SAMPLES THAT SHOW ALL TRANSITIONS FROM MASSIVE BARITE TO LAYERED PYRITE (-SPHALERITE -QUARTZ)-BARITE ROCK WITH THE OTHER SULFIDES NOTED PREVIOUSLY DISSEMINATED THOUGH THE ROCK IN MINOR AMOUNT. THE ASSOCIATION OF BARITE, LAYERED SULFIDE-BARITE ROCKS, SCHISTOSE METAFELSITE(?), AND BLACK CARBONACEOUS, CALCAREOUS PHYLLITE AT THE MINE SITE INDICATE THAT IT IS PART OF THE TRIASSIC DUNCAN CANAL-ZAREMBO CANAL BELT OF DISMEMBERED, VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE-SULFIDE DEPOSITS DESCRIBED BY BERG AND GRYBECK (1980) AND BERG (1981). THIS DESCRIPTION IS SYNTHESIZED FROM BURCHARD (1914); BUDDINGTON (1923); BUDDINGTON (1925); UNPUBLISHED WRITTEN AND ORAL DATA FROM DAVID

Comment (Reserve-Resource): ECONOMIC RESERVES WERE EXHAUSTED BY 1980 AND THE MINING PLANT WAS THEN REMOVED. THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR LOWER GRADE OR DEEPER EXTENSIONS OF THE ORE BODY UNDERWATER BUT IT IS DOUBTFUL THEY CAN BE ECONOMICALLY MINED WITH CURRENT (1998) TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS (ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION WITH DAVID CARNES, U. S. BUREAU OF MINES, WHO WAS THE MINING ENGINEER IN CHARGE OF THE MINE OVER MOST OF ITS LIFE).

Comment (Location): LOCATION OF MINE IS KNOWN PRECISELY. HOWEVER, THE ORIGINAL OUTCROP OF THE DEPOSIT WAS LITTLE MORE THAN A LARGE OFFSHORE ROCK JUST OFF THE NORTHEAST END OF 'CASTLE ISLAND'; THAT ORIGINAL OUTCROP HAS NOW BEEN COMPLETELY MINED OUT TO BELOW SEA LEVEL. NOTE THAT WHAT IS ALMOST UNIVERSALLY CALLED CASTLE ISLAND, I.E. THE SITE OF THE BARITE MINE, IS NOT IDENTIFIED AS SUCH ON THE USGS 1:63,360-SCALE TOPOGRAPHIC MAP AND NONE OF THE CASTLE ISLANDS IS SPECIFICALLY LABELED AS CASTLE ISLAND ON THE CURRENT (1998) MAPS. THE ISLAND THAT IS THE SITE OF THE MINE AND IS DESCRIBED HERE IS AN ISLET ABOUT ABOUT 650 YARDS LONG LOCATED ABOUT 1,500 FT SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE BIG CASTLE ISLAND LABELED ON CURRENT TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS. LOCALITIES 31 AND 32 OF GRYBECK, BERG, AND KARL (1984).

Comment (Commodity): NO COMMODITIES RECOVERED

Comment (Production): EXACT PRODUCTION NOT SYSTEMATICALLY REPORTED BUT TOTAL PRODUCTION WAS ABOUT THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILLION TONS OF BARITE, MOST OF WHICH WAS MINED FROM 1968 TO 1973 AS DIRECT SHIPPING ORE. SWAINBANK AND OTHERS (1995) INDICATE TOTAL PRODUCTION WAS 776,390 TONNES (865,000 TONS) OF RAW AND REFINED BARITE PRODUCED FROM 1963 TO 1980.

Comment (Deposit): CARNES, U. S. BUREAU OF MINES; UNPUBLISHED FIELD NOTES BY THE REPORTERS; AND ANALYSES SUMMARIZED IN GRYBECK, BERG, AND KARL (1984). THE CASTLE ISLANDS LARGELY -- AND THE ISLAND ON WHICH THE BARITE MINE OCCURS SPECIFICALLY -- CONSIST LARGELY OF UPPER TRIASSIC HYD GROUP ROCKS WHICH ARE DOMINANTLY FELSIC AND INTERMEDIATE VOLCANIC FLOWS AND BRECCIA, LIMESTONE AND ARGILLITE. HOWEVER, PARTS OF THE ISLANDS ALSO CONSIST OF DEVONIAN LIMESTONE AND QUATERNARY BASALT WHOSE RELATIONSHIP TO THE HYD GROUP ROCKS IS PROBABLY STRUCTURALLY COMPLICATED AND LARGELY HIDDEN UNDER WATER (BREW, 1997 [OF 97-156-J]).

Comment (Workings): DEPOSIT KNOWN SINCE BEFORE WORLD WAR I. MINED FROM 1965 TO 1980 FOR BARITE; THE MINE WAS CLOSED AND ALL MINING EQUIPMENT WAS REMOVED FROM THE PROPERTY IN 1981. THE ORIGINAL DEPOSIT WAS ORIGINALLY A SMALL OUTCROP AT THE NORTHEAST END OF THE ISLAND THAT WAS ENTIRELY REMOVED BY MINING. MUCH OF THE MINING WAS FROM AN OFFSHORE BARGE THAT USED A DRAGLINE TO RECOVER ORE FRAGMENTED BY SUBMARINE BLASTING. ESSENTIALLY, THE MINE WAS OPERATED AS A SUBMARINE OPEN PIT FROM A CAMP ON THE ISLAND. AN EARLIER PHASE OF DRILLING AND SAMPLING ON THE ORIGINAL BARITE OUTCROP THAT ULTIMATELY RESULTED IN MINING THE DEPOSIT WAS DOCUMENTED BY RACE (1963 [PE 117-9]) AND WILLIAMS AND DECKER (1932 [IR 117-1]). AT LEAST 22 CLAIMS WERE STAKED IN THE VICINITY ON THE SURROUNDING ISLANDS AND WERE ACTIVE FROM BEFORE, PROBABLY LONG BEFORE, 1954 TO AT LEAST 1975.

Comment (Deposit): VISITED BRIEFLY BY D. GRYBECK, USGS, IN JULY, 1996; NO SIGN OF MINING ACTIVITY SINCE 1980 OR OF RECENT SURFACE EXPLORATION. ALL THE MINING EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE ISLAND AND IT IS NOW LARGELY COVERED BY ALDER AND BRUSH; USGS OPEN FILE 80-793, TABLE 2

References

Reference (Deposit): Burchard, E. F., 1914, A barite deposit near Wrangell: U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592, p. 109-117.

Reference (Deposit): Buddington, A. F., 1923, Mineral deposits of the Wrangell district; U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 739, p. 51-75.

Reference (Deposit): Buddington, A. F., 1925, Mineral investigations in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 733, p. 71-139.

Reference (Deposit): Buddington, A. F., and Chapin, Theodore, 1929, Geology and mineral deposits of southeastern Alaska: U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 800, 398 p.

Reference (Deposit): Race, W. H., 1963, Castle Island barite deposit, Duncan Canal, Alaska (Petersburg Quadrangle): Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Property Examination 117-9, 15 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:480.

Reference (Deposit): Williams, J. A., and Decker, P. A., 1932, Exploring Castle Island barite deposit by Diamond Drilling, Duncan Canal: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 117-1, 47 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E. H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Petersburg quadrangle, Alaska: U. S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-415, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E. H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Petersburg quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-870.

Reference (Deposit): Karl, S. M., Berg, H. C., Grybeck, D., and Abramson, B. S., 1980, Tables describing metalliferous and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Petersburg and eastern Port Alexander quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-793, 14 p., 4 sheets, scale, 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Swainbank, R. C., Bundtzen, T. K., Clough, A. H., Henning, M. W., and Hansen, E. W., 1995, Alaska's Mineral Industry 1994: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 49, 77 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brew, D.A., 1997, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Petersburg C-4 quadrangle, southeastern Alaska: U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-156-J, scale 63,360, one sheet, 21 p. pamphlet.

Reference (Deposit): ADGGS BIENNIAL REPORT, 1974-1975, P. 34

Reference (Deposit): Berg, H.C., 1981, Upper Triassic volcanogenic massive sulfide metallogenic province identified in southeastern Alaska, in Albert, N.R.D., and Hudson, T., eds, United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1979: U. S. Geological Survey Circular 823-B, p. B104-108.

Reference (Deposit): Grybeck, D. J., Berg, H. C., and Karl, S. M., 1984, Map and description of the mineral deposits in the Petersburg and eastern Port Alexander quadrangles: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-837, 86 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Berg, H. C., and Grybeck, Donald, 1980, Upper Triassic volcanogenic Zn-Pb-Ag (-Cu-Au) mineral deposits near Pertersburg, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-527, 11 p., 1 oversize sheet.

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