Reinisch (Arsenic Hill)

The Reinisch (Arsenic Hill) is a gold 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: Reinisch (Arsenic Hill)

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Alaska
District: Nome

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: Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Albitization; sulfidization (especially introduction of arsenopyrite); and oxidation of arsenopyrite.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Arsenopyrite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Hematite
Ore: Limonite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Scorodite
Gangue: Albite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Quartz

Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = This report

Comment (Geology): Age = Mid-Cretaceous; veins cross cut regionally metamorphosed schist; see NM207. The earliest albite- and arsenopyrite-rich replacement deposits at Arsenic Hill are along ductile folds in the host schist. Sheeted, non-deformed quartz veins cut the deposits along the ductile folds.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active?

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was produced from the elevated bench deposit on the south end of the ridge (NM210); badly sloughed pits and shallow trenches reflect exploration before about 1920. The area has been explored, especially by trenching, sequentially since the 1980,s by R.V. Bailey, Placer Dome, and Kennecott Exploration Company.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Cathcart (1922, p. 245) reported free gold in vuggy crystalline quartz in quartz-muscovite-graphite schist at this locality, which he described as a hydraulic pit (Reinisch) on a bench opposite Sophie Gulch. In recent years this bench has been called Arsenic Hill. The name apparently was applied in the 1980s by geologist R.V. Bailey to abundant exposures rich in arsenopyrite and its oxidation products, hematite, limonite, and scorodite.? Arsenic Hill is the low rounded ridge opposite the mouth of Sophie Gulch on the west side of Rock Creek. The crest of the ridge is at an elevation of about 280 feet. It is underlain by moderately resistant quartz-mica schist. Northeast-striking sheeted quartz veins are as much as one-half foot thick. The veins are spaced about 3 to 5 feet apart near the top of the ridge.? Southwest of the crest of Arsenic Hill, the quartz-mica schist appears to be much more altered and only locally crops out. This area was explored by Placer Dome trench 87-1, which cuts northwest across the ridge, and by Kennecott Exploration Company trench 94-8, which trends northeasterly subparallel to the sheeted vein structure. The Kennecott trench cuts across fold- and possibly fault-controlled mineral zones in schist that mainly contain arsenopyrite, which has been extensively oxidized to scorodite, hematite, and limonite. Sheeted veins cut across the northwest-aligned arsenopyrite-rich zones. Albite is locally abundant in the northwest-aligned structures. Sheeted veins exposed near the southwest end of trench 94-8 are deformed, apparently by recent slump and creep. The Arsenic Hill deposit explored by Placer Dome and Kennecott Exploration Company contains little gold.? the quartz-mica schist of Arsenic Hill is cut off on the southeast by the Arsenic Hill fault, a structure that crosses the ridge at an elevation of about 230 feet. Where exposed in trenches and subcrops, the fault locally contains graphitic zones with crystalline quartz, apparently similar to the gold-bearing rocks originally described by Cathcart (1922). Rocks southeast of the fault are relatively soft, graphitic calc-mica schist and resistant graphitic quartz schist. This graphitic schist is bounded to the northwest by the Arsenic Hill fault and to the northeast by the Sophie Gulch fault.

Comment (Commodity): Gangue = graphitic carbon

References

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cathcart, S.H., 1922, Metalliferous lodes in southern Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 722, p. 163-261.

Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome C-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-247, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

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.