Monarch No. 1 and No. 2

The Monarch No. 1 and No. 2 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: Monarch No. 1 and No. 2

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: REE
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Alaska
District: Juneau

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:

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: Oligoclase replaces original plagioclase; chlorite, epidote, and calcite are other alteration products (MacKevett and others, 1971, p. 61).

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Arsenopyrite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Marcasite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Allanite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Quartz

Comments

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

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Geology): Age = Late Cretaceous or younger.

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = the Monarch structures are weakly mineralized but relatively strong shear zones. Possibly ore might be found on short segments of northeast- striking veins exposed on the Monarch trend to the south. No prospecting is expected in the near future, because the veins are in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Monarch veins occur in granodiorite of Cretaceous age (Brew and others, 1978). Rossman (1959, B 1058-B) found two phases of granodiorite within the intrusion, but the differences were too subtle to be mapped.? the Monarch vein-bearing structures belong to a steep fault set of north to north-northwest strike; faults of this are relatively continuous. (Another member of the same set is the Incas vein-fault--MF023). A quartz-vein segment developed in the Monarch No. 1 crops out for 400 feet between 1875 and 2050 feet elevation. It is 1-5 feet thick and was explored for 225 feet in the Monarch No. 1 adit. The vein outcrop locally contained about 1 oz/ton gold (Reed, 1938, p. 63), but assays from underground mostly range from 0.01 to 0.03 ounce per ton gold. There has been little stoping in either Monarch No. 1 or No. 2 underground workings. ? Quartz veins or lenses at the Monarch deposits locally contain pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and minor free gold. The maximum arsenic detected in 11 vein samples was 7000 ppm (MacKevett and others, 1971, table 11; also Kimball and others, 1978, table C42). Arsenic is much less abundant than in the Le Roy mine (MF022) where the arsenic content is occasionally more than 10 percent. Allanite is apparently a characteristic mineral of the granodiorite near the Monarch.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Rossman, 1959 (B 1058-B); MacKevett and others, 1971

Comment (Commodity): Ore Material = Gold (native)

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The Monarch lodes were discovered in 1924 by Joe Ibach, while the National Monument was closed to mining. After the Monument was opened to mining in 1936, Monarch claims were staked by Ibach and Rex Beach. The adit on Monarch No. 1 is 225 eet long, mostly as a drift. Monarch No. 2 was developed with a 140-foot adit with two short drifts. Minor production came from surface cuts and possibly from a small overhand stope at 70 feet in the No. 1 adit. Reed (1938) sampled a surface exposure in the original Monarch five-claim area located by Joseph Ibach and Rex Beach; an exposed vein contained 0.97 ounce per ton gold, 0.50 ounce per ton silver and 1.08 percent zinc. Rossman (1959, p. 50) reported rich veins near the Monarch No. 1; he thought they were too narrow to be significant.

Comment (Production): Production Notes = A small production of gold, probably from surface cuts.

References

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Mount Fairweather quadrangle, AK: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Study Map MF-436, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Reed, J.C., 1938, Some mineral deposits of Glacier Bay and vicinity, Alaska: Economic Geology, v. 33, p. 52-80.

Reference (Deposit): Kimball, A.L., Still, J.C., and Rataj, J.L., 1978, Mineral resources, in Brew, D. A., and others, Mineral resources of the Glacier Bay National Monument wilderness study area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-494, p. C1-C375.

Reference (Deposit): Rossman, Darwin, 1959, Geology and ore deposits in the Reid Inlet area, Glacier Bay, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1058-B, p. 33-58.

Reference (Deposit): Brew, D.A., Johnson, B.R., Grybeck, D., Griscom, A., Barnes, D.F., Kimball, A.L., Still, J.C., and Rataj, J.L., 1978, Mineral resources of the Glacier Bay National Monument Wilderness Study Area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-494, 670 p.

Reference (Deposit): MacKevett, E.M., Jr., Brew, D.A., Hawley, C.C., Huff, L.C., and Smith, J.G., 1971, Mineral resources of Glacier Bay National Monument, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 632, 90 p., 12 plates, 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.