Blue Moon Mazeppa

Site Name

Primary: Blue Moon Mazeppa
Secondary: Pioneer
Secondary: Blue Bell

---

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Antimony

---

Location

State: Alaska
District: Fairbanks

---

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

Not available

---

Orebody

Not available

---

Structure

Not available

---

Alterations

Not available

---

Rocks

Not available

---

Analytical Data

Not available

---

Materials

Ore: Arsenopyrite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Stibnite

---

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Production): Production Notes = A one ton shipment of ore from the prospect on April 17, 1909 contained $50 per ton in gold (2.4 ounces of gold per ton) (Prindle, 1910). Prospecting on the prospect continued in 1910 but no production was recorded (Brooks, 1911). Several shipments of ore form the Blue Moon shaft were custom milled in Fairbanks and returned values ranging from $50 to $100 per ton in gold (2.4 to 4.8 ounces of gold per ton) (Times Publishing Company, 1912). Over the period extending from November, 1912 through the middle of 1913 the Pioneer Mining Company mill treated approximately 200 tons of ore from the Blue Moon shaft (Chapin, 1914). The ore ran $50 to $100 per ton in free milling gold (2.4 to 4.8 ounces of gold per ton). Total production for the prospect is unknown.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Mineralization on the Blue Moon Mazeppa prospect consists of at least three separate types of mineralization (Freeman, 1992). Gold-bearing quartz shear zones of the Blue Moon shaft consist of thin quartz-bearing shear zones (6 inches to 3 feet wide) that contain free gold, pyrite, arsenopyrite, stibnite and minor sphalerite; grades are up to 4 ounces of gold per ton (Prindle, 1910). A large proportion of the free gold is disseminated within pyrite and arsenopyrite grains.? Massive coarse-grained stibnite mineralization was also uncovered on the Blue Moon Mazeppa prospect. The stibnite lode uncovered was reported to be 8 feet wide and was exposed over 100 feet of strike length (J. Taylor, oral commun., 1986).? the third style of mineralization on the Blue Moon Mazeppa prospect is present only as float on a dump excavated during placer operations along Chatham Creek. Boulders of tabular gray to white marble contain coarse-grained cubic pyrite and blackjack sphalerite in grains up to a centimeter across and minor galena and boulangerite (Freeman, 1992).

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Gold-quartz-sulfide shear zones; carbonate replacements; and stibnite lenses.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Freeman, 1992

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The property was located as the Blue Bell lode in 1903 and development work began in 1909 with a 24 foot shaft. This shaft was flooded with water seepage from Chatham Creek and was abandoned (Smith, 1913, B 525; Prindle, 1910). A second shaft was sunk approximately 100 feet upslope from the first shaft and reached a depth of 85 feet before it too was abandoned due to heavy water influx (Prindle, 1910). In 1912, approximately 100 feet uphill from these shafts, the Blue Moon shaft was sunk to a depth of 60 feet. By December, 1912, the shaft had been sunk to a depth of 100 feet, 150 feet of drift had been driven and 5 stopes were opened for production. The eastern drift was longer than the western drift and only a small amount of water had been encountered in the workings (Smith, 1913; B 525). Over the period extending from November, 1912 through the middle of 1913, the Pioneer Mining Company mill treated approximately 200 tons of ore from the Blue Moon shaft (Chapin, 1914). The ore ran $50 to $100 per ton in free milling gold (2.4 to 4.8 ounces of gold per ton). ? the Pioneer Quartz Mining Company mill consisted of a five-stamp Joshua Hendy mill utilizing 1000 pound stamps dropping at a rate of 100 times per minute. The rock was trammed from the mine 300 feet to the northwest where it was screened with undersize going directly to the feed bins and oversize going through a Joshua Hendy jaw crusher. Minus-40 pulp from the stamps fed onto 20 feet of amalgamation plate which fed an amalgam trap and a 6-foot-long riffle box (Chapin, 1914). Tailings from the mill contained $0.50 to $3.00 per ton in gold (0.02 to 0.1 ounces of gold per ton). Stamp sand concentrates were not saved. By the summer of 1913, the mill had closed and the Blue Moon shaft was inaccessible (Chapin, 1914). In 1914, the mill was dismantled and moved to the Hi Yu mine (Stewart, 1922). By 1931, the shaft house had been torn down and the prospect was idle (Hill, 1933).? In 1986, the Blue Moon shaft was marked by a 50 foot diameter depression centered on the shaft collar (Freeman, 1992). The upper 50 feet of overburden surrounding the shaft has been removed by placer operations (Freeman, 1992).

---

References

Reference (Deposit): Chapman, R.M., and Foster, R.L., 1969, Lode mines and prospects in the Fairbanks district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 625-D, 25 p., 1 plate.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-633, 72 p.

Reference (Deposit): Ellsworth, C.E., 1910, Placer mining in the Yukon-Tanana region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 442, 432 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1913, Lode mining near Fairbanks: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 542-F, p. 137-202.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1916, Antimony deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 649, 67 p.

Reference (Deposit): Freeman, C.J., 1992, 1991 Golden Summit project final report, volume 2: Historical summary of lode mines and prospects in the Golden Summit project area, Alaska: Avalon Development Corp., 159 p. (Report held by Freegold Recovery Inc. USA, Vancouver, British Columbia.)

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Livengood quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-819, 241 p.

Reference (Deposit): Prindle, L.M., 1910, Auriferous quartz veins in the Fairbanks district: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 442-F, p. 210-229.

Reference (Deposit): Chapin, Theodore, 1914, Lode mining near Fairbanks, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592-J, p. 321-355.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1911, The mining industry in 1910, in Brooks, A.K., and others, Mineral resources of Alaska, report on progress of investigations in 1910: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480-B p. 21-43.

Reference (Deposit): Killeen, P.L., and Mertie, J.B., 1951, Antimony ore in the Fairbanks District, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 51-46, 43 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hill, J.M., 1933, Lode deposits of the Fairbanks District, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 849-B, p. 29-163.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1913, Lode mining near Fairbanks, in Prindle, L.M., A geologic reconnaissance of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 525, p. 153-216.

Reference (Deposit): Times Publishing Company, 1912, Tanana Magazine, Quartz Edition: Fairbanks, Alaska 76 p.

---

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.