Charles

The Charles 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: Charles

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Antimony
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Arsenic
Secondary: Bismuth
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: Tellurium

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: 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: Higher gold values are more common in rocks containing abundant iron and manganese oxides. Oxidized and leached zones are stained by scorodite and cervantite (Freeman and others, 1998).

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Cervantite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Gold
Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Stibnite
Ore: Scorodite

Comments

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = By 1911 the prospect had a 40 foot deep shaft (Times Publishing Company, 1912). In 1976 and 1977, prospect owners Richard Griff and James Madonna conducted dozer trenching and drilled three 80-foot holes (Katkin, written commun., 1978). The prospect was remapped and sampled in 1980 (Blakestad, 1980). Reconnaissance scale soil sampling in the Charles area was conducted in 1997 and expanded in 1998 (Freeman and others, 1998). Three reverse circulation holes were drilled in the Charles area during 1998 (Freeman and others, 1998).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = By 1911, the prospect had a 40-foot deep shaft on an 18-inch-wide quartz and base metal-bearing shear zone that trended northwest, and dipped 45 NE (Times Publishing Company, 1912; Brooks, 1911). The surface width of the shear was 8 feet. Another shear zone, was traced for 1,500 feet in pits no more than 12 feet deep. One ton of material mined from the Charles prospect in 1911 averaged $25 gold per ton (1.2 ounces of gold per ton) in free milling gold (Times Publishing Company, 1912). The one ton sample was extracted from a high grade portion of the shear which averaged 10 inches in width.? Burand (1968) notes that work had been conducted on a lead-silver prospect in upper Walnut Creek and it is believed this reference was to the Charles prospect. Samples of shear zone quartz collected by Pilkington and others (1969) from the Eleanor claim area on the northwest end of the Charles prospect ranged from 1.95 to 43.5 ppm gold (0.057 to 1.27 ounces of gold per ton). A sample of mineralized schist from this same area contained 1.27 ppm gold (0.037 ounces of gold per ton). ? In 1976 and 1977, prospect owners Richard Griff and James Madonna conducted dozer trenching and drilled three 80-foot holes (L. Katkin, written commun., 1978). Samples contained 0.037 to 1.969 ounces of gold per ton, 0.12 to 57.84 ounces of silver per ton, 0.02 to 15.9% lead, from a trace to 2% antimony, and traces of copper and zinc.? the prospect was remapped and sampled in 1980; the work revealed two sub-parallel, N 60-80 W trending shear zones approximately 800 feet apart (Blakestad, 1980). The lower of these two zones ranged from 2 to 12 feet wide and contained quartz-stockwork shear zones up to several feet thick in the most intensely sheared areas. Gold, stibnite and galena were identified on the lower zone. The upper zone was hosted in mariposite-bearing schist and ankerite-bearing quartz-mica schist with conformable oxidized and leached zones stained by scorodite and cervantite. Scheelite was identified on one siliceous unit in the upper zone. Limited sample results from Blakestad (1980) indicated the prospect has a high lead and silver content.? Reconnaissance-scale soil sampling in the Charles area was conducted in 1997 and expanded in 1998 (Freeman and others, 1998). Trenching was completed in the Charles area subsequent to the 1997 soil sampling program and returned sporadic high-grade gold associated with antimony and arsenic, but did not outline contiguous intervals of significant gold mineralization. Both upper and lower plate lithologies were encountered in trenches and higher gold values are more common in rocks containing abundant iron- and manganese-oxides. Three reverse-circulation holes were drilled in the Charles area during 1998 to target anomalous gold, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and tellurium values in soils. The primary target in this area was the down-dip extension of a flat-lying crushed quartz vein zone exposed in an old trench east of the Charles Shaft. The drill hole intersected crushed quartz of only moderate grades, 0.102 ounces of gold per ton over five feet.

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Polymetallic vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c).

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = the first reference to this prospect indicates it was staked as the Sunnyside claim by Clarence Crites and Henry Feldman prior to 1911 (Times Publishing Company, 1912).

Comment (Production): Production Notes = One ton of material was mined from the Charles prospect in 1911 (Times Publishing Company, 1912).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Freeman, 1992

References

Reference (Deposit): Freeman, C.J., Flanigan, B., Currey, J., Wolf, K., and Wietchy D.W., 1998, 1997 and 1998 Final report, Golden Summit project, Fairbanks mining district, Alaska: Avalon Development Corp. Geologic Report GS98-1, 37 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): Smith, P.S., 1913, Lode mining near Fairbanks: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 542-F, p. 137-202.

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): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Livengood quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-413, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

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): Blakestad, R.A., 1980, Coffee Dome Prospect-a preliminary report: Mankomen Exploration Inc., 15 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): Times Publishing Company, 1912, Tanana Magazine, Quartz Edition: Fairbanks, Alaska 76 p.

Reference (Deposit): Prindle, L.M., and Katz, F.J., 1913, Detailed description of the Fairbanks district, in Prindle, L. M., A geologic reconnaissance of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 525, p. 59-152.

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): Brooks, A.H., 1912, The Alaska mining industry in 1911, in Brooks, A.H., and others, Mineral resources of Alaska, 1911: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 520, p. 17-44.

Reference (Deposit): Pilkington, H.D., Forbes, R. B., Hawkins, D.B., Chapman, R.M., and Swainbank, R.C., 1969, Preliminary investigation of gold mineralization in the Pedro Dome - Cleary Summit area, Fairbanks District, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 69-206, 47 p.

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.

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.