Golden Chest Mine

Site Name

Primary: Golden Chest Mine

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Tungsten
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Copper

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Location

State: Idaho
County: Shoshone
District: Summit

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Land Status

Not available

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Type: Underground

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Ownership

Owner Name: New Jersey Mining Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Kellogg, Idaho
Years: 2003 -

Owner Name: Newmont Exploration, Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Denver, Colorado
Years: 1987 - 1990

Owner Name: Cominco American Resources Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Spokane, Washington
Years: 1983 - 1987

Owner Name: Golden Chest Leasing Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Murray, Idaho
Years: 1932 - 1932

Owner Name: Paymaster Resources, Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Murray, Idaho
Years: 1999 -

Owner Name: Golden Chest, Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1968 - 1999

Owner Name: Golden Chest Mining and Concentrating Co.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1934 - 1941

Owner Name: Golden Chest Consolidated Mining Co.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1931 - 1934

Owner Name: Golden Chest Mining and Milling Co.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1910 - 1931

Owner Name: The Golden Chest Mining Co.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1904 - 1910

Owner Name: Golden Chest Mining Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Murray, Idaho
Years: 1884 - 1904

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Production

Year: 1983
Time Period: 1902-1949
Mined: 55977.000 mt
Material type: Ore Treated

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: HYDROTHERMAL BEDDED VEIN
Plant Type: Beneficiation (Mill)
Plant Subtype: Gravity
Operation Type: Underground
Mining Method: Open Stope
Milling Method: Gravity
Year First Production: 1885
Year Last Production: 1974
Discovery Year: 1883
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y

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Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Northern Rocky Mountains

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein

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Orebody

Name: Hanging Wall Klondyke Vein

Name: Klondyke Vein

Name: Clagett Vein

Name: Idaho Vein

Name: Katie-Dora Vein

Name: Paymaster Pocket

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Thompson Pass Fault, vertical, right-lateral movement.

Type: R
Description: Trout Creek Anticline strikes N15E, axial plane dips 56-85W

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Name: Quartzite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

Name: Meta-Argillite
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Neoproterozoic

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Scheelite
Gangue: Arsenopyrite
Gangue: Apatite
Gangue: Albite
Gangue: Chlorite
Gangue: Sericite
Gangue: Ankerite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Specularite
Gangue: Rutile
Gangue: Pyrite

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Comments

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reported in Chavez (1990) who also reports a possible offset of the Katie-Dora vein with more than 90,000 metric tons of material with 7 grams per ton gold. Chavez (1990) claims no potential for increasing these resources, however, Engineering and Mining Journal for June, 1989, reports a potential for 8 to 10 million additional tons material with 2 grams per metric ton gold.

Comment (Development): Scheelite discovered in veins in 1898 by Chester J. Keenan.

Comment (Production): Production reported by Mitchell and Bennet (1983) using production reported to U.S. Bureau of Mines. Chavez (1990) gives total production from 1885 as about 65,000 ounces (2 metric tons) of gold, similar to an estimate by William Wylie of $1,400,000 in bullion (67,731 ounces gold at $20.67 per ounce) reported by Shenon (1938). A small amount of tungsten ore was mined, starting with 50 tons in about 1905.

Comment (Orebody): Orebodies are quartz-ribboned sulfide veins parallel to bedding formed by replacement along bedding faults prior to the East Kootenay orogeny (800Ma) during a tectonic event (rifting?) that produced bedding parallel foliation in the host Prichard Formation argillite. These N15E shallow-dipping veins parallel axes of local synclines and anticlines.

Comment (Geology): Prichard Formation consists of mudstone, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone which have been metamorphosed to argillite, siltite, and quartzite, respectively. Rocks exposed in the mine are thought to represent the Lower Prichard.

Comment (Workings): Estimated by Shenon (1938) from old mine maps.

Comment (Orebody): A shoot of scheelite ore in the Klondike vein was 23 meters long on strike and mined to a vertical depth of about 107 meters depth. The mineralized zone was up to 4.5 meters wide. The vein material here consisted mostly of quartz, with irregular stringers of scheelite, abundant pyrite, and lesser chalcopyrite and galena.

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References

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Chavez, Joel, 1990, Golden Chest project, exploration summary, Shoshone County, Idaho: Newmont Exploration Ltd., Helena, Montana, 15 p.

Reference (Deposit): Kennan, C.J., 1916, Preliminary report on the Golden Chest mine, 21 p. [International Archive of Economic Geology, Laramie, Wyoming, Thayer Lindsley Files, TL 46-10]

Reference (Production): Mitchell, V.E., and Bennett, E.H., 1983, Production statistics for the Coeur d'Alene mining district, Shoshone County, Idaho, 1884-1980: Idaho Geological Survey Technical Report 83-3, 33 p.

Reference (Deposit): Gibson, Layton Scott, 1986, Geology and genesis of gold-bearing quartz veins on Ophir Mountain, near Murray, Shoshone County, Idaho: Tucson, University of Arizona, MS thesis.

Reference (Deposit): Shenon, Philip J., 1942, Bedding vein deposits near Murray, Idaho, in Newhouse, W.H., ed., Ore deposits as related to structural features: Princeton Univ. Press, p. 159-160.

Reference (Deposit): Shenon, Philip J., 1938, Geology and ore deposits near Murray, Idaho: Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology Pamphlet 47, 43 p.

Reference (Deposit): Auerbach, Herbert S., 1908, Tungsten ore deposits of the Coeur d'Alene: Engineering and Mining Journal, v. 86, no. 24, p. 1146-1148.

Reference (Deposit): Ransome, F.L., and Calkins, F.C., 1908, The geology and ore deposits of the Coeur d'Alene district, Idaho: US Geological Survey Professioal Paper 62 , 203 p.

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Idaho Gold

"Where to Find Gold in Idaho" looks at the density of modern placer mining claims along with historical gold mining locations and mining district descriptions to determine areas of high gold discovery potential in Idaho. Read more: Where to Find Gold in Idaho.