Bunker Hill Mine

Site Name

Primary: Bunker Hill Mine
Secondary: Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mine
Secondary: Last Chance Mine
Secondary: Stemwinder Mine
Secondary: Tyler Mine

---

Commodity

Primary: Lead
Primary: Zinc
Primary: Silver
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Gold
Tertiary: Cadmium
Tertiary: Cobalt
Tertiary: Uranium
Tertiary: Antimony

---

Location

State: Idaho
County: Shoshone
District: Yreka

---

Land Status

Land ownership: Private
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.

---

Holdings

Not available

---

Workings

Type: Underground

---

Ownership

Owner Name: Bunker Hill Mining Co. (U.S.) Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Kellogg, Idaho
Years: 1987 - 1994

Owner Name: Bunker LP
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Spokane, Washington
Years: 1982 -

Owner Name: Gulf Resources and Chemical Co.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1968 - 1982

Owner Name: The Bunker Hill Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Kellogg, Idaho
Years: 1956 - 1968

Owner Name: Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: San Francisco, California
Years: 1887 - 1956

Owner Name: Helena Concentrating Co.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1885 - 1887

---

Production

Year: 1983
Time Period: 1887-1981
Mined: 35457348.000 mt
Material type: Ore Treated
Year: 1991
Time Period: 1988-1991
Mined: 756652.000 mt
Material type: Ore Milled

---

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: HYDROTHERMAL VEIN AND REPLACEMENT
Plant Type: Beneficiation (Mill)
Plant Subtype: Flotation
Operation Type: Underground
Milling Method: Flotation
Year First Production: 1886
Year Last Production: 1991
Discovery Year: 1885
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: L

---

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Northern Rocky Mountains
Physiographic Detail: Coeur D'Alene Mountains

---

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Polymetallic veins

---

Orebody

Name: Emery
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: West J
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Upper Tony
Form: TABULAR

Name: Truman
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Stanley
Form: TABULAR

Name: Quill
Form: TABULAR

Name: March
Form: WEDGE

Name: Mac
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Lower Tony
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Hangingwall Tony
Form: TABULAR

Name: Guy
Form: TABULAR

Name: Francis
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

---

Structure

Type: L
Description: Fractures and faults striking NE to EW, dipping SE to S, connect the Cate and Dull Faults.

Type: R
Description: Most of the deposit is within the NE overturned limb of a WNW-trending anticline. Host sediments strike N60-80W and dip SW. Parasitic folds are common. Axial planes strike about N16W and dip 42SW, with the axis plunging 34 degrees to N60W.

Type: R
Description: The Cate Fault (strikes NW to N, 55SW dip)is the main shear in the deposit, with several branch shears, including the Alhambra, Dull, J, Kruger, Motor, Sullivan, and Veral-Slavonian Faults. The Cate Fault is conjugate to the Osburn Fault to the north. The Dull is the principal branch shear, and much of the deposit lies on structures between the Cate and Dull Faults.

---

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Zone of disseminated siderite extends 10s to 100s of meters out from the veins, passing into a siderite-ankerite zone up to 10s of meters wide, and then into a zone of ankerite-calcite 100s of meters wide.

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Sericitization; Bleaching of hematite-bearings sediments; Chloritization

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: The deposit is at least partly oxidized down to about 600 meters depth, presumably along major faults. Shallow orebodies mined in the 1880s to early 1900s were largely oxidized with cerussite as the principal ore mineral.

---

Rocks

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

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

---

Analytical Data

Not available

---

Materials

Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Cerussite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Gangue: Arsenopyrite
Gangue: Sericite
Gangue: Chlorite
Gangue: Pyrrhotite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Ankerite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Barite
Gangue: Siderite
Gangue: Limonite
Trace: Hydrocerussite
Trace: Calcite
Trace: Acanthite
Trace: Anglesite
Trace: Bournonite
Trace: Boulangerite
Trace: Massicot
Trace: Caledonite
Trace: Linarite
Trace: Plattnerite
Trace: Pyrargyrite
Trace: Hemimorphite
Trace: Pyromorphite
Trace: Silver
Trace: Stephanite
Trace: Gypsum
Trace: Covellite
Trace: Pyrolusite

---

Comments

Comment (Reserve-Resource): End of year reserves reported by Bunker Hill Mining Co. (U.S.) Inc. in their 1990 annual report.

Comment (Production): Production data reported by Mitchell and Bennett (1983) to which are added 1981 production from Gulf Resources & Chemical Co. 1981 annual report and data on grade from Long (1998).

Comment (Workings): Total development when mine closed in 1981. Other sources estimate total workings at more than 240,000 meters. The Kellogg adit is the principal access to the mine.

Comment (Orebody): There are dozens of orebodies in the deposit, only the larger ones are noted above. Economic deposits are of two types: (1) massive wedge-shaped or tabular open-space filling and replacement veins along faults and larger extension fractures striking NW to EW and dipping SW; (2) Closely spaced fracture fillings near NE to EW striking SE or S dipping faults forming pinch-and-swell veins (locally called Jersey or Link-type Veins). Sporadic stratiform mineralization throughout the mine is not economic. The largest orebody, the March, is a pipe-like triangualr prism-shaped replacement body at the intersection of the Cate and Dull faults.

Comment (Development): The Bunker Hill mine used several mining methods, including square sets, top slicing, room and pillar, and block caving.

Comment (Names): The modern Bunker Hill mine property is an amalgamation over time of many mines. Some of these mines, including the Caledonia, Last Chance, Sierra Nevada, and Senator Stewart are described separately, as they occupy positions peripheral to the main Bunker Hill orebodies and were largely mined out prior to incorporation with the Bunker Hill Mine.

Comment (Commodity): Relative abundance of minerals is for the deposit as a whole. Individual orebodies may be galena (Pb) or sphalerite (Zn) rich with differeng relative abundance of gangue and trace minerals.

Comment (Production): Production reported by Bunker Hill Mining Co. (U.S.) Inc. in their annual and quarterly reports.

---

References

Reference (Deposit): CAMPBELL, A. B. COLSON, J. B. AND OTHERS, 1961 , GUIDEBOOK TO THE GEOLOGY OF THE COEUR D'ALENE MIN. DIST.: IDAHO BUREAU OF MINES AND GEOL. BULL. 16

Reference (Deposit): WEIS, P. L., ARMSTRONG, F. C., AND ROSENBLEM, S., 1958 , RECONNAISSANCE FOR RADIOACTIVE MINERALS IN WASH., ID., AND W. MONT., 1952 - 1955 : USGS BULL. 1074 - B, 48 P.

Reference (Deposit): RANSOME, F. L., AND CALKINS, F. C., 1908 , THE GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE COEUR D'ALENE DISTRICT, IDAHO: USGS PROF. PAPER 62 , 203 P.

Reference (Deposit): RANSOME, F. L., 1905 , ORE DEPOSITS OF THE COEUR D'ALENE DISTRICT, IDAHO: USGS BULL. 260 , P. 274 - 303

Reference (Deposit): ZARTMAN, R. E., AND STACEY, J. S., 1971 , LEAD ISOTOPES AND MINERALIZATION AGES IN BELT SUPERGROUP ROCKS, NORTHWESTERN MONTANA AND NORTHERN IDAHO: ECON. GEOL. V. 66 , NO. 6 , P. 849 - 860

Reference (Deposit): MC CONNEL, R. H., 1939 , BUNKER HILL ORE DEPOSITS IN COMPLEX FRACTURES: ENG. AND MINING JOUR., V. 140 , NO. 8 , P. 40 - 42

Reference (Deposit): FRYKLUND, V. C., JR., 1964 , ORE DEPOSITS OF THE COEUR D'ALENE DISTRICT, SHOSHONE COUNTY, IDAHO: USGS PROF. PAPER 445 , 103 P.

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 (Production): Long, Keith R., 1998, Grade and tonnage models for Coeur d'Alene-type polymetallic veins: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-583, 28 p.

Reference (Deposit): Caddey, Stanton William, 1974, Structural geometry of the "J" vein, the Bunker Hill mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, PhD dissertation, 352 p.

Reference (Deposit): Duff, James Kenneth, 1978, Structural geology of the Tony area, the Bunker Hill mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, MS thesis, 101 p.

Reference (Geology): White, Brian G., 1976, Revett stratigraphy of the Bunker Hill mine and vicinity: Kellogg, Idaho, The Bunker Hill Co., unpublished paper, 46 p.

Reference (Deposit): Beck, John Walter, 1980, Sulfide ores within the Quill ore body, Bunker Hill mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Pullman, Washington State Univeristy, MS thesis, 129 p.

Reference (Deposit): Shaw, Herbert Richard, 1959, Mineralogical studies in the Bunker Hill mine, Idaho: Berkeley, University of California, PhD dissertation, 182 p.

Reference (Deposit): KROLL, E. H., 1935 , A MINERALOGIC STUDY OF THE BUNKER HILL LODE AT KELLOGG, IDAHO: UNIV. OF IDAHO B. S THESIS, 14 P.

---

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.