Alaska Lead and Silver

The Alaska Lead and Silver is a lead, zinc, and silver 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

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Site Name

Primary: Alaska Lead and Silver
Secondary: A.L.S.

Commodity

Primary: Lead
Primary: Zinc
Primary: Silver
Secondary: Cadmium
Secondary: Copper

Location

State: Alaska
District: Ketchikan

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: Polymetallic veins

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Gangue: Quartz

Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = the vein is Late Cretaceous or Tertiary, assuming that it cuts the foliation of the schist hostrock.

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

Comment (Production): Production Notes = About 500 metric tons of ore of unknown grade was mined in 1967 and 1968.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The country rocks in this part of Revillagigedo Island are marine, pelitic phyllite and schist that are intruded by Cretaceous stocks, sills, and dikes of feldspar-porphyritic granodiorite, and by a stock and probably related plugs of Tertiary gabbro (Berg and others, 1988). The strata and some of the granodiorite were regionally metamorphosed to greenschist grade in Late Cretaceous time. These regionally metamorphosed rocks subsequently were locally contact metamorphosed to hornblende hornfels near the contacts of Cretaceous granodiorite plutons that were emplaced after the regional metamorphism, and then more widely remetamorposed to hornblende hornfels near the contacts of the Tertiary gabbro. The premetamorphic age range of the pelitic strata is uncertain. Berg and others (1988) assign them a Mesozoic or (Late) Paleozoic age; Brew and Ford (1998) and Crawford and others (in press) assign them to the Gravina belt, of Late Jurassic or Cretaceous age. The Alaska Lead and Silver deposit consists of a sulfide-bearing quartz fissure vein in hornfelsed biotite schist (Maas and others, 1995, p. 203 and figs. 52, 53). The vein is up to three feet thick and contains 1-4% combined sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, and pyrite. It strikes NE and dips 73 SE, and has been traced along strike for about 300 feet. The deposit was discovered in 1967. By 1968, the operators had extended drifts in two separate adits (37 and 260 feet long), stoped 88 feet along the vein, constructed a flotation mill at the beach, and mined about 500 metric tons of ore of unknown grade. Samples along about 210 feet of the vein contained a weighted average of 21.6 ppm Ag, 685 ppm Pb, and 2731 ppm Zn across an average width of two feet (Maas and others, 1995, p. 209). A high-grade sample of this vein contained 63.1 ppm Ag, 0.36% Pb, and 0.29% Zn across three feet. Some of the samples also contained a significant amount of Cd.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The deposit was discovered in 1967. By 1968, the operators had extended drifts in two separate adits (37 and 260 feet long), stoped 88 feet along the vein, and constructed a flotation mill at the beach. Samples along about 210 feet of the vein contained a weighted average of 21.6 ppm Ag, 685 ppm Pb, and 2731 ppm Zn across an average width of two feet (Maas and others, 1995, p. 209). A high-grade sample of this vein contained 63.1 ppm Ag, 0.36% Pb, and 0.29% Zn across three feet. Some of the samples also contained a significant amount of Cd.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Maas and others, 1995

References

Reference (Deposit): Elliott, R.L., Berg, H.C., and Karl, Susan, 1978, map and table describing metalliferous and selected nonmetalliferous mineral deposits, Ketchikan and Prince Rupert quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report, 78-73-B,17 p., scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Crawford, M.L., Crawford, W.A., and Gehrels, G.E., 2000, Terrane assembly and structural relationships in the eastern Prince Rupert quadrangle, British Columbia, in H.H. Stowell and W.C.McClelland, eds., Tectonics of the Coast Mountains, southeastern Alaska and British Columbia: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Special Paper 343, p. 1-21..

Reference (Deposit): Berg, H.C., Elliott, R.L., and Koch, R.D., 1988, Geologic map of the Ketchikan and Prince Rupert quadrangles, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Investigations Series Map MF-1807,27 p., scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Maas, K.M., Bittenbender, P E., and Still, J.C., 1995, Mineral investigations in the Ketchikan mining district, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 11-95, 606 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brew, D.A., and Ford, A.B., 1998, The Coast Mountains structural zones in southeastern Alaska--descriptions, relations, and lithotectonic significance, in Gray, J.E., and Riehle, J.R., eds., The U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska--geological studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1996: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1595, p. 183-192.

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