The Honker is a silver and 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.
Honker MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Honker
Commodity
Primary: Silver
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tungsten
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Lead
Location
State: Alaska
District: Kaiyuh
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: Metasedimentary rocks are hornfelsed and silicified. Locally, the schist is altered to clay and iron-stained. Oxidation of sulfides has produced gossan.
Rocks
Not available
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Ore: Arsenopyrite
Ore: Bismuth
Ore: Bismuthinite
Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Electrum
Ore: Galena
Ore: Gold
Ore: Limonite
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Marcasite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Pyrrhotite
Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Stibnite
Ore: Scorodite
Ore: Telluride
Gangue: Quartz
Comments
Comment (Geology): Ore Material = sulfosalts
Comment (Geology): Age = K-Ar and Ar/Ar ages date the intrusion of the Khotol pluton at 108-113 Ma (Flanigan, 1998). Flanigan suggests that the Honker deposit may be related to it.
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Flanigan, 1998
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = be conformable with the quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist. Sparse, disseminated, very-fine-grained arsenopyrite and pyrite occur between the intercepts (Flanigan, 1998). Mineralized rock samples from the Honker prospect average 0.13 ounce of gold per ton and 0.17 ounce of silver per ton. Copper ranges up to 5400 ppm, lead to 935 ppm, and several samples contained anomalous tungsten (25-270 ppm). The mineralization includes little or no zinc, manganese, antimony, or mercury, but arsenic values range higher than 5% in the richest drill hole intercepts. Samples of drill core assay up to 1.12 ounces of gold per ton and 2.33 ounces of silver per ton, and average 0.13 ounce of gold per ton and 0.27 ounce of silver per ton. The banded and massive sulfide intercepts assay up to 0.078 ounce of gold per ton and 0.08 ounce of silver per ton (Flanigan, 1998). Arsenopyrite thermometry indicates that ore mineralization temperatures at the Honker prospect were between 300 and 350 degrees Celsius (Flanigan, 1998). These temperatures make it unlikely that metamorphism is responsible for mineralization (Flanigan, 1998). K-Ar and Ar/Ar dating of sericite near the ore and white mica from the Khotol pluton demonstrate that mineralization and Khotol plutonism were coeval at about 113 Ma (Flanigan, 1998). The presence of anomalous Sb, Sn, and native Bi suggests that mineralization at Honker was related to magmatic fluids derived from the pluton, and the distribution of Au, Ag, As, and Bi among the Honker, Waterpump Creek (NL020), and the Illinois Creek (NL023) deposits indicates zoning peripheral to it (Flanigan, 1998). The Honker prospect was first located by the Anaconda Minerals Company in 1980. Since then, the deposit has been explored by trenching, drilling, geologic mapping, and soil and rock sampling. Also see Waterpump Creek (NL020) and Illinois Creek (NL023).
Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves = Inferred resources for the Honker prospect are estimated to be greater than 250,000 ounces of gold in ore averaging 1.0 ounce of gold per ton (Flanigan, 1998).
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Plutonic-related, epigenetic lode Au-Ag; Polymetallic veins? (Cox and Singer, 1986, model 22c)
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Honker prospect consists mainly of two subparallel, gold-bearing quartz-arsenopyrite veins that trend N20-25E. It also includes gossan; banded and massive sulfides in calcareous chlorite schist; and disseminations, blebs, and clots of sulfides in hornfelsed sedimentary rocks (Flanigan, 1998). The country rocks at the Honker prospect include chlorite schist, quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist, variably hornfelsed, banded, light and dark gray metasedimentary rocks, and minor graphitic schist rubble. Medium-grained granodiorite float also occurs at the prospect. The metamorphic rocks generally strike east-west and dip 20 to 40 degrees south. High-temperature contact metamorphism is indicated by the presence of andalusite crystals and garnet porphyroblasts. The metasedimentary rocks are very resistant and cap the top of hill 1280. Hornfelsing and silicification of these rocks are probably due to the intrusion of the nearby Khotol Mountain pluton. A schistose quartzite unit overlies the metasedimentary rocks (Flanigan, 1998). Two steep, gold- and silver-bearing quartz-arsenpyrite veins cross-cut the schists at the Honker prospect. These principal veins are brecciated and oxidized. The larger vein (Honker East) may be as long as 950 meters, has a true thickness (identified by drilling) of 1-5 meters, and a vertical extent of 150 meters. The smaller vein (Honker West) is up to 3 meters thick and is traceable at the surface intermittently along strike for up to 300 meters (Flanigan, 1998). Large, resistant, boulders up to 0.5 meters in diameter of dark reddish-brown, massive, ropy and siliceous, vuggy gossan are more prominent than boxwork gossan and fracture-veined limonitic material. Gossan at the Honker prospect is not as abundant as at Waterpump Creek (NL020) or Illinois Creek (NL023), but is also due to the oxidation of sulfides (Flanigan, 1998). The most abundant vein material at Honker is milky-white or pale green quartz and scorodite, and siliceous breccia that locally contains limonite. Disseminated arsenopyrite and traces of malachite are present locally. The arsenopyrite is generally euhedral and coated with chalcocite (Flanigan, 1998). Brecciated material is matrix supported and composed of rounded and angular fragments of schist, quartz, arsenopyrite, and minor gossan, cemented by quartz, scorodite, iron oxide, and small amounts of arsenopyrite. Additional sulfides occur as disseminated grains, blebs, and pods in the metasedimentary rocks, generally without gold (Flanigan, 1998). Electron microprobe analysis and polished section petrography also identified gold and silver tellurides, selenides, and sulfosalt minerals, chalcopyrite, marcasite, bismuth-bismuthinite solid solution, stibnite, galena, electrum, and native gold (Flanigan, 1998). Drill holes intersected three narrow zones of banded and massive pyrrhotite and pyrite, with traces of chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, and scheelite. These zones appear to
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The Honker prospect was first located by Anaconda Minerals Company in 1980. Since then, the deposit has been explored by trenching, drilling, geologic mapping, and soil and rock sampling.
Comment (Geology): Ore Material = selenides
References
Reference (Deposit): Flanigan, B., 1998, Genesis and mineralization of ore deposits in the Illinois Creek region, West Central Alaska: University of Alaska, Fairbanks, M.Sc. thesis, 125 p., 2 plates.
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.
