Crescent Mine

The Crescent Mine is a silver mine located in Shoshone county, Idaho.

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: Crescent Mine
Secondary: Big Creek Mine
Secondary: Alhambra Mine

Commodity

Primary: Silver
Secondary: Antimony
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: Zinc
Tertiary: Gold

Location

State: Idaho
County: Shoshone
District: Yreka

Land Status

Land ownership: Mixed
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

Type: Located Claim
Type: Patented

Workings

Type: Underground

Ownership

Owner Name: Shoshone County
Percent: 100.0
Years: 2001 -

Owner Name: Royal Silver Mines Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Spokane, Washington
Years: 1994 - 2001

Owner Name: Fausett International, Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1991 - 2001

Owner Name: Bunker Hill Mining Co. (US) Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Kellogg, Idaho
Years: 1987 - 1991

Owner Name: Crescent Silver Mines, Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Years: 1984 - 1987

Owner Name: Bunker LP
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Spokane, Washington
Years: 1982 - 1984

Owner Name: Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp.
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: 1952 - 1956

Owner Name: Big Creek Mining Co., Ltd.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Wallace, Idaho
Years: 1902 - 1952

Owner Name: Alhambra Mining Co., Ltd.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Spokane, Washington
Years: 1898 - 1937

Owner Name: Old Abe & Tompkins Mining and Milling Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Wardner, Idaho
Years: 1890 - 1898

Production

Year: 1998
Time Period: 1917-1986
Mined: 1091222.000 mt
Material type: Ore Treated

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: HYDROTHERMAL VEIN AND REPLACEMENT
Operation Type: Underground
Mining Method: Filled Stopes - Horiz Cut and Fill W/Waste Rock
Milling Method: Flotation
Year First Production: 1906
Year Last Production: 1986
Discovery Year: 1886
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y

Physiography

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

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Polymetallic veins

Orebody

Name: Lower Alhambra
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: East Footwall Vein
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Hanging Wall Vein
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Upper Alhambra
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Structure

Type: L
Description: Big Creek Fault

Type: R
Description: Big Creek Anticline (WNW) - deposit within the overturned north limb.

Type: L
Description: Alhambra Fault is a 15 to 18 metert wide fracture zone with 0.3 to 1.2 meters of fault gouge in the footwall. The fault is steeply reverse and right lateral, strikes N50-80W, dips 55 to 65SW with St. Regis-Revett Formation quartzite in the hanging wall and Wallace Formation quartzite in the footwall.

Type: R
Description: Osburn Fault

Type: L
Description: Silver Syndicate Fault

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: A rich oxide zone in the upper part of the vein, 137 meters long and 0.9 meters wide, was mined to 91 meters depth

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Veins are surrounded by halos of disseminated minerals in the wall-rock, from the vein outward, these are zones of disseminated arsenopyrite, sericite, pyrite, and carbonate. The carbonate halo begins at 24 meters and extends out to 46 to 61 meters.

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

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

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Stibnite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Galena
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Arsenopyrite
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Siderite
Gangue: Calcite
Trace: Sphalerite
Trace: Cuprite
Trace: Silver
Trace: Cerargyrite
Trace: Proustite
Trace: Cerussite
Trace: Argentite
Trace: Chalcocite
Trace: Uraninite
Trace: Malachite

Comments

Comment (Ownership): BUNKER HILL LIMITED IS COMPOSED OF A GROUP OF INVESTORS CONSISTING OF DUANE HAGADONE, HARRY F. MAGNUSON, J. R. SIMPLOT, AND JACK KENDRICK.

Comment (Workings): UNDERGROUND MINING METHODS ARE PROPOSED FOR THE POSSIBLE REOPENING OF THE MINE IN 1984. U-UPC SHOWN FOR 1984; COSTS WILL INCREASE UP TO $217.66 BY 1988

Comment (Commodity): Pitchblende or uraninite was found in small concentrations in two places within the hangingwall of the Alhambra fault in St. Regis Formation quartzite filling fractures that cut iron oxide zones 0.3 to 0.6 meters thick. The fracture filling consists of the uranium mineral, sericite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, calcite, and quartz.

Comment (Production): Production data from Long (1988). Production reported for antimony is for the years 1959 to 1966 only, production after those years, if any, was not reported in the Crescent mine bullion book.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Data from Royal Silver Mines Inc 1996 SEC Form 10K

Comment (Ownership): Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co. operated the Alhambra mine under lease from 1917 to 1918, and the Big Creek mine from 1922 to 1927. In 1927, Bunker Hill acquired a controlling interest in Big Creek Mining Co., Ltd., which operated as a subsidiary until absorbed by Bunker Hill in 1952.

References

Reference (Reference): MINE/DEPOSIT FILE REPORT CRESCENT MINE, KELLOGG, IDAHO, FINAL REPORT, USBM CONTRACT NO. SO221028, JAN. 1983.

Reference (Reference): CRESCENT MINE DATA PACKAGE. INFORMATION ASSEMBLED BY THE CRESCENT MINE STAFF OF BUNKER HILL CO. TO FACILITATE THE SALE OF THE MINE.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): CRESECENT SILVER MINES, INC. PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS, DATED OCT. 30, 1984, P. 20.

Reference (Reference): REID, ROLLAND R., THE BUNKER HILL, CRESCENT AND PEND OREILLE MINES: PROSPECT OF LONG TERM CONTINUITY

Reference (Deposit): Cook, E.F., 1955, Prospecting for uranium, thorium, and tungsten in Idaho: Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology Pamphlet 102, 53 p.

Reference (Deposit): Weis, P.L., Armstrong, F.C., and Rosenblum, S., 1958, Reconnaissance for radioactive minerals in Washington, Idaho, and Western Montana, 1952-55: US Geological Survey Bulletin 1074-B, 48 p.

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

Reference (Deposit): Dahl, Mary Kathleen, 1981, Structural and stratigraphic control of ore through the Crescent, Sunshine, Silver Summit, Coeur and Galena mines, Coeur d'AleneDahl, Mary Kathleen, 1981, Structural and stratigraphic control of ore through the Crescent, Sunshine, Silver Summit, Coeur and Galena mines, Coeur d'Alene mining district, Idaho: Moscow, Univeristy of Idaho, MS thesis, 97 p.

Reference (Deposit): Radford, Norman A., 1973, Geology of the Crescent mine and its relationships to the Coeur d'Alene silver belt: Osburn, Idaho, The Bunker Hill Co., 13 p.

Reference (Deposit): Fryklund, V.C., Jr., 1964, Ore deposits of the Coeur d'Alene district, Shohsone County, Idaho: US Geological Survey Professional Paper 445, 103 p.

Reference (Development): Julihn, C.E., and Horton, F.W., 1936, The silver belt and the Sunshine mine of the Coeur d'Alene district: US Bureau of Mines Information Circular 6876, 16 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.