Sunshine Mine

The Sunshine Mine is a silver mine located in Shoshone county, Idaho at an elevation of 2,789 feet.

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: Sunshine Mine
Secondary: Yankee Boy Mine

Commodity

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

Location

State: Idaho
County: Shoshone
District: Evolution, 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

Type: Patented
Type: Located Claim

Workings

Type: Underground

Ownership

Owner Name: Sterling Mining Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Years: 2003 -

Owner Name: American Reclamation Inc.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Los Angeles, California
Years: 2003 -

Owner Name: Yankee-Polaris Leasing & Development Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Wallace, Idaho
Years: 1923 - 1928

Owner Name: J.B. Cox
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Kellogg, Idaho
Years: 1921 - 1921

Owner Name: Sunshine Mining Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Boise, Idaho
Years: 1921 - 2001

Owner Name: Big Creek Leasing Co.
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Kellogg, Idaho
Years: 1916 - 1920

Owner Name: S.L. Shonts
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Kellogg, Idaho
Years: 1912 - 1915

Owner Name: Dennis and True Blake
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Kellogg, Idaho
Years: 1884 - 1921

Production

Year: 2002
Time Period: 1904-2001
Mined: 11129372.000 mt

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: HYDROTHERMAL VEIN AND REPLACEMENT
Plant Type: Beneficiation (Mill)
Plant Subtype: Flotation
Operation Type: Underground
Mining Method: Filled Stopes - Inclined Cut and Fill
Milling Method: Flotation
Year First Production: 1890
Year Last Production: 2001
Discovery Year: 1884
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: West Chance Vein
Form: TABULAR

Name: Copper Vein
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Chester Vein System
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Sunshine-Polaris Vein System
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Yankee Girl Vein System
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Name: Silver Syndicate (Silver Summit) Vein
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Structure

Type: R
Description: Polaris Fault (N70W 60SW) shows normal and right-lateral movement.

Type: L
Description: Yankee Girl Vein System

Type: L
Description: Chester Fault (E-W 50-60S) connects the Silver Syndicate Fault with the Polaris Fault to the east. Fault is up to 5 meters thick.

Type: R
Description: Silver Syndicate Fault (N70W 50-70SW) shows reverse and left-lateral movement. Fault is 15 to 20 meters thick.

Type: L
Description: Sunshine-Polaris Vein System

Type: L
Description: Big Creek Anticline, overturned north limb, strikes NNE to NNW, axial plane dips about 70 degrees; highly-strained and broken by EW normal shears that dip steeply south and host ore.

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Upper part of the Sunshine vein was at least partly oxidized with some degree of sulfide enrichemnt. In the oxide zone, azurite, malachite, cerargyrite, native silver, anglesite, cerussite, and erythrite have been reported. Enriched sulfides include covellite, chalcocite, acanthite, and pyrargyrite (sometimes misidentified as proustite).

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Veins typically consists of a core of massive ore, bounded by selvages of quartz, then pyrite veinlets in siderite-ankerite, and then passing into altered (bleached with sporadic sericitization) wall rock. Contact with wall-rock is sharp, often marked by a thin seam of sericite gouge. Massive ore consists of siderite-quartz-ankerite (rarely -barite) gangue with disseminated sulfides of tetrahedrite, galena, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, pyrite, boulangerite, bournonite, and gersdorffite.

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Host rocks underwent zeolite facies metamorphism

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Envelopes of disseminated arsenopyrite occur around the veins, and are probably associated with more extensive halos of disseminated carbonates.

Rocks

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

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Gangue: Barite
Gangue: Calcite
Gangue: Siderite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Ankerite
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Arsenopyrite
Trace: Boulangerite
Trace: Pyrargyrite
Trace: Matildite
Trace: Polybasite
Trace: Stibnite
Trace: Erythrite
Trace: Covellite
Trace: Chalcocite
Trace: Cerargyrite
Trace: Bournonite
Trace: Gersdorffite
Trace: Uraninite
Trace: Azurite
Trace: Cerussite
Trace: Anglesite
Trace: Jamesonite
Trace: Silver

Comments

Comment (Ownership): THE SURFACE AREA OF THE SUNSHIME MINE (109 HECTARES) AND ALL

Comment (Orebody): The Silver Syndicate replacement vein lies entirely in the Silver Syndicate Fault. Three major ore shoots were mined from the surface down to the 4000 (1219 meter) level. Little ore was found from the 3850 (1173 meter) to the 4000 level. The vein consisted of quartz, siderite, pyrite, and galena (which contains remnants of tetrahedrite).

Comment (Production): Production data compiled from Sunshine Mining Company Annual Reports and other sources.

Comment (Deposit): OF THE SUNSHINE MINE, WHICH NOW HAS DELINEATED A "PROVEN AND

Comment (Development): The modern Sunshine mine is a consolidation of many properties, totaling 930 hectares, and including the Yankee Boy Group of 5 patented claims, the Yankee Girl Group of 11 patented claims, the Majestic Group of 2 unpatented claims, and many others.

Comment (Orebody): The Chester Vein System branches off the Silver Syndicate Fault via the North Hook (Chester Hook) and then follows the Chester Fault for 2,377 meters. This is a replacement vein except for tension gash-filling in the North Hook area. Upper levels of the vein are mixed galena-tetrahedrite ores, but the proportion of tetrahedrite increases with depth until the 3700 level (1128 meters) is reached below which galena is absent. Highest grades are at the 5000 (1524 meters) level and below. The ore contains 2600 grams per ton silver per percent copper.

Comment (Geology): Wallace Formation calcareous argilite and quartzite amd St. Regis Formation argilite and quartzite exposed at surface. Revett Formation quartzite exposed only on the 3100 level of the Sunshine mine an below.

Comment (Commodity): Up to 10 percent of vein material consists of tetrahedrite, and up to 20 percent of quartz. The balance consists almost entirely of siderite. Up to 5 percent chalcopyrite is found in high-grade veins.

Comment (Deposit): RECORD 153 - ANTIMONY CATHODES ARE SHIPPED TO MANY CONSUMERS

Comment (Development): Initial miining method in the 1920s was rill stoping, shortly replaced by square set with development rock fill. Horizontal cut and fill with occaisional shrinkage stoping was adopted later, with tailings fill used from 1960.

Comment (Geology): At the Sunshine mine, the Wallace Formation is 1200 to 1500 meters thick, the St. Regis Formation 500 to 600 meters thick, and the Revett Formation 650 to 1050 meters thick.

Comment (Deposit): THE MANUFCTR OF ANTIMONIAL LEAD BUNKER HILL AT KELLOGG

Comment (Ownership): BY SUNSHIME MINING COMPANY. IN LATE 1981, A STOCK TRADE

Comment (Orebody): The Yankee Girl vein is a hanging-wall split from the Sunshine-Polaris shear zone that occupies a shattered zone in the north limb of the Big Creek Anticline. Narrow, interlacing massive siderite-tetrahedrite veins and veinlets formed several ore zones 1 to 2 meters wide, none of which were mined below the 3700 (1128 meters) level. Veins contain siderite, ankerite, quartz, pyrite, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, magnetite, and hematite. Ore contains 1400 grams per ton silver per percent of copper.

Comment (Development): In 1943, bonanza silver ore was discvered on a deep extension of the Chester Vein into the St. Regis Formation.

Comment (Deposit): OREBODIES CONSIST GENERALLY OF FRACTURE FILLINGS AND REPLACE

Comment (Ownership): MERGER WAS APPROVED, AND THE COMPANINES KNOWN AS SILVER

Comment (Orebody): Uraninite mineralization occurs in the footwall of the Sunshine-Polaris vein system from the 2900 (884 meters) to 3700 (1128 meters) levels in St. Regis Formation quartzite. Mineralization consists of quart-pyrite-uraninite veins and veinlets with selvages of dissemintad hematite.

Comment (Deposit): ADDITIONAL CRIB NO. WO19556, WO19379, WO19381

Comment (Ownership): DOLLAR MINING CO., SUNSHINE CONSOLIDATED, INC., SILVER

Comment (Ownership): INTO THE SUNSHIME MINING COMPANY. PRESENTLY THE SUNSHINE

Comment (Deposit): PROBABLE" RESERVE IN WEST CHANCE OF 131,000 KG OF AG.

Comment (Ownership): MINING COMPANY'S INTEREST IN ORES MINED IS 76 PERCENT WITH

Comment (Deposit): ALONG FAULT ZONES, MINERALIZATIONAVERAGES 1-2 METERS THICK

Comment (Names): ALTERNATE NAMES: YANKEE BOY, ROTBART

Comment (Ownership): THE MERGERS ADDING 20 PERCENT. POST MERGER SUNSHINE INTER-

Comment (Ownership): MINE ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Comment (Ownership): SUNSHINES

Comment (Ownership): ORES PRODUCED

Comment (Ownership): UNIT AREA 66.75% HECLA MINING CO.

Comment (Geology): Isotopic studies (Eaton and others, 1995) indicate that contemporaneous deformation, metamorphism, and mineralization occurred during the Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary, probably due to the emplacement of the Idaho Batholith south of the Coeur d'Alene Mining region.

Comment (Orebody): The Sunshine and Polaris veins are parallel veins, the Sunshine in the hanging wall and Polaris in the foot wall of a shear zone, which coverge at about the 1300 foot level (396 meters). At depth the vein system consists of several branching and parallel veins, including the 'B', 'D', and '06' veins. At the east end of the vein system, three main veins were mine known as the North, South, and Middle Polaris veins. Above the 1500 (457 meter) level, quartz is more abundant and some galena is present; below the 1500 level the vein is rich in tetrahedrite. The vein passes into Revett Formation quartzite at the 3700 (1128 meter) level. The vein terminates to the east at the Silver Syndicate Fault. The ore contains from 1700 to 2600 grams per ton silver per percent of copper.

Comment (Ownership): "S" AREA 50.00 SILVER SURPRIZE, INC.

Comment (Ownership): YANKEE GIRL AREA 84.00 METROPOLITAN MINES CORP,

Comment (Ownership): (METROPOLITAN) LTD.

Comment (Ownership): METROPOLITAN AREA 50.00 METROPOLITAN MINES CORP,

Comment (Ownership): LTD.

Comment (Ownership): "X" AREA 100.00 NONE

Comment (Ownership): RAMBO AREA 83.37 HECLA MINING CO.

Comment (Ownership): SUNSHINE CONSOLI-

Comment (Ownership): DATED AREA 100.00 NONE

Comment (Ownership): BIG CREEK APEX

Comment (Ownership): AREA 100.00 NONE

Comment (Ownership): SNOWSTORM AREA 100.00 NONE

Comment (Ownership): IN 1984 HECLA SOLD ITS SHARE TO SUNSHINE MINING CO., GIVING

Comment (Ownership): SUNSHINE CONTROL OF 98% OF ORE PRODUCTION FROM THE MINE.

Comment (Ownership): MINE, MILL, AND INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES ARE OWNED DIRECTLY

Comment (Ownership): SYNDICATE, INC., AND BIG CREEK APEX MINING CO. WERE MERGED

Comment (Ownership): ESTS AND RIGHTS TO PRODUCTION IN THE VARIOUS AREAS OF THE

Comment (Workings): More than 100 miles (161 kilometers) of underground workings when the mine closed in 2001.

Comment (Commodity): Analyses of tetrahedite from the Sunshine mine find 1-5% Ag, 2.5-4% Zn. 28-40% Cu, 4-6% Fe, 20-32% Sb, 0.3-0.75% As, and 0.11-0.12% Ni. The silver content of tetrahedrite increases with depth in the mine.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves from Sunshine Mining Co. annual report for 2000.

Comment (Ownership): "SUNSHINE PRECIOUS METALS, INC."

Comment (Ownership): RE RECORD 4, THE ACTUAL OWNER IS THE WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY

Comment (Deposit): 1996: EXPLORATION HAS CONCENTRATED IN THE WEST CHANCE SYSTEM

References

Reference (Deposit): Boyer, D.S., Wodzicki, A., and Ratchford, M.E., 1999, A structural and fluid inclusion analysis of the West Chance ore body, Sunshine mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 31, no. 6, p. A40.

Reference (Analytical Data): Eckelmann, W.R., and Kulp, J.L., 1957, Uranium-lead method of age determination: Geological Survey of America Bulletin, v. 68, p. 1117-1140.

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

Reference (Deposit): Trachte, Carl Bartholomew, 1993, Geochemical study of the Copper Vein, Sunshine Mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Washington State University, MS thesis, 102 p.

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

Reference (Geology): Colson, J.B., 1961, The geology of the Sunshine mine, in Guidebook to the geology of the Coeur d'Alene mining district: Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 16, p. 30-34.

Reference (Deposit): Bond, W.B., Wavra, C.S., Cleland, R.W., and Reid, R.R., 1992, Nature and genesis of ore shoots at the Sunshine mine, Coeur d'Alene district, Idaho: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 24, no. 6, p. 4.

Reference (Development): Anderson, R.L., 1970, History of the Sunshine mine: Kellogg, Idaho, Sunshine Mining Co., 3 p.

Reference (Commodity): Anderson, R.J., 1940, Microscopic features of ore from the Sunshine mine: Economic Geology, v. 35, p. 659-667.

Reference (Geology): Wavra, C.S., and Bond, W.D., 1994, Evidence from the Sunshine mine for dip-slip movement during Coeur d'Alene district mineralization: Economic Geology, v. 89, p. 515-527.

Reference (Geology): Tibbs, N.H., 1972, Wall rock geochemistry of the Chester vein, Sunshine mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Rolla, University of Missouri, PhD dissertation, 120 p.

Reference (Production): Sunshine Mining Co., 1926-2001, Annual report to stockholders.

Reference (Production): Sunshine Mining Co., 1973-2001, SEC Form 10K

Reference (Development): Shenon, P.J., and McConnel, R.H., 1939, The silver belt of the Coeur d'Alene district, Idaho: Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology Pamphlet 50, 8 p.

Reference (Deposit): Rasor, C.A., 1934, Silver mineralization at the Sunshine mine, Coeur d'Alene district, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, MS thesis, 17 p.

Reference (Commodity): Sheikh, A.M., 1976, Mineralogical studies of the Sunshine mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, PhD dissertation, 164 p.

Reference (Commodity): Kerr, P.F., and Robinson, R.F., 1953, Uranium mineralization in the Sunshine mine, Idaho: Mining Engineering, v. 5, p. 495-512.

Reference (Development): Julihn, C.E., and Horton, F.W., 1936, Mineral industries survey of the United States; Idaho, Shoshone County, Coeur d'Alene district; The silver belt and the Sunshine mine of the Coeur d'Alene district: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 6878, 16 p.

Reference (Geology): Husman, J.R., 1989, Structural geology of the Sunshine mine with special emphasis on the formation of the "Hook area" veins, Coeur d'Alene mining district, Shoshone County, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, MS thesis, 71 p.

Reference (Geology): Eaton, G.F., Criss, R.E., Fleck, R.J., Bond, W.D., Cleland, R.W., and Wavra, C.S., 1995, Oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotope geochemistry of the Sunshine Mine, Coeur d'Alene mining district, Idaho: Economic Geology, v. 90, p. 2274-2286.

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