Silver Star

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Gold
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10000289
MRDS ID A010335
Record type Site
Current site name Silver Star

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -133.26189, 56.83974 (WGS84)
Relative position About two miles west of Duncan Peaks, Portage Mountain, on Kupreanof Island. On the northwest side of an unnamed creek that flows into upper Duncan Canal, approximately on the boundary of sections 10 and 15 of T. 58 S., R. 77 E. at an elevation of about 400 feet. The prospect could not be located during USGS work in the area in the early 1980's. The location is based on old descriptions and is accurate only to within about a half mile. Locality 15 of Grybeck, Berg, and Karl (1984).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Wade Hampton(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Petersburg D-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Petersburg N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Petersburg(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Central Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Tongass National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Petersburg Creek-Duncan Salt Chuck Wilderness(Wilderness)

Wilderness FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Magnetite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist

Nearby scientific data

(1) -133.26189, 56.83974

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = As described by Wright and Wright, (1905, p. 60) and Buddington (1923, p. 69), the deposit consists of thin quartz-calcite veins containing chalcopyrite, pyrite, and magnetite. The veins cut pyritic black schist that form bands in gneissoid diorite, slate, and greenstone that have been intruded by diorite and diabase dikes. Samples of the veins continued up to 0.4 ounces of gold per ton and 2 ounces of silver per ton.? As more recently mapping by Brew (1997 [OF 97-156-L]), the rocks in the vicinity consist of Mesozoic semischist and phyllite near a contact with Cretaceous phyllite.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Kupreanof

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Probably none

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Prospect was staked before 1905 and had small amount of exploration prior to 1921. Apparently dormant since; there is no record of recent claim activity and no obvious sign of recent surface activity.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Wright, F.E., and Wright, C.W., 1905, Economic developments in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 259, p. 47-68.

  • Deposit

    Buddington, A.F., 1923, Mineral deposits of the Wrangell district; U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 739, p. 51-75.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Petersburg quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-870, 53 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Petersburg quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-415, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Grybeck, D.J., Berg, H.C., and Karl, S.M., 1984, Map and description of the mineral deposits in the Petersburg and eastern Port Alexander quadrangles: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-837, 86 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Brew, D.A., 1997, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Petersburg D-4 quadrangle, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-156-L, 20 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E. H., 1972, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Petersburg Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-870, 53 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Buddington, 1923

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Gold-quartz vein (?) (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1998 H.C. Berg U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 01-NOV-1998 D.J. Grybeck U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.