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Hirst-Chichagof Gold Mine

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Copper
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Host and associated rocks
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Ore body information
  11. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Ownership information
  16. Production statistics
  17. Reserves and resources
  18. Workings at the site
  19. Links to other databases
  20. Bibliographic references
  21. General comments
  22. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10002348
MRDS ID A013265
Record type Site
Current site name Hirst-Chichagof Gold Mine
Alternate or previous names Hirst-Chichagof Mining Co.-12 Patented Lode Claims
Related records 10161413

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -136.10592, 57.68471 (WGS84)
Elevation 30
Relative position 0.1 MI. S OF KIMSHAN COVE

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Sitka(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Sitka C-7(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Sitka NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Sitka W OE(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)

West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness(Wilderness)

Wilderness FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Comments on the location information

  • USGS B 929, PL. 1; USGS MF-467, LOC. 27; USGS MF-1476-B, LOC. 14. LOCATION IS AT PORTAL OF MAIN LEVEL TUNNEL. LAND STATUS VALUE CALCULATED 6-94 USING GIS OVERLAY ANALYSIS WITH BLM 1:2,500,000 SCALE OWNERSHIP STATUS MAP (1991).

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Lead Tertiary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Copper Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Analytical data

Result ORE MINED AT AVERAGE GRADE OF 1.3 OZ/TON AU-USGS B 929, P. 80 (IN 1938 ONLY)

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
    Rock unit name Sitka Graywacke;
    Rock description Sitka Graywacke;

Nearby scientific data

(1) -136.10592, 57.68471
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Hirst Fault Zone Trends N 28 Degrees W, Dips 72 Degrees Sw
Type of structure Local
Structure description Graywacke Bedding Strikes N 65 Degrees W, Dips 64 Degrees Sw

Ore body information

  • General form LENS, RIBBON
    Strike N 28 DEGREES W
    Dip 72 DEGREES SW
    Thickness 670.56M
    Length 1524M
    Width 152.4M
    Depth to bottom 670.56M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Along Hirst Fault Zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • HIRST FAULT ZONE CUTS GRAYWACKE AT LARGE ANGLE TO BEDDING, MANY FAULTS SPLIT OFF MAIN FAULT PARALLEL TO FAULT AND PARALLEL TO BEDDING.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1905
Discoverer Peter Romanoff, Andrew Dixon, Bernard Hirst
Year of first production 1922
Year of last production 1943

Mining district

District name Chichagof

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Queenstake Resources
    First year 1986
  • Type Owner
    Owner Queenstake Resources; Ventures Trident Ltd.
    First year 1986

Production statistics

  • Year 1932
    Accuracy Accurate
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Gold Gold 37g/mt
  • Year 1943
    Period 1922-1943
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Gold Gold 28g/mt
  • Year 1943
    Period 1922-1943
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Minor Silver Silver 7g/mt
    Major Gold Gold 26g/mt

Comments on the production information

  • SOME PB AND CU MAY HAVE BEEN RECOVERED AT SMELTER.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1982
    Total resources 31000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Gold Au 0.25 g/mt Gold Major 1982
    Silver Ag 0.06 g/mt Silver Minor 1982

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • E1: UNMINED AREA EXPLORED BY UNDERGROUND WORKINGS (MINING WIDTH 3-10 FT.). E2: HIRST TAILINGS. BOTH E1 AND E2 ARE INFERRED MARGINAL RES
  • INFERRED RESERVES HAVING MINING WIDTH EXCEEDING 3 FT. - CONTINUATION OF KAY ORE SHOOT (MINING STOPPED IN 1943.
  • USGS MF-1476-B, P. 6

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Length 914.4M
    Overall depth 670.56M
    Overall length 1524M
    Overall width 609.6M

Comments on the workings information

  • WORKINGS CONSIST OF 426 FT. TUNNEL AT 435 FT. EL., 898 FT. TUNNEL AT 285 FT. EL., MAIN LEVEL TUNNEL ABOUT 5,000 FT. LONG AT ABOUT 100 FT. EL.. 10 LEVELS DOWN TO 1700 FT. BELOW MAIN LEVEL. AT LEAST 3 SHAFTS DRIVEN. NO. 3 SHAFT EXTENDS DOWN TO 1,700 FT. LEVEL. MILL FOR MINE IS BETWEEN PORTAL AND BEACH, AND HANDLED 35-0 TONS OF ORE PER DAY. ELECTRIC POWER FOR MINE PURCHASED FROM CHICHAGOF MINING CO. AND OBTAINED FROM AUXILIARY DIESEL POWER PLANT. ALMOST ALL OLD WORKINGS OF MINE CURRENTLY INACCESSABLE (AS OF 1982). LESS THAN 10% OF AREA EXPLORED BY WORKINGS WAS MINED.

Comments on development

  • FIRST CLAIM STAKED IN 1905. HIRST-CHICHAGOF MINING CO. FORMED IN 1918, OBTAINED 12 CLAIMS IN 1919. 3 TUNNELS STARTED IN 1920, NO. 1 ORE SHOOT REACHED IN 1921, MILL BEGAN PRODUCING IN 1922. MINE PRODUCED EVERY YEAR FROM 1922-1943, UNTIL SUSPENDED BECAUSE OF WORLD WAR II. 19 CLAIMS AQUIRED FROM ENSERCH, INC. BY QUEENSTAKE RESOURCES IN 1986. QUEENSTAKE ALSO OWNS CHICHAGOF MINE. CONSIDERABLE EXPLORATION DONE IN RECENT YEARS BY ENSERCH, INC. AND QUEENSTAKE RESOURCES, AND MINE MAY BE REOPENED IN COMBINATION WITH CHICHAGOF MINE.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    USGS B 929, P. 60, 65-71, 78-81, 101-118, PLATES 1, 3, 18, 19 (1941)

  • Deposit

    USGS MF-1476-B, P. 5, 6, LOC. 14 (1982)

  • Deposit

    USGS OF 78-450, P. 58-61 (1978)

  • Deposit

    USGS MF-467, LOC. 27 (1972)

  • Other Database

    BAG-B-929-PL-1

  • Production

    D1-G9: USGS B 929, P. 104. G10-G12: USGS MF-1476-B, P. 5. G13: NORTHERN MINER, 1986, V. 72, NO. 1, P. 12

  • Reserve-Resource

    USGS MF-1476-B, P. 5, 6

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit HIRST FAULT ZONE, AVERAGE STRIKE N 28 DEGREES W, AVERAGE DIP 72 DEGREES SW, CUTS SHALEY TO MASSIVE GRAYWACKE WITH AVERAGE STRIKE OF N 65 DEGREES W AND DIP OF 65 DEGREES SW. FAULT ZONE IS UP TO 50 FT. WIDE, AND CONTAINS MANY SPLITS, BOTH PARALLEL TO FAULT AND TO BEDDING. 4 MAJOR ORE SHOOTS IN HIRST FAULT AND SPLITS. DIKE ROCKS FORM FOOTWALL ALONG MUCH OF FAULT, BUT MISSING FROM HANGING WALL. ORE SHOOTS ARE COMPOSED OF QUARTZ BODIES, BOTH RIBBON AND MASSIVE QUARTZ, UP TO 10 FT. THICK, MOST 2-4 FT. THICK. LESS THAN 3% OF ORE ARE METALLIC MINERALS, INCLUDING PYRITE, ARSENOPYRITE, SPHALERITE, GALENA, CHALCOPYRITE, AND FREE GOLD FOUND IN VEIN QUARTZ, IN LAYERS OF WALL ROCK BETWEEN QUARTZ RIBBONS, AND LOCALLY IN WALL ROCK NEAR VEINS. GOLD USUALLY NOT VISIBLE, BUT OCCASIONALLY SMALL SPECKS ARE SEEN. ORE SHOOTS ARE LOCALIZED ALONG ALONG INTERSECTIONS OF FAULTS AND BEDDING PLANES AND IN WARP IN MAIN FAULT. ONLY NO. 1 ORE SHOOT REACHES SURFACE, AND GRADE THERE IS NOT MINEABLE. ORE
Deposit SHOOTS NOS. 1, 2, AND 3 ARE FOUND ABOVE THE 300 FT. LEVEL IN THE MINE, AND ARE CUT OFF BY LARGE WARP IN HIRST FAULT WHICH EXTENDS FROM 180-700 FT. LEVELS. MAIN ORE SHOOT IS FOUND FROM 180-1700 FT. LEVELS. ANOTHER ORE SHOOT, THE KAY ORE SHOOT, IS FOUND IN SPLIT FAULT FOR 1,600 FT. FROM MAIN FAULT ON MAIN LEVEL OF MINE. ORE ABOVE MAIN LEVEL OF MINE MINED OUT BEFORE 1938.
Deposit QUEENSTAKE RESOURCES PLANS TO REOPEN HIRST-CHICHAGOF WORKINGS AND DEWATER AND TEST KAY ORE SHOOT. SINCE MAIN LEVELS OF HIRST-CHICHAGOF AND CHICHAGOFF MINES ARE ONLY 3,600 FT. APART, QUEENSTAKE IS CONSIDERING CONNECTING THE TWO MINES FOR JOINT DEVELOPMENT OF UNEXPLORED ORE RESERVES. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUN-1987 Leonard, Kenneth R. (Huber, Donald F.) U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 14-SEP-1994 Waller, Nichelle (Mosier, Dan) U.S. Geological Survey PARSED OUT HOST ROCK AND ASSOCIATED ROCK TYPES, AGES, UNIT NAMES, AND UNIT AGES.

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

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