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Elmes

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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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. Alteration
  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 10097551
MRDS ID A015284
Record type Site
Current site name Elmes
Alternate or previous names Ethel, Nickaloff
Related records 10112362

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -147.97295, 64.88577 (WGS84)
Relative position The Elmes mine is located in the SE1/4NW1/4 sec. 28, T. 1 N., R. 2 W., Fairbanks Meridian. The Elmes mill was on the south side of Happy Creek at an elevation of about 900 feet. It is about 2.5 miles east-northeast of the top of Ester Dome and 0.5 mile southeast of the junction of Ester Dome and Saint Patrick roads. The mine is locality 20 of Cobb (1972 [MF 410]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Fairbanks D-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Big Delta NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Fairbanks(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) All of the lode material was highly oxidized (Wimmler, 1926 [ATDM PE 58-2]).

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist > Mica Schist

Nearby scientific data

(1) -147.97295, 64.88577
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Exploratory work began in 1926 on the Elmes gold-quartz veins which strike N. 25-30 E. (Wimmler, 1926 [ATDM PE 58-2]; Smith, 1929; Hill, 1933, p. 150). Wimmler described the lode as having a width of 5 to 7 feet; it consists of quartz, mica schist and clay, and has fairly well defined schist walls. The quartz, which contains arsenopyrite, pyrite, and stibnite, generally holds to the footwall portion of the lode and ranges from a few inches to 2.5 feet in width. The higher grade ore is confined to the quartz and gold is occasionally visible in some specimens (Wimmler, 1926 [ATDM PE 58-2]). The clay and schist also carry some gold. The highest assay obtained from quartz ore from these early workings was $142.00 of gold per ton (about 6.89 ounces of gold per ton) (Wimmler, 1926 [ATDM PE 58-2]). It was estimated that main ore shoot that was mined between the two shafts on the property averaged $30 to $40 in gold per ton (1.46 to 1.94 ounces of gold per ton). Production began in 1928, was also reported from 1937 to 1939, and possibly took place in 1940 (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-662, p. 37]).? the Elmes vein is the lateral equivalent of the Ethel shear zone, discovered by TriCon Mining, Inc., during exploration and development work of the Grant mine (FB058) in 1987 (Bundtzen and others, 1988, p. 30-31). One rotary drill hole intersected a 100-foot zone that assayed 0.12 ounce of gold per ton, and another cut a 35-foot section that averaged 0.18 ounce of gold per ton. Drilling indicated a strike length of 250 feet, an average width of 30 feet, and an average grade of 0.16 ounce of gold per ton. The Ethel shear zone consists of gray schist with disseminated sulfides, including lead-antimony sulfosalts and free gold (Bundtzen and others, 1988, p. 31).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairbanks

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Production at the Elmes mill began in 1928, was also reported from 1937 to 1939, and possibly took place in 1940 (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-662, p. 37]). In the late 1980's, with the development of the Grant gold mine (FB058), the ore from the Elmes vein and Ethel shear zone was sent to the Grant mill (Green and others, 1989, p. 38).

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Silverado Gold Mines, Ltd., reported a possible resource of 18,000 ounces of gold at the Ethel-Elmes property (Silverado Gold Mines, Ltd., Ester Dome project web site, www.silverado.com, February 17, 2000).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = In 1926, the Elmes lode had been traced by a series of open cuts for a distance of about 2000 feet (Wimmler, 1926 [ATDMPE 58-2]). The main underground workings were done on the Principal claim where two shafts 350 feet apart were sunk on the lode (Wimmler, 1926 [ADTM PE 58-2]). Shaft No. 1 was 110 feet deep, and two 10-foot drifts were driven at the bottom. Shaft No. 2 was 66 feet deep; at the 41-foot level, one drift was driven 21 feet to the south, and another drift was driven 23 feet to the north. The Elmes vein is the lateral equivalent of the Ethel shear zone, discovered by TriCon Mining, Inc., during exploration and development work of the Grant mine (FB058) in 1987 (Bundtzen and others, 1988, p. 30-31). In 1990, American Copper and Nickel Company drilled 17,434 feet of core in the O'Dea vein system and on the Ethel vein system (Swainbank and others, 1991).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Wimmler, 1926 (ATDM PE 58-2)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Schist-hosted gold-quartz vein

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 31-JUL-2001 J.R. Guidetti Schaefer Avalon Development Corporation
Reporter 31-JUL-2001 C.J. Freeman Avalon Development Corporation

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.