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Alaska Lead and Silver

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Lead, Zinc, Cadmium, 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. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  10. Mining district
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10307659
Record type Site
Current site name Alaska Lead and Silver
Alternate or previous names A.L.S.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -131.47277, 55.38674 (WGS84)
Relative position The Alaska Lead and Silver mine is 125 feet above sea level, a few hundred feet inland from George Inlet, and about 0.3 mile north of the mouth of Beaver Falls Creek. The site is in section 8, T. 75 S., R. 92 E., of the Copper River Meridian. It corresponds to loc. 79 in Elliott and others (1978), and to loc. 295 in Maas and others (1995). The location is accurate within a few hundred feet.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Ketchikan Gateway(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Ketchikan B-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Ketchikan SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ketchikan(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Ketchikan(hydrologic unit)

Southern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Cape Fox Village Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Tongass National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Lead Primary
Zinc Critical Primary
Cadmium Secondary
Copper Secondary

Materials information

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

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Nearby scientific data

(1) -131.47277, 55.38674
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rocks in this part of Revillagigedo Island are marine, pelitic phyllite and schist that are intruded by Cretaceous stocks, sills, and dikes of feldspar-porphyritic granodiorite, and by a stock and probably related plugs of Tertiary gabbro (Berg and others, 1988). The strata and some of the granodiorite were regionally metamorphosed to greenschist grade in Late Cretaceous time. These regionally metamorphosed rocks subsequently were locally contact metamorphosed to hornblende hornfels near the contacts of Cretaceous granodiorite plutons that were emplaced after the regional metamorphism, and then more widely remetamorposed to hornblende hornfels near the contacts of the Tertiary gabbro. The premetamorphic age range of the pelitic strata is uncertain. Berg and others (1988) assign them a Mesozoic or (Late) Paleozoic age; Brew and Ford (1998) and Crawford and others (in press) assign them to the Gravina belt, of Late Jurassic or Cretaceous age. The Alaska Lead and Silver deposit consists of a sulfide-bearing quartz fissure vein in hornfelsed biotite schist (Maas and others, 1995, p. 203 and figs. 52, 53). The vein is up to three feet thick and contains 1-4% combined sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, and pyrite. It strikes NE and dips 73 SE, and has been traced along strike for about 300 feet. The deposit was discovered in 1967. By 1968, the operators had extended drifts in two separate adits (37 and 260 feet long), stoped 88 feet along the vein, constructed a flotation mill at the beach, and mined about 500 metric tons of ore of unknown grade. Samples along about 210 feet of the vein contained a weighted average of 21.6 ppm Ag, 685 ppm Pb, and 2731 ppm Zn across an average width of two feet (Maas and others, 1995, p. 209). A high-grade sample of this vein contained 63.1 ppm Ag, 0.36% Pb, and 0.29% Zn across three feet. Some of the samples also contained a significant amount of Cd.
  • Age = the vein is Late Cretaceous or Tertiary, assuming that it cuts the foliation of the schist hostrock.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer

Mining district

District name Ketchikan

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = About 500 metric tons of ore of unknown grade was mined in 1967 and 1968.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The deposit was discovered in 1967. By 1968, the operators had extended drifts in two separate adits (37 and 260 feet long), stoped 88 feet along the vein, and constructed a flotation mill at the beach. Samples along about 210 feet of the vein contained a weighted average of 21.6 ppm Ag, 685 ppm Pb, and 2731 ppm Zn across an average width of two feet (Maas and others, 1995, p. 209). A high-grade sample of this vein contained 63.1 ppm Ag, 0.36% Pb, and 0.29% Zn across three feet. Some of the samples also contained a significant amount of Cd.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Maas and others, 1995

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 03-JUL-99 H.C. Berg U.S. Geological Survey

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.