Goyne

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

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10000407
MRDS ID A010570
Record type Site
Current site name Goyne
Alternate or previous names Surprise, Bear
Related records 10113085

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -150.49642, 59.51143 (WGS84)
Relative position The Goyne mine is on the west shore of Surprise Bay about 0.6 miles south of the mouth of Palisade Lagoon. A wave-demolished cabin and a tailing dump is all that remains at the mill and campsite. Exploration and development work consisted of two adits, at approximately 25 and 135 feet above sea level, and numerous pits and trenches which trace series of mineralized quartz veins from sea level to the top the ridge. This is Cobb's (1972, MF-397) location 26 and Richter's (1970) location 8. Cobb (1979, OFR 80-87) summarized the relevant references under the name Goyne.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Kenai Peninsula(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Seldovia C-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Seldovia NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Seldovia(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Resurrection River-Frontal Resurrection Bay(hydrologic unit)

Prince William Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Kenai Fjords National Park(National Park)

National Park NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Lead Secondary
Tellurium Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Sylvanite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Borden and others (1991) reported carbonization, sulfidization, sericitization, and silicification of the wall rock adjacent to the veins.

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 Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
    Rock unit name Valdez Group
    Rock description Valdez Group;Valdez Group;

Nearby scientific data

(1) -150.49642, 59.51143

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rock near the lower portal is black slate of the Cretaceous Valdez Group that has been intruded by a Tertiary granodioritic dike (Richter,1970). The dike is very irregular and segmented but overall has a east-west trend and dips 65 to 85S. In hand sample, the dike is a light gray color with a medium equigranular texture. No primary mafic minerals were observed, but abundant chlorite (10 percent volume) occurs in poorly defined patches and scattered interstitial fillings. Veinlets of quartz, zoisite, and potassium feldspar are abundant throughout the dike (Richter, 1970). ? the gold mineralization occurs in quartz veins which in places contain abundant arsenopyrite, with galena and pyrite. Gold mineralization seems to be more associated with galena than arsenopyrite (Pilgrim, 1931). Select high grade samples, taken from the surface at an elevation of about 600 feet, contained 158.16 ounces of gold and 58.92 ounces of silver per ton, and 0.72 percent tellurium as sylvanite (Smith, 1936, p. 31). The veins appear to be confined to the dike or local areas along dike-slate contacts. When veins pass into the slate, they pinch out or split into thin quartz stringers that pinch out. ? In the underground workings, the veins are exposed on both levels and along a raise connecting the two levels. The main vein in the upper adit, is about one-foot-wide and is exposed for 70 feet along strike. It strikes N85E and dips 75S. In the lower adit, the same vein is exposed for 100 feet and has a maximum width of 1.0 foot. Two random channel samples taken across the vein indicate a a fairly high gold content; 200 ppm gold across 0.9 foot in the upper adit and 40 ppm gold across one foot in the lower adit (Richter, 1970).
  • Age = Tertiary; Boden and others (1991) report other veins in the district are about 55 m.y. old.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Homer

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = In 1931, 6,710 pounds of hand selected ore that was shipped to a smelter in Tacoma, Washington produced 4.10 ounces of gold and 1.72 ounces of silver per ton (Pilgrim, 1933).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Two tunnels were driven, and numerous trenches and prospect pits were dug on the property prior to 1934 (Pilgrim, 1933). Since that time the mine appears to have lain idle. The lower tunnel is at an elevation of 25 feet and the upper tunnel at 135 feet elevation. The tunnels are connected by a raise from which a total of 6,710 pounds of hand selected ore was produced. Samples from the lower working contained four ppm gold from a one foot vein and a sample from the stoped vein contained 200 ppm gold (Richter, 1970). A total of 600 feet of workings have been dug on the property.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Richter, 1970

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low-sulfide, Au-quartz vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)
Deposit Other Comments = This mine is within the Kenai Fjords National Park and is closed to mineral entry.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-FEB-99 Jeff A. Huber 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.