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Charles

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Arsenic, Bismuth, Copper, Lead, Antimony, Tellurium, Zinc
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  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 10002968
MRDS ID A015466
Record type Site
Current site name Charles
Related records 10209215

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -147.16406, 65.08857 (WGS84)
Relative position Cobb (1972, MF-413), loc 54; NW1/4 sec. 16, T. 3 N., R. 3 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. This prospect is near the head of Walnut Creek, about 0.5 miles southwest of the summit of Coffee Dome. Accuracy is within 1,500 feet.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Livengood A-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Livengood(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Arsenic Critical Secondary
Bismuth Critical Secondary
Copper Secondary
Lead Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary
Tellurium Critical Secondary
Zinc Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cervantite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite Ore
Scorodite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Higher gold values are more common in rocks containing abundant iron and manganese oxides. Oxidized and leached zones are stained by scorodite and cervantite (Freeman and others, 1998).

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -147.16406, 65.08857
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = By 1911, the prospect had a 40-foot deep shaft on an 18-inch-wide quartz and base metal-bearing shear zone that trended northwest, and dipped 45 NE (Times Publishing Company, 1912; Brooks, 1911). The surface width of the shear was 8 feet. Another shear zone, was traced for 1,500 feet in pits no more than 12 feet deep. One ton of material mined from the Charles prospect in 1911 averaged $25 gold per ton (1.2 ounces of gold per ton) in free milling gold (Times Publishing Company, 1912). The one ton sample was extracted from a high grade portion of the shear which averaged 10 inches in width.? Burand (1968) notes that work had been conducted on a lead-silver prospect in upper Walnut Creek and it is believed this reference was to the Charles prospect. Samples of shear zone quartz collected by Pilkington and others (1969) from the Eleanor claim area on the northwest end of the Charles prospect ranged from 1.95 to 43.5 ppm gold (0.057 to 1.27 ounces of gold per ton). A sample of mineralized schist from this same area contained 1.27 ppm gold (0.037 ounces of gold per ton). ? In 1976 and 1977, prospect owners Richard Griff and James Madonna conducted dozer trenching and drilled three 80-foot holes (L. Katkin, written commun., 1978). Samples contained 0.037 to 1.969 ounces of gold per ton, 0.12 to 57.84 ounces of silver per ton, 0.02 to 15.9% lead, from a trace to 2% antimony, and traces of copper and zinc.? the prospect was remapped and sampled in 1980; the work revealed two sub-parallel, N 60-80 W trending shear zones approximately 800 feet apart (Blakestad, 1980). The lower of these two zones ranged from 2 to 12 feet wide and contained quartz-stockwork shear zones up to several feet thick in the most intensely sheared areas. Gold, stibnite and galena were identified on the lower zone. The upper zone was hosted in mariposite-bearing schist and ankerite-bearing quartz-mica schist with conformable oxidized and leached zones stained by scorodite and cervantite. Scheelite was identified on one siliceous unit in the upper zone. Limited sample results from Blakestad (1980) indicated the prospect has a high lead and silver content.? Reconnaissance-scale soil sampling in the Charles area was conducted in 1997 and expanded in 1998 (Freeman and others, 1998). Trenching was completed in the Charles area subsequent to the 1997 soil sampling program and returned sporadic high-grade gold associated with antimony and arsenic, but did not outline contiguous intervals of significant gold mineralization. Both upper and lower plate lithologies were encountered in trenches and higher gold values are more common in rocks containing abundant iron- and manganese-oxides. Three reverse-circulation holes were drilled in the Charles area during 1998 to target anomalous gold, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and tellurium values in soils. The primary target in this area was the down-dip extension of a flat-lying crushed quartz vein zone exposed in an old trench east of the Charles Shaft. The drill hole intersected crushed quartz of only moderate grades, 0.102 ounces of gold per ton over five feet.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairbanks

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = One ton of material was mined from the Charles prospect in 1911 (Times Publishing Company, 1912).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = By 1911 the prospect had a 40 foot deep shaft (Times Publishing Company, 1912). In 1976 and 1977, prospect owners Richard Griff and James Madonna conducted dozer trenching and drilled three 80-foot holes (Katkin, written commun., 1978). The prospect was remapped and sampled in 1980 (Blakestad, 1980). Reconnaissance scale soil sampling in the Charles area was conducted in 1997 and expanded in 1998 (Freeman and others, 1998). Three reverse circulation holes were drilled in the Charles area during 1998 (Freeman and others, 1998).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., 1912, The Alaska mining industry in 1911, in Brooks, A.H., and others, Mineral resources of Alaska, 1911: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 520, p. 17-44.

  • Deposit

    Times Publishing Company, 1912, Tanana Magazine, Quartz Edition: Fairbanks, Alaska 76 p.

  • Deposit

    Prindle, L.M., and Katz, F.J., 1913, Detailed description of the Fairbanks district, in Prindle, L. M., A geologic reconnaissance of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 525, p. 59-152.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1913, Lode mining near Fairbanks, in Prindle, L.M., A geologic reconnaissance of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 525, p. 153-216.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1913, Lode mining near Fairbanks: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 542-F, p. 137-202.

  • Deposit

    Chapman, R.M., and Foster, R.L., 1969, Lode mines and prospects in the Fairbanks district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 625-D, 25 p., 1 plate.

  • Deposit

    Pilkington, H.D., Forbes, R. B., Hawkins, D.B., Chapman, R.M., and Swainbank, R.C., 1969, Preliminary investigation of gold mineralization in the Pedro Dome - Cleary Summit area, Fairbanks District, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 69-206, 47 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-633, 72 p.

  • Deposit

    Blakestad, R.A., 1980, Coffee Dome Prospect-a preliminary report: Mankomen Exploration Inc., 15 p.

  • Deposit

    Freeman, C.J., 1992, 1991 Golden Summit project final report, volume 2: Historical summary of lode mines and prospects in the Golden Summit project area, Alaska: Avalon Development Corp., 159 p. (Report held by Freegold Recovery Inc. USA, Vancouver, British Columbia.)

  • Deposit

    Freeman, C.J., Flanigan, B., Currey, J., Wolf, K., and Wietchy D.W., 1998, 1997 and 1998 Final report, Golden Summit project, Fairbanks mining district, Alaska: Avalon Development Corp. Geologic Report GS98-1, 37 p. (Report held by Freegold Recovery Inc. USA, Vancouver, British Columbia.)

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., 1911, The mining industry in 1910, in Brooks, A.K., and others, Mineral resources of Alaska, report on progress of investigations in 1910: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480-B p. 21-43.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Livengood quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-413, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Livengood quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-819, 241 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Freeman, 1992

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c).
Deposit Other Comments = the first reference to this prospect indicates it was staked as the Sunnyside claim by Clarence Crites and Henry Feldman prior to 1911 (Times Publishing Company, 1912).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 04-MAY-1999 C.J. Freeman Avalon Development Corporation
Reporter 04-MAY-1999 J.R. Guidetti Schaefer 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.