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).
Location: 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.
Geology: 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.
Workings: 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).
Alteration: 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).
Production: One ton of material was mined from the Charles prospect in 1911 (Times Publishing Company, 1912).

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Ag, As, Bi, Cu, Pb, Sb, Te, Zn
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Polymetallic vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c).

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Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

6 valid minerals.