Fish Creek; Olympia Extension; Last Chance; Single Rose; Mountain View; Summit; Climax Mine, Hyder Mining District, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Fish Creek; Olympia Extension; Last Chance; Single Rose; Mountain View; Summit; Climax Mine	Mine
Hyder Mining District	Mining District
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

This site comprises an extensive group of claims, most of which are to the south in the Ketchikan quadrangle. Claims wholly or mostly in the Bradfield Canal quadrangle are Olympia Extension (Last Chance), Single Rose, Mountain View, Summit, and Climax. Some early reports describe the Last Chance (formerly Olympia Extension) separately. The Liberty Group (Byers and Sainsbury, 1956) covers several former Fish Creek area claims.
Location: This site, the principal focus of a large area of properties and claims, is at the eastern edge of Section 2 at an elevation of about 2600 feet on the west side of Skookum Creek (Elliott and Koch, 1981, p. 19, loc. 78). This location, which applies principally to the main mine workings, is accurate within about 0.1 mile. Also see Additional Comments field, below
Geology: The country rocks in the area of this site are pelitic metasedimentary and subordinate andesitic (greenstone) metavolcanic strata of the Jurassic or older Mesozoic Hazelton Group; the Triassic Texas Creek Granodiorite, which underlies and locally intrudes the Hazelton; the Eocene Hyder Quartz Monzonite, which intrudes the Hazelton and Texas Creek rocks; and still-younger Tertiary lamprophyre dikes, which cut all the other rocks (Smith, 1973, 1977; Koch, 1996). The deposit (Chapin, 1916, p. 98-99; Westgate, 1921, p. 128; Buddington, 1925, p. 77-78; 1929, p. 43, 68-71; Byers and Sainsbury, 1956, p. 138; Cobb, 1978, p. 29-30, Elliott and Koch, 1981, loc. 77) is at the contact of Texas Creek Granodiorite and Hazelton greenstone, graywacke, and slate, and consists of mineralized quartz veins, mostly within the granodiorite. A quartz-barite-ankerite fissure vein as much as 10 feet thick (average 3 feet) occurs on the Olympia Extension claim. It contains galena, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and sphalerite; locally the tetrahedrite forms stringers up to 2 inches thick. About 64 tons of sorted ore that were shipped from this property in the 1920's reportedly averaged $90 per ton (1920's prices), but the total production, if any, is not publicly known. Assays of samples taken across this vein showed a trace to 1.42 oz Au and 3.0-94.8 oz Ag per ton, 2.5-14.5% Pb, and a trace to 2% Cu. On the Summit claim, a mass several feet thick and at least 10 feet long of almost solid pyrrhotite is in pyritized greenstone. Small amounts of pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, and quartz accompany the massive pyrrhotite, samples of which assayed 0.36 oz Au and 4 oz Ag per ton, and 2% Cu. Byers and Sainsbury (1956, p. 138 and plate 13) report sparse scheelite in quartz veins on the Fish Creek claims at the southern edge of the Bradfield Canal quadrangle. Maas and others (1995, p. 254) suggest that the age of the deposit in Texas Creek Granodiorite on the Olympia Nos. 8 and 9 claims (p. 260 and fig. 66) is Eocene, based on similarities in mineralogy, structural setting, and hostrock, to lead-isotope-dated Eocene deposits nearby in the Hyder district (see, for example, BC086). If so, the age of the deposit is contemporaneous with emplacement of the Hyder Quartz Monzonite.
Workings: Mine developed by about 800 feet of underground workings, probably mostly in the 1920's. Early assays of samples taken across the vein on the Olympia Extension claim showed a trace to 1.42 oz Au and 3.0-94.8 oz Ag per ton, 2.5-14.5% Pb, and a trace to 2% Cu. Samples of massive sulfide on the Summit claim assayed 0.36 oz Au and 4 oz Ag per ton, and 2% Cu.
Age: Maas and others (1995, p. 254) suggest that the age of the deposit in Texas Creek Granodiorite on the Olympia Nos. 8 and 9 claims (p. 260, and fig. 66) is Eocene, based on similarities in mineralogy, structural setting, and hostrock, to lead-isotope-dated Eocene deposits nearby in the Hyder district (see, for example, BC086). If so, the age of the deposit is contemporaneous with emplacement of the Hyder Quartz Monzonite.
Alteration: Greenstone country rock is impregnated with sulfide minerals.
Production: About 64 tons of sorted ore that were shipped from this property in the 1920's reportedly averaged $90 per ton (1920's prices), but the total production, if any, is not publicly known.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, W, Zn; (Minor) - Barite
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Polymetallic veins

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BC078

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References