Jones & Boyle Prospect, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Jones & Boyle Prospect	Prospect
Koyukuk Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: This prospect is on the north bank of lower Smith Creek, about 0.4 mile north-northeast of the center of section 33, T. 30 N., R. 12 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The prospect is about 0.1 mile south-southwest of the mine symbol on the Wiseman B-1 topographic map. The location is accurate.
Geology: This prospect consists of a series of quartz-stibnite veins, 1 to 40 feet apart, that were exposed during placer mining sometime prior to 1943. The veins apparently were still exposed in the old placer cuts as late as 1974. Ebbley and Wright (1948) describe six, parallel quartz-stibnite veins, 3-4 inches wide; the stibnite is concentrated in the central 1.5 to 2 inches of the veins. W. W. Patton Jr.'s, U. S. Geological Survey field notes in 1953 indicate that the veins are as wide as 1 foot and that their stibnite core is as wide as 4 inches (Bliss and others, 1988). The veins are in joints and locally are offset by cross faults (Bliss and others, 1988). According to Eden (2000) the rocks in the area are Devonian black metasiltstone, phyllite and schists. Six samples of vein material contain 0.02 to 0.06 ppm gold and from less than 0.1 ppm to 0.2 ppm silver (Bliss and others, 1988). Two samples of bedrock near the veins contain 0.03 ppm gold. Samples across the veins contained 33.8% to 44.5% antimony (Mulligan, 1974). Several more recent samples of selected quartz-vein material contain 151 to 1,716 ppb gold (Kurtak and others, 1999). Five tons of stibnite ore was recovered from sluice operations on upper Smith Creek and shipped during World War II (Joesting, 1943). Joesting attributed at least some of this production to the Jones & Boyle prospect, but his description of its source as upper Smith Creek contradicts the location of the Jones & Boyle prospect described by Ebbley & Wright (1948). More likely, the source of the stibnite was the unnamed prospect farther up Smith Creek Valley (WI130), or all three of the stibnite prospects located along Smith Creek (WI114, WI115 and WI130).
Workings: The veins were exposed by placer operations, but apparently nothing more than sampling has been done on the veins. However, see the Production field for possible stibnite production.
Alteration: The phyllite wallrock adjacent to the veins is bleached (Bliss and others, 1988).
Production: Five tons of stibnite ore was recovered from sluice operations on upper Smith Creek and shipped during World War II (Joesting, 1943). Joesting attributed at least some of this production to the Jones & Boyle prospect, but his description of its source as upper Smith Creek contradicts the location of the Jones & Boyle prospect described by Ebbley & Wright (1948). More likely, the source of the stibnite was the unnamed prospect farther up Smith Creek Valley (WI130), or all three of the stibnite prospects located along Smith Creek (WI114, WI115 and WI130).

Commodities (Major) - Au, Sb
Development Status: Undetermined.
Deposit Model: Sb-Au vein (Nokleberg and others, 1987), as adapted from a simple Sb deposit mo

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	WI114

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References