Silver Queen Mine, Juneau Mining District, Juneau, Alaska, USAi
Regional Level Types | |
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Silver Queen Mine | Mine |
Juneau Mining District | Mining District |
Juneau | City Borough |
Alaska | State |
USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
58° 16' 55'' North , 134° 17' 56'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
Place | Population | Distance |
---|---|---|
Juneau | 32,756 (2017) | 7.4km |
Mindat Locality ID:
199954
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:199954:2
GUID (UUID V4):
b1563d48-30da-40a4-a6d3-e254dc5a5610
Location: The Silver Queen Mine is at an elevation of approximately 1,100 feet on the north side of Sheep Creek. It is 1/4 mile northeast of Portal Camp and 3/4 mile south of Sheep Mountain, near the center of the S1/2 section 28, T. 41 S., R. 68 E. of the Copper River Meridian. The location is accurate.
Geology: The Silver Queen Mine was discovered in 1887 and operated intermittently until 1911 (Buddington and Chapin, 1929). It has 2,600 feet of workings, 500 feet of connecting raises, and at least 4 adits. The Silver Queen and geologically similar Glacier mines (JU173) were connected in 1903 (Spencer, 1906). By 1891, the combined production from the two mines was 19,300 ounces of silver and 41 ounces of gold. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimated that they produced nearly $500,000 worth of silver and gold at 1903 prices (Redman and others, 1989). The Silver Queen veins were mined for 900 feet along strike and over a 400-foot vertical extent. The Silver Queen deposit consists of several boudinaged, concordant, quartz-calcite veins along the contact between black phyllite and green phyllite (Redman and others, 1989). The veins vary from single veins that average about 2 feet thick, to stringers. They contain arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, native gold, native silver, pyrargyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, tetrahedrite and rare stibnite. The U.S. Bureau of Mines samples of the veins contained up to 1,076 ppm silver, 14.3 ppm gold, 0.62 percent lead, 0.68 percent zinc, and 0.10 percent copper. One sample contained 509 ppm tungsten (Redman and others, 1989). This mine is in the Juneau Gold Belt, which consists of more than 200 gold-quartz-vein deposits that have produced nearly 7 million ounces of gold. These gold-bearing mesothermal quartz vein systems form a zone 160 km long by 5 to 8 km wide along the western margin of the Coast Mountains. The vein systems are in or near shear zones adjacent to west-verging, mid-Cretaceous thrust faults. The veins are hosted by diverse, variably metamorphosed, sedimentary, volcanic, and intrusive rocks. From the Coast Mountains batholith westward, the host rocks include mixed metasedimentary and metavolcanic sequences of Carboniferous and older, Permian and Triassic, and Jurassic-Cretaceous age. The sequences are juxtaposed along mid-Cretaceous thrust faults (Miller and others, 1994). The sequences are intruded by mid-Cretaceous to middle Eocene plutons, mainly diorite, tonalite, granodiorite, quartz monzonite, and granite. Sheetlike tonalite plutons emplaced just east of the Juneau Gold Belt and undeformed granite and granodiorite bodies that are emplaced farther to the east are between 55 and 48 Ma (Gehrels and others, 1991). The structural grain of the belt is defined by northwest-striking, moderately to steeply northeast-dipping, penetrative foliation that developed between Cretaceous and Eocene time (Miller and others, 1994). The majority of the veins in the Juneau Gold Belt strike northwest. Isotopic dates indicate that the auriferous veins in the Juneau Gold Belt formed between 56 and 55 Ma (Miller and others, 1994; Goldfarb and others, 1997).
Workings: The Silver Queen Mine was discovered in 1887 and operated intermittently until 1911 (Buddington and Chapin, 1929). It has 2,600 feet of workings, 500 feet of connecting raises, and at least 4 adits. The Silver Queen and geologically similar Glacier mines (JU173) were connected in 1903 (Spencer, 1906).
Age: Isotopic dates indicate that the auriferous veins in the Juneau Gold Belt formed between 56 and 55 Ma (Miller and others, 1994; Goldfarb and others, 1997).
Production: By 1891, the combined production from the Silver Queen and Glacier Mines was 19,300 ounces of silver and 41 ounces of gold. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimated that they produced nearly $500,000 worth of silver and gold at 1903 prices (Redman and others, 1989). The Silver Queen veins were mined for 900 feet along strike and over a vertical extent of 400 feet.
Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au; (Minor) - Cu, Pb, W, Zn
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
12 valid minerals.
Detailed Mineral List:
ⓘ Arsenopyrite Formula: FeAsS |
ⓘ Calcite Formula: CaCO3 |
ⓘ Chalcopyrite Formula: CuFeS2 |
ⓘ Galena Formula: PbS |
ⓘ Gold Formula: Au |
ⓘ Pyrargyrite Formula: Ag3SbS3 |
ⓘ Pyrite Formula: FeS2 |
ⓘ Pyrrhotite Formula: Fe1-xS |
ⓘ Quartz Formula: SiO2 |
ⓘ Silver Formula: Ag |
ⓘ Sphalerite Formula: ZnS |
ⓘ Stibnite Formula: Sb2S3 |
ⓘ 'Tetrahedrite Subgroup' Formula: Cu6(Cu4C2+2)Sb4S12S |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
Group 1 - Elements | |||
---|---|---|---|
ⓘ | Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
ⓘ | Silver | 1.AA.05 | Ag |
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
ⓘ | Sphalerite | 2.CB.05a | ZnS |
ⓘ | Chalcopyrite | 2.CB.10a | CuFeS2 |
ⓘ | Pyrrhotite | 2.CC.10 | Fe1-xS |
ⓘ | Galena | 2.CD.10 | PbS |
ⓘ | Stibnite | 2.DB.05 | Sb2S3 |
ⓘ | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
ⓘ | Arsenopyrite | 2.EB.20 | FeAsS |
ⓘ | Pyrargyrite | 2.GA.05 | Ag3SbS3 |
ⓘ | 'Tetrahedrite Subgroup' | 2.GB.05 | Cu6(Cu4C2+2)Sb4S12S |
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
ⓘ | Quartz | 4.DA.05 | SiO2 |
Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates | |||
ⓘ | Calcite | 5.AB.05 | CaCO3 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
C | Carbon | |
---|---|---|
C | ⓘ Calcite | CaCO3 |
O | Oxygen | |
O | ⓘ Calcite | CaCO3 |
O | ⓘ Quartz | SiO2 |
Si | Silicon | |
Si | ⓘ Quartz | SiO2 |
S | Sulfur | |
S | ⓘ Arsenopyrite | FeAsS |
S | ⓘ Chalcopyrite | CuFeS2 |
S | ⓘ Galena | PbS |
S | ⓘ Pyrargyrite | Ag3SbS3 |
S | ⓘ Pyrite | FeS2 |
S | ⓘ Pyrrhotite | Fe1-xS |
S | ⓘ Sphalerite | ZnS |
S | ⓘ Stibnite | Sb2S3 |
S | ⓘ Tetrahedrite Subgroup | Cu6(Cu4C22+)Sb4S12S |
Ca | Calcium | |
Ca | ⓘ Calcite | CaCO3 |
Fe | Iron | |
Fe | ⓘ Arsenopyrite | FeAsS |
Fe | ⓘ Chalcopyrite | CuFeS2 |
Fe | ⓘ Pyrite | FeS2 |
Fe | ⓘ Pyrrhotite | Fe1-xS |
Cu | Copper | |
Cu | ⓘ Chalcopyrite | CuFeS2 |
Cu | ⓘ Tetrahedrite Subgroup | Cu6(Cu4C22+)Sb4S12S |
Zn | Zinc | |
Zn | ⓘ Sphalerite | ZnS |
As | Arsenic | |
As | ⓘ Arsenopyrite | FeAsS |
Ag | Silver | |
Ag | ⓘ Pyrargyrite | Ag3SbS3 |
Ag | ⓘ Silver | Ag |
Sb | Antimony | |
Sb | ⓘ Pyrargyrite | Ag3SbS3 |
Sb | ⓘ Stibnite | Sb2S3 |
Sb | ⓘ Tetrahedrite Subgroup | Cu6(Cu4C22+)Sb4S12S |
Au | Gold | |
Au | ⓘ Gold | Au |
Pb | Lead | |
Pb | ⓘ Galena | PbS |
Other Databases
Link to USGS - Alaska: | JU175 |
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