Copper Queen Mine, Prince William Sound Mining District, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Copper Queen Mine	Mine
Prince William Sound Mining District	Mining District
Valdez-Cordova Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Internal reports by Kennecott Copper Corporation in 1924 stated that the Patton Mining Company, whicht ran the property in 1917, was more or less a promotion scheme (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986). The mine is also known as the Happy Jack Copper Mining and Development Company.
Location: The mine is located on the south side of Hogan Bay, 2.5 miles north of Point Helen between elevations of 40 and 450 feet. It is in the N1/2 section 17, T. 1 N., R. 10 E., of the Seward Meridian. This is location 48 of Condon and Cass (1958), location 120 of Cobb and Richter (1972), location 253 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), location 253 of Cobb and Tysdal (1980), and location S-26 of Jansons and others (1984). This location is accurate to within 300 feet.
Geology: The host rock at the Copper Queen mine is graywacke and greenstone of the Orca Group of early Teriary age (Nelson and others, 1985). Bedrock strikes generally northwest and dips 42SW (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986). Two types of sulfide mineralization occur at the mine. The first is a 1- to 4-foot-wide quartz vein that contains chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, and sphalerite. The other is a brecciated massive sulfide in sheared graywacke and greenstone containing pyrrhotite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite (Grant and Higgins, 1909). The shear zone contained a fault gouge and breccia unit that is from 3 inches to 1 foot wide. Sulfides within the zone consist of massive pyrite, 5 to 10 percent chalcopyrite, 1 to 2 percent covellite, and traces of malachite (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986). Samples collected from the upper adit by the U.S. Bureau of Mines contained as much as 7.5 percent copper and between 2.3 and 9.0 ppm silver (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986).
Workings: The workings at the mine consisted of three adits. A lower adit at the 40-foot elevation was driven for 1,100 to 1,200 feet; it did not reach the vein type mineralization that outcrops uphill (Johnson, 1918 [B 662-C, p. 219-220]). The middle adit is at the 398-foot elevation and that is about 450 feet long including drifts and crosscuts (Grant and Higgins, 1909). The upper adit is at the 535-foot elevation and is 85 feet long. Only the adit at the 535-foot elevation is still accessible; it was driven along a shear zone that strikes S25E and dips 60W (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986). Improvements associated with the mine consisted of steam plant, office, and living quarters (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986). Samples collected from the upper adit by the U.S. Bureau of Mines contained as much as 7.5 percent copper and between 2.3 and 9.0 ppm silver (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986). Production from the mine is 57 pounds of copper from 110 tons of ore that was shipped in 1917 (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986).
Age: Tertiary or younger; the occurrence is in rocks of the Orca Group of Tertiary age.
Production: Patton Mining Company reported that the mill on the property ran from March 15 to September 1, 1917, and processed 110 tons of ore containing 57 pounds of copper (0.026 percent copper) (Kurtak and Jeske, 1986).

Commodities (Major) - Cu; (Minor) - Pb, Zn
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Cyprus massive sulfide (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 24a)

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	SR327

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References