Gold Dollar and Golden Eagle Mines, Kantishna Mining District, Denali Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Gold Dollar and Golden Eagle Mines	Group of Mines
Kantishna Mining District	Mining District
Denali Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

The mines are in Denali National Park and Preserve.
Location: The Gold Dollar mine and the contiguous Golden Eagle mine (Cobb, 1980 [OFR 80-363]) are at an elevation of about 2700 feet, at the head of a steep, unnamed gulch east of upper Friday Creek. The claims are on the north flank of Quigley Ridge, in the NE1/4 NE1/4, section 12, T. 16 S., R. 18 W., Fairbanks Meridian. The location is at the approximate center of the common east end line of the Gold Dollar claim and the west end line of the Golden Eagle claim (Hawley and Associates, 1978). The location is accurate within 300 feet. The claims are partly overlapped to the south by the Little Annie and Little Annie No. 2 claims (MM115). The mines are included in location 9 of Cobb (1972 [MF 366]) and location 7 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977). The Gold Dollar is location 23 and the Golden Eagle is location 24 of Bundtzen, Smith, and Tosdal (1976). In Bundtzen (1981), the Golden Eagle is number 25 and the Gold Dollar is 26. The two mines constitute occurrence 36 of Thornsberry, McKee, and Salisbury (1984).
Geology: The country rock at the Gold Dollar and Golden Eagle mines is mainly metafelsite of the Spruce Creek sequence. The mines are about 100 feet south of a contact between metafelsite and chloritic and graphitic phyllites to the north. This contact strikes slightly north of east (Bundtzen, 1981; Thornsberry, McKee, and Salisbury, 1984, v. 2, occurrence 36). The deposit consists of mineralized quartz-siderite veins in a shear zone approximately parallel to an internal Spruce Creek contact between metafelsite and phyllite. The Gold Dollar vein is 3-4 feet thick; it strikes about N 65 E and dips 75 S. The Golden Eagle vein has approximately the same strike, dip, and thickness, and appears to be in the same shear zone as the Gold Dollar vein. In 1916, Joe Quigley reported high-grade ore consisting mainly of galena and tetrahedrite in a surface cut on the Gold Dollar claim. This ore also contained abundant 'copper carbonates' and some free gold (Capps, 1919, p. 104). The deposit was developed by shallow shafts and a short adit, and a lessee (Tom Aitken?) mined about 600 tons of high-grade silver ore around 1920 (Davis, 1923, p. 128). About 4 tons of ore were mined from a nearby surface cut on the Golden Eagle claim (Davis, 1923, p. 128-129). Minerals exposed in that cut were galena, pyrite, sphalerite, and their oxidation products, presumably including limonite. The ores were studied by then Bureau of Mines mineralogist Paul Hopkins, who identified stephanite, bournonite, and stromeyerite (Moffit, 1933, p. 330). Bundtzen (1981) reported polybasite in the ore. Quartz, siderite, and sheared and altered wall rocks, are the main components of the gangue. In 1983, the U.S. Bureau of Mines drilled one hole below the Gold Dollar workings. The hole intersected a 10-foot-wide zone of mylonite containing quartz-carbonate veins. A 6-foot section of the zone assayed about 0.9 percent zinc, but no precious metals (Thornsberry, McKee, and Salisbury, 1984, v. 2, occurrence 36 and drill logs). This fault may cut off the Gold Dollar and Golden Eagle veins. Another hole was attempted on the Golden Eagle claim but lost. Davis (1923, p. 128) stated that in the underground workings of the Golden Eagle mine, the deposit seemed to contain more quartz and less sulfides than the ore mined in the open cuts.
Workings: The Gold Dollar vein was discovered in 1916 by Joe Quigley (Capps, 1919). The vein was developed by shallow shifts and a short crosscut adit. Much of the more than 600 tons of high-grade ore credited to the mine was produced from this vein by a lessee in 1920 (Davis, 1923). The Golden Eagle vein was developed by a longer crosscut-drift adit. The adit was driven about 60 feet in a N 70 E shear zone, then crosscut northerly for about 60 feet, where it intersected what appeared to be the Golden Eagle vein. The adit followed the vein for 30 or 40 feet on a N 65 E bearing (Davis, 1923, p. 129). Workings were caved when the district was studied by Wells (1933). Apparently there was no more production until about 1973, when additional ore was mined for about 4 years, processed in a mill at the Red Top mine, and shipped to a smelter in British Columbia (Bundtzen, Smith, and Tosdal, 1976, p. 9). In 1983, the U.S. Bureau of Mines mapped and drilled the deposit (Thornsberry, McKee, and Salisbury, 1984, v. 2, occurrence 36). Of three core holes, only one (K-1) reached its targeted depth.
Age: The deposit is assumed to be Eocene (see record MM091).
Alteration: Intense shearing, mylonitization, silicicification, and introduction of carbonate minerals along fault zones. Near-surface oxidation of iron and copper minerals.
Production: A total of 638 tons of ore (including concentrate?) was mined in 1920, 1921, and 1973-77 (Bundtzen, Smith, and Tosdal, 1976, p. 25). The ore contained 76,120 ounces of silver, 159.5 ounces of gold, and 273,160 pounds of lead, indicating an apparent average grade of 119 ounces of silver per ton, 0.25 ounce of gold per ton, and 21.4 percent lead. Some of the ore was richer: Wells (1933, p. 366-367) states that smelter returns assayed as much as 152 ounces of silver per ton, and that the ore returned an average of more than $70.00 per ton. The Gold Dollar and Golden Eagle mines rank second to the Little Annie mine (MM115) in production of silver ore, and they produced more lead than the Little Annie.

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

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	MM110

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References