Location: This record describes only the upper workings of the Gold Standard Mine. They are centered about 0.4 mile south of the 'Bert Lide Mine' shown on the USGS 1:63,360-scale topographic map, and about 0.3 mile south of the center of section 1, T. 72 S., R. 87 E. The location is accurate. (The glory holes at the lower workings of the Gold Standard Mine are in the Ketchikan (C-6) quadrangle and are described in ARDF record KC028.)

Geology: The Gold Standard Mine was discovered in 1898 and the upper workings, which are described in this record, were mined until 1914. The production from those workings is obscure but probably significant. About $20,000 in gold (at $20.67 per ounce) was said to have been produced just from a surface pocket prior to 1902 (Brooks, 1902). In 1914, operations at this mine shifted to glory holes near the shoreline to the east. Those lower workings are in the Ketchikan quadrangle and are described in ARDF record KC028. According to Brooks (1902) and Wright and Wright (1908), the upper workings consisted of a 150-foot shaft on the principal vein, and two tunnels with about 1,000 feet of workings on two levels. The ore was processed at a mill on the property. The deposit consists of two sets of quartz veins in metamorphosed greenstone and greenschist. One set, typified by the principal vein, is parallel to the schistosity of the host rocks. It strikes about N25W and dips 60E and varies from 6 inches to 6 feet thick. The other set consists of gash veins that extend from the main vein; they also strike about N25W but dip 60-75 SW. The veins are faulted and there is considerable gouge along the footwalls. The veins are mainly quartz with subordinate chlorite and calcite. Free gold occurs in the veins with minor pyrite and galena; the telluride tetradymite is reported from the gash veins. The ore is free milling and was said to run about $5 to $15 per ton in gold (at $20.67 per ounce). Bittenbender and others (1993) and Maas and others (1995) sampled the workings. The average gold content of samples taken along 40 meters of vein that averages 0.73 meter thick, was 3,713 parts per billion (ppb). A sample across 0.43 meters of the 'Folwarzny vein' contained 5,500 ppb gold. The rocks in the area consist of metamorphosed andesite, basalt, agglomerate, and tuff, and minor flysch, shale, and phyllite. Eberlein and others (1983) and Brew (1996) consider them to be Paleozoic or Mesozoic in age; Gehrels and Berg (1992) tentatively mapped them as Jurassic or Cretaceous. This site also includes the Lakeview prospect described by Maas and others (1995), which is about 0.1 mile west of the main workings of the upper Gold Standard Mine. The deposit is probably similar to the one at the Gold Standard. The average gold content of samples taken over a length of 550 feet of a vein that averages about 20 inches wide was 3,103 ppb. The only workings are trenches and prospect pits.

Workings: The deposit was discovered in 1898 and the mine was productive until 1914, when operations shifted to glory holes to the east in the Ketchikan quadrangle (ARDF KC028). The workings consist of a 150-foot shaft on the principal vein, and two tunnels with about 1,000 feet of workings on two levels; there was a mill on the property.

Age: The quartz veins cut country rocks that may be as young as Cretaceous or as old as Paleozoic.

Production: The production from the upper workings of the Gold Standard Mine is obscure but probably substantial. About $20,000 in gold (at $20.67 per ounce) was said to have been produced just from a surface pocket prior to 1902 (Brooks, 1902). There was also considerable production from 1915 to 1940 from several glory holes near the shoreline to the east in the Ketchikan quadrangle. That production is described in ARDF record KC028.

Reserves: None

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au

Development Status: Yes; small

Deposit Model: Low-sulfide gold-quartz vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CR081

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References