Kenai Lu; Kirsten 1 and 2 Mine, Hope Mining District, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Kenai Lu; Kirsten 1 and 2 Mine	Mine
Hope Mining District	Mining District
Kenai Peninsula Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: This mine is located in the SW1/4 section 10, T. 9 N., R. 1 E., of the Seward Meridian. It is at an elevation of 900 feet, on Sawmill Creek. This is location 16 of Cobb and Richter (1972), location 14 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), location 6 of Cobb and Tysdal (1980), and location S-312 of Jansons and others (1984). The location is accurate to within a quarter of a mile.
Geology: This deposit consists primarily of an auriferous, sulfide-bearing quartz vein, as much as 4 feet wide, in a fault that cuts Valdez Group rocks of Late Cretaceosu age (Martin and others, 1915; Cobb and Tysdall, 1980). The fault strikes NE and dips 70SE. The fault walls are commonly striated and marked by a thin gouge. The vein is truncated at both ends by other faults. A second quartz vein, about 3 feet thick, is less faulted, but it carries only low gold values. The primary vein contains arsenopyrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, and free gold. Crystals of arsenopyrite are also very abundant in the country rock. This deposit may be an extension of the veins on the Slate Creek No. 1 (SR038) and Slate Creek No. 2 (SR040) prospects. All three veins are fault-controlled and are nearly on strike (Martin and others, 1915). A little placer gold was mined from the stream gravels of Sawmill Creek.
Workings: The underground workings at this mine are on the primary vein and consist of a single adit that is 60 to 70 feet long. Improvements include an arrastre mill, erected in 1906, that was driven by water power and capable of handling two 700-ton charges per day (Moffit, 1906). Nineteen tons of picked ore was processed and yielded approxomately 25 ounces of gold (Hoekzema and Sherman, 1983). The U.S. Bureau of Mines visited the prospect in 1982 and collected four samples from the vein where it is exposed in and adjacent to Sawmill Creek. The adit was inaccessible at the time. The samples assayed from a trace to 0.04 ounce of gold per ton and a trace to 0.04 ounce of silver per ton (Jansons and others, 1984).
Age: Cretaceous or younger; the veins cut rocks of the Valdez Group of Late Cretaceous age.
Production: In 1906, approximately 25 ounces of gold were recovered from 19 tons of ore (Hoekzema and Sherman, 1983). Additional production might have occurred.

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Cu, Pb, Zn
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SR035

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References