Mount Vesta Prospect, Dall Island, Ketchikan Mining District, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Mount Vesta Prospect	Prospect
Dall Island	Island
Ketchikan Mining District	Mining District
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Located on four patented mining claims. The adjacent lands in the area have been conveyed to the Sealaska Corporation or are under application.

Location: This prospect is at an elevation of about 720 feet about 0.6 mile west-southwest of the head of Vesta Bay. It is near the northwest corner of section 20, T. 80 S., R. 83 E. The location is probably on the four patented mining claim shown on current (2003) U.S. Forest Service maps. The location is accurate to within one-quarter mile.

Geology: The Mount Vesta prospect was found before 1902 and was explored intermittently until at least 1906 by several open cuts and an adit 89 feet long (Brooks, 1902; Wright and Wright, 1905, 1906, 1908; Smith 1914). The rocks in the vicinity consist of pre-Ordovician marble to the west of a regionally-extensive normal fault, and mixed pre-Ordovician marble and metamorphosed dacitic rocks to the east of the fault (Gehrels, 1991). It is unclear which side of the fault the Mount Vesta prospect is on, but the host rocks at the prospect are mainly marble cut by a mafic dike. Maas and others (1991) mapped an 89-foot adit that follows an S-shaped vein 0.17 to 0.33 feet wide that has tetrahedrite, malachite, and calcite near the portal. Samples contained up to 25.95 ounces of silver per ton, 1.2 percent copper, 3.34 percent lead, 1.14 parts per million (ppm) gold, and more than 2,000 ppm bismuth and antimony. Other mineralized zones may be present. Wright and Wright (1906) mention the occurrence of chalcopyrite, galena, and sphalerite.

Workings: Developed by open cuts and an 89-foot adit by 1906. Probably no substantial work since.

Age: Unknown, other than that the prospect is younger than the pre-Ordovician host rocks.

Alteration: Oxidization of copper minerals.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu, Pb; (Minor) - Bi, Sb

Development Status: None

Deposit Model: Shear zone cuts marble and contains tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and sph

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	DE005

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References