Ohio; Early Bird; Mayflower; Connors and Stevens Mine, Fairbanks Mining District, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Ohio; Early Bird; Mayflower; Connors and Stevens Mine	Mine
Fairbanks Mining District	Mining District
Fairbanks North Star Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Cobb (1972, MF-413), loc. 48; SW1/4SE1/4 sec. 22, T. 3 N., R. 2 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. This mine is north of Fairbanks Creek, about 1/2 mile west of Too Much Gold Creek, and adjacent to a dirt road. Accuracy is within 1000 feet. This prospect is sometimes referred to as the Mayflower mine or the Connors and Stevens prospect.
Geology: Gold is found in quartz-rich shear zones that contain galena, stibnite and pyrite (Smith, 1913; B 525; Killeen and Mertie, 1951). The Ohio claim had a 50-foot shaft which exposed a high-grade stringer varying in width from 6 to 20 inches. The Mayflower claim had an upper shaft 45-feet deep and a lower shaft 60-feet deep. The upper shaft is driven on a northeast striking shear. The lower or southern shaft is driven on two northwest-trending, steeply south-dipping shear zones with vertical slickensides that indicate south-side-down motion (Brooks, 1913, p. 148). In 1916, several shafts were accessible on the Ohio prospect and were examined by Mertie (1918). A 25-foot-deep shaft on the prospect exposed two coalescing quartz-rich zones that strike N 70 W and dip 45 SW. This ore was considered to be of commercial grade, i.e., approximately 1 ounce of gold per ton. A 57-foot-deep shaft exposed an 8-inch-wide shear zone that assayed $4 to $5 per ton in gold (0.19 to 0.24 ounces of gold per ton). This shear strikes east-west and dips 45 N. A 70-foot-deep shaft had 70 feet of drift at the bottom of the shaft. A gold-bearing, quartz-rich shear zone in this drift averages 4 to 6 inches thick, strikes east-west, and dips 45 SW. This material also was considered to be of commercial grade and carried accessory pyrite and stibnite. Up slope from the 70-foot-deep shaft is a 30-foot-deep shaft driven on a base-metal-rich shear zone containing arsenopyrite, pyrite and quartz. This rock reportedly has high silver values and contained what was thought to be native silver (bismuth?) similar to that identified at the adjacent Mizpah mine (Mertie, 1918). Ore grades in 1912 were estimated at $50 per ton in gold (2.4 ounces of gold per ton) with minor silver (Smith, 1913; B 525).
Workings: In 1912, the Ohio claim had a 50-foot-shaft which exposed a high grade stringer that varied from 6 to 20 inches wide (Times Publishing Company, 1912). The Mayflower claim had an upper shaft 45 feet deep and a lower shaft 60 feet deep. By 1914 the Ohio shaft was 80 feet deep. A five-stamp mill (see Gilmore prospect) was erected southeast of the Ohio mine in 1915 and operated from September 1 through the end of the year on ore from the Ohio mine and other producers in the area (Brooks, 1915; Smith, 1917; BMB 142). An adit was collared in 1915 which was planned to extend 800 feet at N 30 W to intersect the Ohio shear zone below the surface weathering zone which had hampered mining on the prospect. By August, 1916, this adit was 240 feet long (Mertie, 1918). In 1916, several shafts were accessible on the Ohio prospect and were examined by Mertie (1918). The Ohio prospect was inactive and the workings obstructed with ice when the prospect was examined in 1931 (Hill, 1933).
Production: The Ohio mine operated in 1914 but production figures are not available (Eakin, 1915). By 1916, the Gilmore mill had treated approximately 350 tons of ore from the Ohio mine (Mertie, 1918).

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Ag, Pb, Sb
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Gold-quartz vein.

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	LG165

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References