Quartz Creek; Bonanza King Prospect, Melozitna Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Quartz Creek; Bonanza King Prospect	Prospect
Melozitna Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The Quartz Creek prospect is at an elevation of about 500 feet approximately 1/2 mile north of the Yukon River. The original (early 1900s) prospect, which corresponds to location 3 of Cobb (1972), is on the boundary of sections 12 and 13, T. 5 N., R. 19 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location of relatively recent (post-1960) work in this area is less well known. This site roughly corresponds to the locations of the Bonanza King (U.S. Bureau of Land Management MAS number 0020480066), and Quartz Creek (MAS number 0020480067) lode prospects.
Geology: The Quartz Creek prospect area is underlain by Paleozoic limestone, dolomite, greenstone, and chloritic schist, along with minor amounts of phyllite, quartzite, and quartz mica schist (Chapman and others, 1982). A Tertiary or Cretaceous quartz monzonite stock is exposed approximately five miles to the east. Silver-lead mineralization on Quartz Creek was first described by Eakin (1916). Prospectors described the deposit as a 10-foot-wide stockwork of silver-bearing galena veins that cut the limestone (Eakin, 1916). Ore specimens contained galena, quartz, calcite, and ferruginous material (Eakin, 1916). The galena forms stringers and small veins several inches apart. The gangue is chiefly milky quartz that locally is glassy at the galena contact. The galena, in turn, contains isolated clear, glassy, euhedral quartz grains. Prospectors reported that the ore contained gold and silver in profitable amounts, although this was never tested by Eakin (1916). A tunnel, visible from the Yukon River, was driven at the prospect around 1915 (Berg and Cobb, 1967; Cobb, 1977; Eberlein and others, 1977), but mining was not pursued. Workings at the site consist of several prospect pits and two caved adits (Saunders, 1955). The portal to one adit is on a steep slope that faces south and is about 500 feet above Quartz Creek. From the size of the dump, this adit appears to have been about 50 feet long. The other adit is on the west side of the creek, about 20 feet above it, and about 100 yards downstream from the remains of an old log building. The adit enters the hill in a due west direction and the dump size indicates that the workings were 300 to 400 feet long (Saunders, 1955). The dump consists of fine-grained, dark colored, gouge-like material with small quartz pieces scattered throughout. A 10-foot-wide stockwork of galena-bearing quartz veinlets that is exposed in the upper adit strikes N10W and dips vertically (Saunders, 1955). Quartz veinlets in the stockwork vary from one to six inches wide. A sample of mineralized quartz veinlets on the surface above the upper adit contained 9.32 ounces of silver per ton, 8.0 percent lead, 1.5 percent zinc, and no detectable gold. A sample from the dump at the lower adit contained a trace of zinc, and no detectable gold, silver, or lead (Saunders, 1955). Twelve mining claims were staked over the Quartz Creek lode prospect from 1968 to 1992 (Alaska Kardex files). Affidavits of annual labor for 1969 and 1970 list prospecting, trenching, and work at the lower adit. In 1977-78, WGM, Inc., explored the area and collected samples from a 10-foot-wide, structurally-controlled (fissure?) vein containing massive argentiferous galena and accessory sphalerite (North Star Exploration, Inc., 1999 [Report 99-48]). Analyses also showed gold and tin. Affidavits of annual labor for 1999 state that an existing shaft was excavated to a depth of about 25 feet and several hundred pounds of samples were removed (Alaska Kardex files). The deposit is similar to the Wally Creek prospect (TN032).
Workings: Prospectors worked in the area in the early 1900's, and drove a tunnel into a 10-foot-wide stockwork. This work was soon abandoned, and there is no report of further mining. Workings on the site consist of several prospect pits and two caved adits (Saunders, 1955). The portal to one adit is on a steep slope that faces south and is about 500 feet above the Yukon River. From the size of the dump, this adit appears to have been about 50 feet long. The other adit is on the west side of the creek, about 20 feet above it, and about 100 yards downstream from the remains of an old log building. The adit enters the hill in a due west direction and the dump size indicates that the workings were 300 to 400 feet long (Saunders, 1955). Twelve mining claims were staked over the Quartz Creek lode prospect from 1968 to 1992 (Alaska Kardex files). Affidavits of annual labor for 1969 and 1970 list prospecting, trenching, and work at the lower adit. In 1977-78, WGM, Inc,. explored in the area and collected samples from a 10-foot-wide, structurally controlled (fissure?) vein containing massive argentiferous galena and accessory sphalerite (North Star Exploration, Inc., 1999 [Report 99-48]). Affidavits of annual labor for 1999 state that an existing shaft was excavated to a depth of about 25 feet and several hundred pounds of samples were removed (Alaska Kardex files).
Age: This deposit may be genetically related to a Tertiary or Cretaceous quartz monzonite stock that crops out approximately five miles to the east.
Production: There is no record of any ore being shipped from this property (Saunders, 1955).

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Pb; (Minor) - Sn, Zn
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Polymetallic replacement body (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 19a).

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	TN027

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References