Ronan and James; Champion; Gladiator; Valerie Marie Mine, Hope Mining District, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Ronan and James; Champion; Gladiator; Valerie Marie Mine	Mine
Hope Mining District	Mining District
Kenai Peninsula Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The mine is at an elevation of 3,600 feet, in the NE1/4 section 11 and the NE1/4 section 14, T. 6 N., R. 2 W., of the Seward Meridian. It is situated on the south side of Summit Creek, 1.5 miles west of the Seward Highway. This is location 29 of Cobb and Richter (1972), location 36 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), location 52 of Cobb and Tysdal (1980), and location S-256 of Jansons and others (1984). This location is accurate to within a quarter of a mile.
Geology: The deposit at this mine consists of auriferous, sulfide-bearing quartz veins in slate and sandstone of the Upper Cretaceous Valdez Group (Tuck, 1933; Tysdal, 1978 [MF-880-A]) The main vein is 12 inches wide, strikes N60E, and dips 60SE (Tuck, 1933). Metallic minerals include arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and gold. A second vein exposed above the upper adit averages 9 inches wide and strikes N40W, and the dip is nearly vertical. This vein is only slightly iron stained and contains few sulfides. The country rock strikes N5E to N20E and dips 45W to nearly vertical.
Workings: Workings consist of a 137-foot crosscut, a 210-foot drift, an 80-foot winze and a 30-foot shaft. The vein has been largely stoped out (Tuck, 1933). Workings were caved when the U.S. Bureau of Mines visited the site in 1979 and 1980 (Hoekzema and Sherman, 1983). They collected one chip sample and six grab samples from the dump and portal area. A 10-inch-wide chip sample from the adit portal contained 0.224 ounce of gold per ton and 0.6 ounce of silver per ton (Hoekzema and Sherman, 1983). Five grab samples assayed from 0.08 to 1.17 ounces of gold per ton and 0.05 to 0.64 ounce of silver per ton. A selected grab sample assayed 2.97 ounces of gold per ton and 2.73 ounces of silver per ton (Jansons and others, 1984).
Age: Cretaceous or younger; veins cut rocks of the Valdez Group of Late Cretaceous age.
Production: Ore was milled on site by a small arrastre mill installed in 1916 (Tuck, 1933). Reported production, between 1916 and 1981, was 557 ounces of gold and 137 ounces of silver (Jansons and others, 1984). Ore has been mined out.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au; (Minor) - As, 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:	SR137

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References