Shell Prospect, Hope Mining District, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Shell Prospect	Prospect
Hope Mining District	Mining District
Kenai Peninsula Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The prospect is at an elevation of 3,800 to 4,250 feet in the NE1/4 section 25, T. 7 N., R. 2 W., of the Seward Meridian. It is on the divide between two south tributaries of Fresno Creek and is designated the Shell Mine on the 1994 U.S. Geological Survey Seward C-7 topographic map. This location is accurate to within a quarter of a mile. This is location 30 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), location 43 of Cobb and Tysdal (1980), and location S-266 of Jansons and others (1984).
Geology: The Shell prospect consists of several quartz veins and at least two mineralized(?) felsic dikes. One of the dikes is a continuation of the Gilpatrick dike of Eocene age. The main vein strikes N10 to 15E, dips steeply, and carries arsenopyrite, galena, pyrite, and gold. The quartz veins and felsic dikes cut slate and graywacke of the Valdez Group of Late Cretaceous age (Tysdal, 1978). Workings consist of an adit at an elevation of 4,100 feet that is caved 70 feet from the portal, a shaft at 4,150 feet, and numerous dozer trenches and prospect pits (Hoekzema and Sherman, 1983).
Workings: Prospect pits in the area were reported as early as 1931 (Tuck, 1933). In the 1950's, there was caterpillar prospecting and possible construction of a cabin. The U.S. Bureau of mines examined and sampled the prospect in 1979 and 1981. They found an adit at an elevation of 4,100 feet that is caved 70 feet from the portal, a shaft at 4,150 feet, and numerous dozer trenches and prospect pits (Hoekzema and Sherman, 1983). Improvements included two standing buildings and a cat trail. The adit was driven to intersect the shaft and is caved at that intersection (Jansons and others, 1984). The Bureau could not sample the main vein underground due to caving or on the surface because of snow cover. Pits along the trend of the vein indicate a strike length of at least 100 feet. Other quartz veins were examined briefly, but none contained significant ore minerals. Visible gold occurs in quartz piled on the surface near the shaft. The deposit appears to be of low grade.
Age: Eocene or younger; the dike is probably Eocene.
Reserves: Reserves were estimated by the U.S. Bureau of Mines at 440 tons at 0.4 ounce of gold per ton and 0.3 ounce of silver per ton (Hoekzema and Sherman, 1983).

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au; (Minor) - As, Pb
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SR146

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References