Hidden Treasure Mine, Fairbanks District, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USA

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Location: Cobb (1972, MF-413), loc. 28; SW1/4 sec. 26, T. 3 N., R. 1 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The Hidden Treasure mine tunnel is at the main forks of Last Chance Creek; it is at an elevation of 1,350 feet, about 1.8 miles west of Cleary Summit. The east end of the claim joins the Newsboy property. Accuracy is within 1,500 feet.
Geology: Brooks (1911) reported that by 1910 a 140 foot adit had been driven on a 3-foot-wide quartz-rich shear zone on the prospect. The shear reportedly contained elevated gold values. In addition, a 38-foot-deep shaft had been sunk on a 5-foot-wide quartz-rich shear zone in the same area and may be part of the same shear zone. By 1914, the adit had been extended to 250 feet. The mineralization was hosted in a N 60 E trending, steeply south dipping shear zone which contained visible gold in quartz and in the schist host rocks. Strike-slip motion of undetermined magnitude was noted along the Hidden Treasure shear zone (Brooks, 1914). Although ore was milled from these workings, no production figures are available due to loss of the amalgam from the custom mill (Brooks, 1914). There are no references to the Hidden Treasure prospect from 1914 through 1930. The Hidden Treasure prospect was examined in 1931 but the adit had caved and the dumps were overgrown with vegetation (Hill, 1933). Samples collected by Spencer and O'Neill (1934) from shaft dumps on the prospect contained only a trace of gold. In 1938, the prospect was owned by Fred C. Robinson and was leased in the fall of 1938 to Paul Bittner, Normal Crooks, and Ed Saponch (Reed, 1939). In November, 1938 the lessees excavated a road to the prospect from the Newsboy mine, removed the ice from the adit and opened a raise in the old workings. Samples collected in the raise averaged $6 per ton in gold (0.17 ounces of gold per ton). After three weeks, the work was abandoned and the lease terminated. In 1985, Dwayne Savage leased the prospect and reported visible gold in quartz samples from the Hidden Treasure dump (D. Savage, oral commun., 1985). Samples collected from the prospect contained anomalous arsenic but only trace gold, silver and antimony (Resource Associates of Alaska, unpublished report, 1985).
Workings: This prospect was discovered in 1909 by L. Goyett. Brooks (1911) reported that by 1910 a 140 foot adit had been driven on a 3-foot-wide quartz-rich shear zone on the prospect. In addition, a 38-foot-deep shaft had been sunk on a 5-foot-wide quartz-rich shear zone in the same area. By 1914, the adit had been extended to 250 feet. Although ore was milled from these workings, no production figures are available due to loss of the amalgam from the custom mill (Brooks, 1914). The Hidden Treasure prospect was examined in 1931 but the adit had caved and the dumps were overgrown with vegetation (Hill, 1931). In November, 1938 a road was built to the prospect from the Newsboy mine, ice was removed from the adit and a raise opened in the old workings. After three weeks the work was abandoned (Reed, 1939).
Production: Although ore was milled from these workings before WWI, no production figures are available due to loss of the amalgam from the custom mill (Brooks, 1914).

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Gold-quartz vein.

References

Brooks, A.H., 1911, The mining industry in 1910, in Brooks, A.K., and others, Mineral resources of Alaska, report on progress of investigations in 1910: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480-B p. 21-43. Brooks, A.H., 1914, Mineral resources of Alaska; report on progress of investigations in 1913: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592, 413 p. Chapin, Theodore, 1914, Lode mining near Fairbanks, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592-J, p. 321-355. Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Livengood quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-413, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000. Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Livengood quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-819, 241 p. Freeman, C.J., 1992, 1991 Golden Summit project final report, volume 2: Historical summary of lode mines and prospects in the Golden Summit project area, Alaska: Avalon Development Corp., 159 p. (Report held by Freegold Recovery Inc. USA, Vancouver, British Columbia.) Hill, J.M., 1933, Lode deposits of the Fairbanks district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 849-B, p. 29-163. Smith, P.S., 1913, Lode mining near Fairbanks, in Prindle, L.M., A geologic reconnaissance of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 525, p. 153-216. Reed, I.M., 1938 (1939), Report on lode mining and development in the year 1938 in the Fairbanks district: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 194-6, 28 p. Spencer, W.W., and O'Neill, W.A., 1934, A survey of gold quartz veins on the north flank of Pedro Dome: Fairbanks, University of Alaska, B.S. thesis, 52 p.

Mineral List

Gold

1 entry listed. 1 valid mineral.