All of Coronation Island is now a Forest Service Wilderness Area and is closed to exploration and mining.
Location: Several adits are on the east side of Pin Peak at elevations between about 700 and 980 feet. The site is near the center of the area of workings, about 0.2 mile southwest of the center of section 2, T. 69 S., R. 71 E. The location is accurate.
Geology: This mine is in limestone of the Silurian Heceta Limestone (Moerlein and others, 1971-1973; Eberlein and others, 1983; Brew, 1996). A small Cretaceous granitic pluton is nearby. The deposit consists of irregular, scattered masses of galena with sphalerite and tetrahedrite (Wright and Wright, 1908; Roehm, 1940; Twenhofel and others, 1949; Wedow and others, 1952). Some of the ore is oxidized to limonite, hydrozincite, cerussite, and smithsonite. The maximum dimension of the ore bodies was about 20 feet. The largest was about 8 feet by 12 feet by 18 feet; one 1- to 4-foot-thick body extended for about 100 feet. The deposit was mined from three adits at elevations of about 700 feet, 860 feet, and 980 feet; the underground workings total about 800 feet. A sample from the highest adit contained 9.7 percent lead, 0.16 ounce of gold per ton, and 20.8 ounces of silver per ton. Roppel (1991) presents a detailed history of the development and mining. Galena was discovered in 1900 and ten claims were staked. By 1901, several hundred bags of ore had been mined. A test shipment of 16 tons of ore proved to have a value of $88 per ton in lead and silver. Possibly as much as 400 tons of ore was then shipped. Mining continued intermittently until 1905 when 5 tons of ore was sent to the smelter and another 25 tons of ore was stacked on the beach. The claims were restaked several times until at least 1928 and there were several more small test shipments. Phelps Dodge mapped much of Coronation Island in the early 1970's, sampled the workings and held their claims until 1973 (Moerlein and others, 1971-1973; Still and others, 2002) and drilled several holes. There is no record of any significant discovery in their drilling. The Bureau of Land Management located many of the old working and collected numerous samples in the adits and from the dumps in the late 1990's (Still and others, 2002). The highest grade sample they collected from below the number 2 adit was of oxidized gossan with knots of galena. It contained 13.95 parts per million (ppm) gold, 682 ppm silver, more than 1 percent lead, 3.58 percent zinc, more than 1 percent arsenic, 39.3 ppm mercury, and 307 ppm tin. They concluded that the ore was mainly in irregular pods and that most of the mineralization found in the underground work had been mined out.
Workings: Roppel (1991) presents a detailed history of the development and mining. Galena was discovered in 1900 and ten claims were staked. By 1901, several hundred bags of ore had been mined. A test shipment of 16 tons of ore proved to have a value of $88 per ton in lead and silver. Possibly as much as 400 tons of ore was then shipped. Mining continued intermittently until 1905 when 5 tons of ore was sent to the smelter and another 25 tons of ore was stacked on the beach. The claims were restaked several times until at least 1928 and there were several more small test shipments. Phelps Dodge mapped much of Coronation Island in the early 1970's (Moerlein and others, 1971-1973) and drilled several holes but there is no indication of any significant discovery. The Bureau of Land Management found and mapped several of the old working and collected numerous samples in the late 1990's.
Age: The deposit is younger than the Silurian host rock.
Alteration: Some of the ore was oxidized to limonite, hydrozincite, cerussite, and smithsonite.
Production: Most references indicate that about 100 tons of ore was shipped but there are indications that production may have been higher.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Pb; (Minor) - As, Hg, Sn, Zn
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Galena masses in limestone.

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Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

ⓘ 'Tetrahedrite Subgroup'

6 valid minerals.