Latitude: 64°51'10"N
Longitude: 148°1'26"W
There are two Vuyovich mines in the Fairbanks quadrangle. This one, FB033, is located south of Vuyovich mine, FB019, and was the site of Mr. Vuyovich's cabin (Hill, 1933, p. 128).
Location: The Vuyovich mine is located in the SW1/4SE1/4 sec. 6, T. 1 S., R. 2 W., Fairbanks Meridian. This prospect is on the ridge between Ready Bullion Creek and Eva Creek. It is about 0.5 mile northwest of the town of Ester. There are four adits and trenches of varyious elevations between 760 and 890 feet. This mine is included in locality 11of Cobb (1972 [MF 410]).
Geology: When visited by Hill in 1931, a tunnel trending N. 20 E. had been driven about 100 feet along a crushed, iron-stained zone in schist (Hill, 1933, p. 128). This zone had a dip of 85 E. and contained numerous quartz veinlets. Some of the quartz carried lenses of arsenopyrite or stibnite or a mixture of the two. Hill (1933, p. 128), reported that free gold could be panned from oxidized material near the face of the tunnel. In 1953, surface trenches and prospect adits revealed two gold-bearing quartz veins (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964). One vein averaged one inch in width, and a shipment of ore from that vein averaged $419 in gold per ton (about 11.97 ounces of gold per ton). The other vein varied in width from 6 to 18 inches, and a mill run of ore believed to have been mined from that vein averaged $40 in gold per ton (about 1.14 ounces of gold per ton). When the property was examined in 1953, there were four prospect adits on the five lode claims that made up the Vuyovich property (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964). A grab sample of greenish-yellow quartz from the dump near the adit at the 810-foot elevation assayed 0.84 ounces of gold per ton. In the adit at the 890-foot elevation, the vein appeared to be cut off by the shear zone a few feet north of a winze. Samples taken from two open cuts in 1956 ranged in value from 0.02 to 12.26 ounces of gold per ton. In 1963, assays from the open-cut at the 760-foot elevation returned values of a trace to 0.74 ounce of gold per ton from the lower drift and the lower part of the adit, and one sample from the top of the winze assayed 7.44 ounces of gold per ton (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964).
Workings: By 1931, a 100-foot-long tunnel had been driven on an ore zone (Hill, 1933, p. 128). When the property was examined in 1953, there were four adits on the five lode claims that made up the Vuyovich property (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964). There were also a number of old, hand-dug pits that had been partly filled. An adit had been driven at an elevation of 815 feet beside the road that goes up Ready Bullion Creek; the adit was driven about 50 feet at N. 80 E. The adit at the 810-foot elevation level was caved 40 feet from the portal, but it appeared to trend N. 30 E. An attempt had been made at retimbering the adit, but caving prevented any progress. The adit at the 760-foot elevation had been reopened by 1953. Initially it trends N. 10 E.; 125 feet in from the portal, it turns to N. 15 W. and continues for 25 feet to the face. There was another adit 50 feet higher and directly above this one, but it was destroyed by bulldozer trenching during the summer of 1953. During the summers of 1954, 1955, and 1956, additional prospecting work was done on the property (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964). Most of the prospecting consisted of excavating by bulldozer. The open cut over the adit at the 760-foot elevation had been enlarged and deepened, and samples were taken for assay. A large, open cut was excavated near the 890-foot adit, and additional samples were taken from this cut. In 1957, a small mill was built on the property, and a test-run was made on ore mined from the narrow vein near the cabin; this mill was dismantled the same year (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964). In 1963, the open cut at the 760-foot elevation adit was deepened, and more samples were taken (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964).
Alteration: Antimony and arsenic oxides are abundant on the dump material, and the schist is iron stained (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964).
Production: Thirty tons of vein quartz was milled in 1950 (Saunders, 1953, rev. 1964), but there is no record of the amount of production prior to this.
Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Sb
Development Status: Undetermined
Deposit Model: Schist-hosted gold-quartz vein
References
Chapman, R.M., and Foster, R.L., 1969, Lode mines and prospects in the Fairbanks district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 625-D, 25 p., 1 plate. Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-410, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-662, 174 p. Hill, J.M., 1933, Lode deposits of the Fairbanks district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 849-B, p. 29-163. Killeen, P.L., and Mertie, J.B., 1951, Antimony ore in the Fairbanks District, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 51-46, 43 p. Saunders, R.H., 1953, Vuyovich gold-quartz prospect (Ester Dome): Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Prospect Evaluation 58-7, 22 p.
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