Bonanza; Downing Prospect, Hope Mining District, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Bonanza; Downing Prospect	Prospect
Hope Mining District	Mining District
Kenai Peninsula Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

In his description of this deposit, Tuck (1933) also included references to the Whistler (SR020), Francisco (SR017), and to another (unnamed) prospect on Bonanza Creek. The Bonanza property is about halfway between the Francisco and Whistler properties. The Francisco, Whistler, and Bonanza are also known as the Downing mine (Jansons and others, 1984). Tysdal (1978 [MF-880-A]) considered these to be separate prospects.
Location: The Bonanza prospect in the Downing mine area (see additional comments). The prospect is at an elevation of about 2,100 feet on the north bank of Bonanza Creek. It is in the S1/2 section 31, T. 9 N., R. 1 W., of the Seward Meridian. The Bonanza prospect is located about half way between the Francisco (SR017) and Whistler (SR020) properties. This is location 9 of Cobb and Richter (1972), location 8 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), locations 17, 19, and 20 of Cobb and Tysdal (1980), location 19 of Tysdal (1978 [MF-880-A]), and location S-294 of Jansons and others (1984). The location is accurate to within half a mile.
Geology: This deposit consists of a 6 foot width of 2- to 3-inch-wide quartz stringers parallel to schistose slate of the Valdez Group of Late Cretaceous age (Nelson and others, 1985). The stringers contain a little arsenopyrite and pyrite. In addition to the stringers, there is abundant vuggy quartz float (Tysdal, 1978 [MF-880-A]). Tuck (1933) sampled the stringer lode, but the assays showed only traces of gold and silver.
Workings: The veins are exposed by prospect pits, and there may be a caved adit (Tysdal, 1978 [MF-880-A]). Tuck (1933) sampled across the vein stringers, but the assays indicated only traces of gold and silver.
Age: Cretaceous or younger; the veins cut rocks of the Valdez Group of Late Cretaceous age.
Production: The U.S. Bureau of Mines reported a recorded production of 150 ounces of gold (Jansons and others, 1984). This might include production from the Whistler (SR020) and Francisco (SR017) prospects, as well as the Bonanza.

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Ag
Development Status: Undetermined.
Deposit Model: Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SR018

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References