The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-01-15
Pine Creek Mines
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aims about As degrees southwest
= tunnel No. 8 it is from four inches
sa,an feet wide, and its average
,,dtb is four feet, including 20 inches
= first class ore The vein is con-
aimed in shear zone in blue and
.1ook Prichard states. 1t has been
so,0haerably deformed since its depo-
.,,jon as is shown by Irregularities in
i. course and by variability in its
,hickness. The walls of the vein,
havever. are fairly well defined. The
GRO is extremely fine grained, like the
s,ate which 1t replaces. 1t consists OF
on intimate mixture of sphalerite and
oa1ena with minor amounts of iron sui
nbides. Small fragments of unre-
nlaced wall rock are commonly OBJ
sarved in the ore. Quartz is the dom
inant gangue mineral, but 1t is no.
where abundant, and siderite was not
observed The ore is said to average
% per cent Of zinc, 4 to 5 per cent Of
lead. 3 to ounces silver to the ton,
and about 6 per cent of iron.
Highland Surprise.
The Highland Surprise mine is near
the head of Stewart creek, at an alti
tude of $3.50 feet. The group consists
of is claims, all of which are surveyed
for patent. 1t was located about 1900,
but serious exploitation did not begin
until 1911, when after the property had
changed hands several times the pres
ent company began operations A
15O-ton mill was built, and since Octo-
Der, 1915, the mine has been actively
productive, though the output is ham
pered because of poor transportation
facilities. The Highland Surprise was
( in 1916 the largest producer of zine
lead ore in the Pine Creek district.
The mine is developed by two main
tunnels, known as the lower Highland
and lower Surprise tunnels, III feet
vertically apart, and two short upper
tunnels that are now in disuse A.
the time of visit (July, 1870 a shaft
was being sunk on the vein from the
level of the lower Surprise tunnel.
From this tunnel a haulage track leads
to the mill, about 1000 feet from its
portal The total length Of the mine
workings is about 5000 feet Slopes
have been opened ON the vein at diff
ferent points, the largest stope in the
west end of the mine, where from the
lower level for distance of 140 feet
the ore has been taken out to the sur
face, 225 feet above, on a 70 degree
dip.
The vein trends a few degrees north
of west and is nearly parallel to the
Placer creek fault, which it closely fol-
lows in the east end of the mine. To-
ward the west, however, the vein Is
offset by several faults, each of which
dsplaces it from 80 to $50 feet, away
from the Placer crek fault; i'm the
lower Highland tunnel the vein is 800
feet from the Placer creek fault, and
in the lower Surprise tunnel it is still
farther away, though the distance was
not determined, as the Placer creek
fault was not cut on this level, The
thin -bedded shales and states of the
Prichard formation cut by the High
land Surprise workings trend in gen.
eral parallel to the Placer creek fault,
and similarly have steep dips to the
south.
The vein is mainly a product OF the
replacement of the states along zone
of assuring that DIVORCES from the
Placer creek fault at a small angle
The walls of the vein are in general
poorly defined, but the vein is usually
mined for width of one set Of tim
bers. The ore minerals are sphalerlte'
galena, pyrrhotite, pyrite, and rare
chalcopyrte. The association OF MIN
erals and texture of the ore varies
from place to place along the Veln'
From the main ore shoot at the west
end of the mine the mill feed assays
from - to 20 per cent of zinc, to
per cent OF ledu, LIZ ouhCo9 "a 'A'
to the ton. ard from 5 to Z per cent or
iron, About 200 feet farther east the
vein consists principally of pyrrhotite
and pyrite. A partial analysis of the
vein at this point, by the Northport
Smelling & Refining company gave no
gold. 0.4 ounce of silver to the ton, no
lead. no copper, 0.6 per cent or Anc'
81 per cent of silica, SAG per cent OF
iron, and 24.7 per cent of sulphur Sblll
farther east sphalerite and galena APP
pear with the iron sulphides, until
with increasing abundance of the ieao
and zinc minerals and decrease or the
iron the ore becomes of GOOD graoe
Most of the ore is fairly. coarse gram
ed and is amenable to concentration
and separation of the zinc and leau
but the ore in one shoot near the cas-
end of the mine, which contains abou
80 per cent zinc with some lead ant
iron minerals, was too fine grained
and complex to be treated successiull'
by the mill equipment in use al til
time of visit, though it viii propapi'
yield to flotation after being hnei'
ground. The gangue consists prih
cipally Of quartz, but this mineral