Idaho · Shoshone County
Past Producer

Sunshine Mine

Shoshone County, Idaho, United States
SilverCopperUraniumZincLeadGoldAntimony
⌖ Show on mapUSGS source ↗
Description

Dennis Blake and True Blake

Commodities
PrimarySilver
SecondaryCopper
TertiaryUranium, Zinc, Lead, Gold, Antimony
Commodity typeM
Deposit
Deposit typeHYDROTHERMAL VEIN AND REPLACEMENT
Model{85: Polymetallic veins}
Deposit sizeM
WorkingsUnderground
Orebody formPINCH AND SWELL, TABULAR
Ore control"Ore is hosted by E-W trending, steeply S dipping replacement veins within shear zones parallel to bedding on the north limb of the overturned Big Creek Anticline. Clean quartzite from the Revett Formation and the Revett-St. Regis Transition Zone are the best host rocks for ore. Less ore is found in sericitic quartzite in the Wallace and St. Regis Formations. Veins flatten out (refract) when they pass from argillite into quartzite.", "Vein intersections plunge steeply southwest, near the dip line and parallel to synmineral mulltions, grooving, rodding, and slickensides. Veins were formed during inhomogenous ductile shear with slip in a field of uniaxial stress parallel to the line defined by fracture/vein intersections. Ore shoots are elongate in, and controlled by, this slip plane."
Materials
Ore mineralsTetrahedrite, Galena, Chalcopyrite, Sphalerite
GangueSiderite, Quartz, Ankerite, Pyrite, Arsenopyrite, Barite, Calcite, Hematite
Geology
Host rockQuartzite · "Wallace Formation", "St. Regis Formation", "Revett Formation"
Structure"Big Creek Anticline, overturned north limb, strikes NNE to NNW, axial plane dips about 70 degrees; highly-strained and broken by EW normal shears that dip steeply south and host ore.", "Sunshine-Polaris Vein System", "Silver Syndicate Fault (N70W 50-70SW) shows reverse and left-lateral movement. Fault is 15 to 20 meters thick.", "Chester Fault (E-W 50-60S) connects the Silver Syndicate Fault with the Polaris Fault to the east. Fault is up to 5 meters thick.", "Yankee Girl Vein System", "Polaris Fault (N70W 60SW) shows normal and right-lateral movement."
Tectonic setting"Belt Basin"
Alteration"Host rocks underwent zeolite facies metamorphism", "Veins typically consists of a core of massive ore, bounded by selvages of quartz, then pyrite veinlets in siderite-ankerite, and then passing into altered (bleached with sporadic sericitization) wall rock. Contact with wall-rock is sharp, often marked by a thin seam of sericite gouge. Massive ore consists of siderite-quartz-ankerite (rarely -barite) gangue with disseminated sulfides of tetrahedrite, galena, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, pyrite, boulangerite, bournonite, and gersdorffite.", "Upper part of the Sunshine vein was at least partly oxidized with some degree of sulfide enrichemnt. In the oxide zone, azurite, malachite, cerargyrite, native silver, anglesite, cerussite, and erythrite have been reported. Enriched sulfides include covellite, chalcocite, acanthite, and pyrargyrite (sometimes misidentified as proustite).", "Envelopes of disseminated arsenopyrite occur around the veins, and are probably associated with more extensive halos of disseminated carbonates."
Economic & production
Development statusPast Producer
Production years1887-1899, 1904-1905, 1912-2001
First production1890
Last production2001
Discovery year1884
Identification
Deposit ID10241626
Alternate namesYankee Boy Mine
RegionNA
Data scoreA
Coordinates47.50167, -116.07018
References
{Analytical Data:: Eckelmann, W.R., and Kulp, J.L., 1957, Uranium-lead method of age determination: Geological Survey of America Bulletin, v. 68, p. 1117-1140.}{Commodity:: Anderson, R.J., 1940, Microscopic features of ore from the Sunshine mine: Economic Geology, v. 35, p. 659-667.}{Commodity:: Kerr, P.F., and Robinson, R.F., 1953, Uranium mineralization in the Sunshine mine, Idaho: Mining Engineering, v. 5, p. 495-512.}{Commodity:: Sheikh, A.M., 1976, Mineralogical studies of the Sunshine mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, PhD dissertation, 164 p.}{Deposit:: Bond, W.B., Wavra, C.S., Cleland, R.W., and Reid, R.R., 1992, Nature and genesis of ore shoots at the Sunshine mine, Coeur d'Alene district, Idaho: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 24, no. 6, p. 4.}{Deposit:: Dahl, M.K., 1981, Structural and stratigraphic control of ore through the Crescent, Sunshine, Silver Summit, Coeur and Galena mines, Coeur d'Alene mining district, Idaho: Moscow, University of Dahl, M.K., 1981, Structural and stratigraphic control of ore through the Crescent, Sunshine, Silver Summit, Coeur and Galena mines, Coeur d'Alene mining district, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, MS thesis, 97 p.}{Deposit:: Rasor, C.A., 1934, Silver mineralization at the Sunshine mine, Coeur d'Alene district, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, MS thesis, 17 p.}{Deposit:: Trachte, Carl Bartholomew, 1993, Geochemical study of the Copper Vein, Sunshine Mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Washington State University, MS thesis, 102 p.}{Deposit:: Dahl, Mary Kathleen, 1981, Structural and stratigraphic control of ore through the Crescent, Sunshine, Silver Sunnit, Coeur and Galena mines, Coeur d'Alene mining district, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, MS thesis, 97 p.}{Deposit:: Boyer, D.S., Wodzicki, A., and Ratchford, M.E., 1999, A structural and fluid inclusion analysis of the West Chance ore body, Sunshine mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 31, no. 6, p. A40.}{Development:: Anderson, R.L., 1970, History of the Sunshine mine: Kellogg, Idaho, Sunshine Mining Co., 3 p.}{Development:: Julihn, C.E., and Horton, F.W., 1936, Mineral industries survey of the United States; Idaho, Shoshone County, Coeur d'Alene district; The silver belt and the Sunshine mine of the Coeur d'Alene district: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 6878, 16 p.}{Development:: Shenon, P.J., and McConnel, R.H., 1939, The silver belt of the Coeur d'Alene district, Idaho: Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology Pamphlet 50, 8 p.}{Geology:: Colson, J.B., 1961, The geology of the Sunshine mine, in Guidebook to the geology of the Coeur d'Alene mining district: Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 16, p. 30-34.}{Geology:: Eaton, G.F., Criss, R.E., Fleck, R.J., Bond, W.D., Cleland, R.W., and Wavra, C.S., 1995, Oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotope geochemistry of the Sunshine Mine, Coeur d'Alene mining district, Idaho: Economic Geology, v. 90, p. 2274-2286.}{Geology:: Husman, J.R., 1989, Structural geology of the Sunshine mine with special emphasis on the formation of the "Hook area" veins, Coeur d'Alene mining district, Shoshone County, Idaho: Moscow, University of Idaho, MS thesis, 71 p.}{Geology:: Tibbs, N.H., 1972, Wall rock geochemistry of the Chester vein, Sunshine mine, Kellogg, Idaho: Rolla, University of Missouri, PhD dissertation, 120 p.}{Geology:: Wavra, C.S., and Bond, W.D., 1994, Evidence from the Sunshine mine for dip-slip movement during Coeur d'Alene district mineralization: Economic Geology, v. 89, p. 515-527.}{Production:: Sunshine Mining Co., 1926-2001, Annual report to stockholders.}{Production:: Sunshine Mining Co., 1973-2001, SEC Form 10K}