STATE OF CALIFORNIA EARL WARREN, Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES WARREN T. HANNUM. Director DIVISION OF MINES FERRY BUILDING, SAN FRANCISCO 11 OLAF P. JENKINS. Chief SAN FRANCISCO SPECIAL REPORT 16 DECEMBER 1951 GEOLOGY OF THE SHASTA KING MINE SHASTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA By A. R. KINKEL. JR.. and WAYNE E. HALL Prepared in cooperation with the U. S. Geological Survey Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of California, Davis Libraries http://archive.org/details/geologyofshastak16kink GEOLOGY OF THE SHASTA KING MINE SHASTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA By A. R. Kinkel, Jr.,* and Wayne E. Hall • OUTLINE OF REPORT Tage Vbstract 3 Introduction 3 jliegional geology 3 )re body . 7 General character and occurrence 7 Minerals of the primary ore 7 i (Jangue minerals S Faults 8 Ore controls 8 Oxidation and enrichment 10 References 11 Illustrations Figure 1. Index map showing location of West Shasta copper- zinc district 4 2. Photo of Shasta King mine ~> 3. Photo and sketch of Shasta King mine (i 4. Geologic details of ore contacts Plate 1. Geologic map of Shasta King mine In pocket 2. Geologic map of underground workings In pocket 3. Cross-sections and longitudinal sections, Shasta King mine In pocket ABSTRACT The Shasta King mine of the West Shasta copper-zinc district is at an elevation of 1800 feet in the foothills of the Klamath Moun- tains, 12 miles northwest of Redding in northern California. The ore body is a flat-lying lens of massive pyrite that contains chalcopy- rite and sphalerite, and minor amounts of gold and silver. The ore body is in the Ralaklala rhyolite. This formation is a volcanic complex composed of silicic flows and pyroclastic rocks of Middle Devonian age. The formation contains a few shaly tuffs and amygdaloidal mafic flows. The ore body occurs in a porphyritic variety of the rhyolite. It is overlain in part by a thin bed of shaly tuff and volcanic breccia and underlain in part by nonporphyritic rhyolite; its outlines parallel the layering in the volcanic rocks. The saucerlike shape of the ore body is due to the replacement of a porphyritic layer in the volcanic rocks. Roth premineral and post- mineral faults have been recognized; some of the premineral faults are mineralized locally. The mineralized faults were not necessarily feeder-channels, as evidence of mineralization extends only a short distance away from ore bodies. The Shasta King mine was operated from 1002 to 1000 and again in 1018 and 1910. During these periods 83,880 tons of ore was mined. INTRODUCTION The Shasta King mine is in Shasta County, Califor- nia, sec. 12, T. 33 N., R. 6 W„ in the central part of the West Shasta copper-zinc district. The mine is in the bottom of the narrow canyon of Squaw Creek in the northwest corner of the Redding quadrangle (tip:. 1) about 19 miles by road from Redding, the county seat of Shasta County. Access to the mine by automobile was not possible, how- ever, during 1949 because of washouts near the mine. By rebuilding about H miles of road it would be possible to drive from the Shasta Dam to the mine. A hard-surfaced road extends from Redding to the dam. The topography in the vicinity of the mine is rugged. In the canyon of Squaw Creek few slopes are less than 35° and slopes of 50° are common (figs. 2 and 3). Most of the area has large, bold outcrops, but some parts are mantled with slopewash. The flat-lying ore body * Geologist, V. S. Geological Survey. Manuscript submitted for publication July 1951. Published by permission of the Director, U. S. Geological Survey. of the Shasta King mine crops out about 150 feet above Squaw Creek and is exploited by adits in the canyon wall. The Shasta King mine was studied by the writers as a part of a survey of the West Shasta copper-zinc district made for the IT. S. Geological Survey in 1949, in coopera- tion with the California State Division of Mines. The writers' thanks are due to W. .J. Walker for assistance in mapping the underground workings, and R. T. Walker and W. J. Walker, the owners of the mine, for maps of the mine, for information on the history and production, and for permission to publish the data in this report. The Shasta King mine was operated from 1902 to 1909 by the Trinity Copper Corporation, and the ore was shipped to the Ralaklala smelter at Coram, California. The property was idle from 1909 to 1917, when it was leased to the United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company, who operated the mine during 1918 and 1919. The ore mined during this period was smelted in blast furnaces at the smelter of the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company, at Kennett, California. Operations were stopped at the mine in March 1919, and a fire destroyed the mine camp, Boralma, in 1924, but most of the mine workings were open and accessible in 1949. The mine was purchased by the present owners, Walker and Walker, of Leadville, Colorado, in 1944. Data are incomplete on the amount of copper pro- duced from the Shasta King mine. The production figures given in table 1 were furnished bv R. T. AValker and W. J. Walker. I'd hie 1. Production from the Shasta King mine, Shasta County, California Au Ag Tons o of ore Trinity Copper Corp., 1008-1000 United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Co., 1918-1919.__ 83,880 The ore contains substantial amounts of zinc, but as zinc was not recovered in the smelters, no estimate of the zinc content of the mined ore can be made. A probable copper-zinc ratio of 1 : 3 is suggested by assays furnished by AValker and Walker of samples taken in 1948. These assays averaged 2.") percent copper and 7.61 percent zinc. REGIONAL GEOLOGY The following description of the general features of the regional geology is taken from Kinkel and Albers. 1 The rocks in the West Shasta copper-zinc district con- sist of a thick series of lava flows and pyroclastic rocks that are overlain by sedimentary formations. The Copley green- stone, consisting of mafic Hows and pyroclastics of probable Lower or Middle Devonian age, is the oldest formation exposed in the district. It is here called the Copley green- < Kinkel, A. R., Jr., and Albers, J. P., Geology of the massive sulfide deposits at Iron Mountain, Shasta County, California: Cali- fornia Div. .Minis Special Rept. 14, 1!> pp., 1951. Operator Tons of ore 15,000 oz. per oz. per ton ton Unknown Cu percent 68,889 0.034 1.01 2.92 (3 ) Special Report 16 MASSIVE SULFIDE MINES SUTRG ,STAUFFER .GOLINSKY .MAMMOTH EARLY BIRD SHASTA KING .BALAKLALA .KEYSTONE .SPREAD EAGLE -STOWELL .SUGARLOAF LONE STAR IRON MOUNTAIN EXPLANATION B'otite quartz diortte Albite granite Paleozoic sedimentary rocks Bataklola rhyolite a I v. 5 Miles Copley greenstone Geology by AR Kinkel, Jr ond JPAIbers Figure 1. Map showing location of the West Shasta copper-zinc district and its generalized geologic setting. Shasta King Mink, Shasta County SHASTA KING MINE Figure 2. Shasta King mine as seen from west along Squaw Creek. stone because it is a greenish metamorphosed rock in which the primary ferromagnesian minerals have been altered to chlorite and epidote. Some units show andesitic tex- tures, but other units contain basalt and mafic pyroclastic rocks. The Copley is overlain by silicic flows and pyro- clastics of the Baiaklala rhyolite of Middle Devonian age. The name "Baiaklala rhyolite" of Diller 2 had been aban- doned by Graton, 3 but the authors are reintroducing the name because new evidence indicates that the formation is composed principally of extrusive rhyolite and pyro- clastics. A subsidence in Middle Devonian time resulted in Baiaklala rhyolite being overlain conformably by the Kennett formation of Middle Devonian age which con- sists of tuff, shale, and limestone. Uplift followed by erosion removed the Kennett formation from part of the area, but renewed subsidence initiated the deposition of a great thickness of sedimentary material, beginning with the shales, sandstones, and conglomerates of the Bragdon formation of Mississippian age. No sedimentary forma- tions younger than the Branly the most important faults have been give: numbers on the geologic maps and sections, but many oth faults undoubtedly exist outside the developed area. The premineral faults are No. 3, No. 5, and No. 1 (pi. 1 ). The evidence for a premineral age for these fault* is the presence of iron oxides along the faults away from the ore bodies, and the presence of hydrothermal clay minerals along the faults. The minerals formed alonp th faults are primary and are not due to deposition of iroi oxides in the fractured zone by supergene solutions, be cause pyrite casts are present. Pyrite occurs as much as, 75 feet vertically above the gossan on the No. 3 fault. In addition, a small fault in the No. 6 adit (870-foot level), 2340 feet east on the coordinate system, contains small lenses of massive sulfide ore that appear to have formed in place along the fault. Hydrothermal alteration was ob- served along No. 6 fault ; the fault may be premineral in age but may have moved apain after mineralization. No. 3 and No. 5 faults also moved both before and after the sulfides were deposited. All the faults except No. 12 have some postmineral movement. The direction of displacement on No. 1 fault was determined from the position of mafic flows that crop out to the west of the fault (pi. 1). From geologic work outside of the mine area, these mafic flows are known to be lower in the stratigraphic sequence than rocks exposed east of the fault. The vertical offset on the fault is several hundred feet or more. The direction of offset on No. 8 fault is not known with certainty, but the northeast side is probably upthrown relative to the southwest side. The direction and amount of postmineral dip-slip movement on Nos. 2, 5, 6, and 7 faults are shown by the offset of the gossan at the surface. No. 2, No. 5 and' No. 7 faults must have moved horizontally as well as vertically, as the offset of the gossan at the surface, where the dip is steeper, is preater than the offset of the ore underground, where the dips are at low anples. In addition, the thicknesses of the gossan are not the same on opposite sides of these faults at the surface. The ore body thins toward the northwest, and horizontal movement along northwesterly faults would result in differences in thickness of the ore on oppo- site sides of the faults. ORE CONTROLS The Shasta King ore body formed bv the partial to complete replacement of a thin flow of porphyritic rhyolite that lies between a bed of pyroclastic rock above and a flow of nonporphyritic rhyolite below. The ore bodv is con- formable with the contacts of the flow, but it does not everywhere completely replace the flow of porphyritic rhyolite. The porphyritic rhyolite that is the host rock of the ore body contains 2- to 3-millimeter quartz pheno- crysts that are distributed through a very fine grained siliceous matrix. Smaller feldspar phenocrysts are present but not prominent. The unreplaced remnants of the por- phyritic rhyolite in the ore are generally massive and unsheared. Many fragments of the porphyritic rhyolite Shasta King Mine, Shasta County |g==3=i|. Rhyohtic luff 7 ^S Porphyntic rhyolite Thin-bedded shoiy^ rhyohti_c tuff Thick- bedded rhyohtic tuff and fine volconic breccio Thin- bedded rhyohtic tuff v' Gosson Porphyntic rhyolite locally tuffaceous 6"-l2" porphyrTtic rhyolite fragments in coarsV volcanic breccia with minor tuff^ — C"" Interlayered thin-bedded tuff and volcanic breccia Thin- bedded '" rhyohtic tuff £_♦_! * * Porphyntic rhyolite Fairly well-bedded volconic breccio | Thin-bedded rhyohtic tuff AT SECTION A-A' AT SECTION B-B' AT SECTION C-C' COLUMNAR SECTIONS OF TUFF AND VOLCANIC BRECCIA OVER THE GOSSAN A Back of stope 2± 6*± JJnshoared porphyntic rhyolite Sheared porphy n lie rhyolite 7fjT.-^p..Vf?.*.v' Replacement of volcanic breccia by sulfide ore Massive sulfide ore (Base of ore not exposed) SMI of stope UPPER ORE CONTACT IN THE STOPE ON THE 870-FOOT LEVEL NEAR CROSS SECTION F-F' B 20 Gossan ; gosson Dotum is mean sea level Adit IMo 9 900 fool level SECTION LOOKING NORTHEAST ALONG NO 12 FAULT Figure 4. Geologic details of ore contacts. 10 Special Report 16 remain as unreplaced or partly replaced remnants in the massive sulfide ore, and all gradations exisl between un- replaced porphyritic rhyolite and massive sulfide ore. Al- though assays are not available, visual inspection shows that the evidence of mineralization in the transition zones between ore and waste consists entirely of pyrite, and that copper and zinc minerals are limited to massive sulfide ore. The ore contacts are sharp against clay and sericite gouge at some places, hut a gradation exists between mas- sive sulfide ore and hydrothermally altered wall rock at many contacts. Where a transition zone is present between ore and waste, pyrite can he seen to replace preferentially the schistose portion of the rock. Within the transition zones, anastomosing hands of foliated sericite cut the massive porphyritic rhyolite, hut lenticular bodies of unsheared rock a few inches to a few feet in length remain. During the period of ore formation pyrite completely re- placed the foliated (sheared) parts of the porphyritic rhyolite before it replaced the massive nodules. The por- phyritic rhyolite above the ore in the central part of the ore body is unsheared, and the evidence seems good at the Shasta Kin- mine that the scattered residual nodules of waste in the ore, and the unreplaced part of the flow of porphyritic rhyolite that contains the ore were not re- placed because they were not sheared. The isolated un- replaced remnants of rock in the main body of the massive sulfide ore differ in origin and appearance from the partly replaced volcanic breccia in the back of the stopes at the northeast end of the mine in the stope on the 870-foot level. Many contacts between the ore and the porphyritic rhyolite are sharp. These contacts are marked by a white Hay gouge that ranges in thickness from a fraction of an inch to a foot. The wall rock is locally schistose behind the gouge, but there are no sulfide minerals in the gouge or in the foliated wall rock at these localities. The fact that the sericite bands at ore contacts are foliated parallel to the contact indicates that this zone is not due to hydrothermal alteration alone. Ore solutions were apparently stopped bypremmeral foliated bands of gouge and sericite at these points. There is no evidence of postmineral movement such as crushed or slickensided sulfides, that would be sufficient to orient the sericite parallel to the sulfide con- tact. A lew bands of gouge, ranging from a thin film to a foot in thickness, are found in the massive sulfide ore Ihese are composed of soft, sticky clav and have sharp contacts with the massive sulfide ore. They appear to be unreplaced prcmincral bands of gouge. The ore along the No. (J fault on the 870-foot level ( pi. - ! is in sharp contact with unmineralized fault gouge up to a foot thick, except in the vicinity of No. 6 adit At this locality the contact is sharp but irregular and does not lie against the fault, and the massive sulfide ore has smooth, curved contacts with porphyritic rhyolite There is no gouge at the contact and no evidence of movement although a claylike alteration of the porphyry a few milli- meters thick occurs at a few contacts. A bed of tuff and volcanic breccia overlies the gossan ;,( the outcrop of the ore body, but it is found in the stopes only in the southwestern and (less definitely) in the northeastern parts of the mine. Well-bedded shaly tuff occurs in the back of the stop,, on the' 830-foot level and materia] closely resembling the volcanic breccia occurs in the back of the stope on the 870-foot level. En the latter stope the fragments of porphyritic rhyolite in the ore at its upper contact closely resemble the volcanic breccia exposed at the surface (fig. 4, A). In addition, the massive sulfide ore. now represented by gossan, replaced tuff am volcanic breccia in the vicinity of cross section C-C a the surface. The fragments of porphyritic rhvolite in the ore (fig. 4, B) have been interpreted by some observers as a breccia formed by replacement along fractures but the fragments are not of uniform rock type, nor do they have the same type of alteration. Some fragments are silicified contain no sulfide minerals, and have sharp, smooth boun- daries. Other fragments are soft and are replaced by pyrite, sericite, and clay minerals. The soft fragments commonly have gradational boundaries against massive sulfide ore. The fragments of porphyritic rhyolite in the ore in the lower part of the breccia are alined parallel to the ore contact. It seems probable that the breccia fragments in the ore represent unreplaced fragments in the volcanic brec- cia-tuff bed and that this bed caps the ore in both the northeastern and southwestern stopes. The tuff bed can thus be expected to lie a short distance above the ore in the central part of the mine unless it pinches out between the outcrop and the stopes. The openings that served as channels for the ore- i forming solutions have not been located. No. 3, No. 5, and No. 12 faults are mineralized, but only near the gossan No. 12 fault contained up to 4 feet of massive sulfide ore which is now oxidized to gossan, along the fault below the bottom of the main ore body (fig. 4, C) , but the massive sulfide changes to slightly mineralized rock less than 50 feet below the ore body. One or all of these faults may have been feeders to the ore body, but it is equally prob- able, as suggested by R. T. Walker and W. J. Walker 8 that ore solutions traveling horizontally would tend to work out along premineral faults of this type, which would then simulate feeder-channels in appearance. OXIDATION AND ENRICHMENT The gossan that formed from oxidation of the massive sulfide ore extends from the outcrop of the ore body into the wall of the canyon a distance of 30 to 50 feet. Steep topography and a shaly tuff cover have prevented exten- sive oxidation of the ore, and relict nodules of massive sulfide ore occur in the gossan less than 10 feet from the surface. The gossan is solid and resistant to erosion. It is composed of dense to slightly porous limonite that con- tains minor septa of secondary silica forming a coarse silica sponge m the limonite. No collapsed breccia was seen in the gossan, and there is little transported limonite. The rhyolite below the gossan is iron-stained along fractures, but it is not extensively replaced by limonite. No assays are available on the gold content of the gossan. On the basis of experience at other mines in the district, it can be assumed that the gossan contains about twice as much gold as the primary ore because of residual enrichment of gold. The weight of the gossan is roughly half that of the massive sulfide ore, and little or no leach- ing of gold occurs in gossans of this type elsewhere in the district/' Secondary copper minerals are rare, but a little chal- cocite occurs in the sulfide ore just below the gossan in the No. 8 adit. "Personal communication. "Kmkel, A. R., Jr., and Albers, J. P., op. cit. Shasta King Mine, Shasta County 11 REFERENCES piderson, A. L., Some pseudo-euteetic ore structures : Econ. Geol., vol. 2!>, pp. 577-58!), 1934. >iller. J. S., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas. Redding folio (no. 138), 1'MHi. ■ raton, I/. ("., The copper deposits of Shasta County, California: l\ S. Geol. Survey Bull. 4:t<>, pp. 71-111, 1909. Hinds, X. K. A., Jurassic age of the last granitoid intrusive* in the Klamath Mountains, California : Am. .lour. Sci., 5th scr. vol. 27, pp. 183-192, 1934. Kinkel, A. R., Jr., and Alhcrs, J. 1'., Geology of the massive sul- fide deposits at Iron Mountain, Shasta County, California: Cali- fornia l)iv. Mines Special Kept. 14, 1951. Lindgren, W., 1'seudo-eutectic textures : Kcon. Geol., vol. 25, pp. 1-13, 1930. 43982 9-51 2M \ DIVISION OF MINES OLAF P. JENKINS, CHIEF GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE SHASTA KING MINE, SHASTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 25 feet ;ea level Geology by A R Kinkel, Jr , ond W E Hon, 1950 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY LOWER LEVELS GEOLOGIC MAPS OF UNDERGROUND WORKINGS, SHASTA KING MINE, SHASTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA CROSS SECTION A-A CROSS SECTION E-E EXPLANATION S3 Tuff ond volcanic brecci Chlonlizod rhyolite IB Nonporphynlic rhyolite observed projected CROSS SECTION B-B CROSS SECTION F-F Massive sulfide < CROSS SECTION C-C' Idoshed where approximately locored) Probable fault a a Underground worhing (doshed where promoted) (dotted where coved) LONGITUDINAL SECTION G-G CROSS SECTION D-D' LONGITUDINAL SECTION H-H 1 SECTIONS OF THE SHASTA KING MINE, SHASTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA *