Shoshone's Silver Valley Properties
The Silver Valley has been one of the world's leading silver, zinc and lead producing areas. The USGS reports approximately 1.2 billion ounces of silver, 3.2 million tons of zinc and 8 million tons of lead having been mined from the area. The Valley hosts the famous Sunshine, Bunker Hill, Morning-Star, and Lucky Friday mines.
Our Shoshone and Bullion claim groups are located within the Silver Valley in the St. Joe Mining District of eastern Shoshone County, along the Montana border. The properties are comprised of twelve patented claims and cover several prospect pits and other historic mine workings.
The rocks in Shoshone's Silver Valley claim groups belong to the Precambrian lower Wallace formation, consisting of light gray dolomitic quartzite interbedded with greenish-gray argillites. Ripple marks and mud cracks are visible on bedding surfaces. These rocks are intruded by Tertiary aged diabase dikes. Both claim groups are located within a fault block bounded by the Osburn fault to the north and the Placer Creek fault to the south, and covers three vein structures known as the Champion, Helena and Link veins. The Champion vein extends from the Springfield Mine to the Bullion Mine six miles to the east, passing though both the Shoshone and Bullion properties.
Anaconda Drill Rig
Shoshone Group
The Shoshone claim group was the subject of considerable interest and speculation in the early 1980s as Anaconda Minerals drilled the property. Surface outcroppings, including a vein structure 7,000 feet long and up to 80 feet wide, along with “enormous geological anomalies” shown in soil and vegetation sampling by the USGS, led geologists to believe that substantial silver mineralization might be found at depth.
Anaconda drilled four exploratory holes near the property boundary shared with Stevens Peak Mining, in an effort to locate a site for deeper drilling. One of the holes was sufficiently encouraging to justify its continuation and was planned to extend to depths reaching 6,000 feet, targeting the Champion Vein, deep in the Revett Formation. However, the planned hole was collared at just over 3,000 feet and although core samples confirmed earlier projections about geology and structure at depth, the program was never completed.
Bear Creek Mining Company leased the Shoshone group property in 1981. The company conducted surface geological and geochemical surveying. In 2002, Shoshone re-evaluated the Shoshone Group of claims.
Bullion Group
The Bullion Property covers the Bullion Mine workings, located on the Champion Vein.
Bear Creek Mining Company leased the Bullion Group property in 1981. The company conducted surface geological and geochemical surveying. In 2002, Shoshone Silver Mining Company re-evaluated the Bullion Group of claims.