EPITHERMAL GOLD-SILVER MINERALIZATION RELATED TO VOLCANIC SUBSIDENCE IN THE CUSTER GRABEN, CUSTER COUNTY, IDAHO.

The Custer graben is a 13 by 32 km northeast-trending volcano-tectonic graben in the Challis volcanic field of central Idaho. Andesites, rhyolites, and associated pyroclastic rocks host vein and disseminated gold-silver deposits that are localized along discrete northeast- and northwest-trending fracture zones. Ore minerals in vein deposits are electrum, native gold and silver, chalcopyrite, and various sulfosalts in a gangue of pyrite and fine-grained quartz. At the Sunbeam Mine, near the center of the graben, vein and disseminated gold-silver mineralization occurred in hydrothermally altered rhyolite and pyroclastic rocks. The host rock has been pervasively silicified, and the feldspars altered to clay minerals. Analyses of surface and drill-core samples show that altered rocks are variably enriched in gold, silver, molybdenum, arsenic, zirconium, and selenium. Intense silicification is shown by SiO//2 values at high as 93%.