The Ivanhoe Mine was discovered in 1896. In 1897, a 20-stamp mill was installed and a 5,700-foot tramway was constructed. By 1902, the mine had produced 340 ounces of gold from 3,500 tons of ore. The mine has 1,100 feet of workings and 2 stoped areas, 6 adits, 1 crosscut, and a 100-foot shaft.

The Ivanhoe mine developed a quartz vein entirely contained in metamorphosed basalt, unlike most other veins in the Berners Bay district, which are typically are hosted in Jualin Diorite. The vein trends northerly to northwesterly and dips 35 to 55 East. It varies from 1 foot to 9 feet thick and has been traced on the surface for 1,500 feet along strike. The contact between the vein and the metabasalt is sheared and fragments of basalt are common in the vein. Pyrite and chalcopyrite occur in the vein as small clots or thin bands. Native copper occurs in the deeper stopes as dendrites on fractures in the quartz. This is the only occurrence of native copper in the Juneau Gold Belt (Redman and others, 1989). U.S. Bureau of Mines samples contained up to 0.14% copper and 15 ppm gold. Their weighted average over 4.3 feet was 2.3 ppm gold and 5.9 ppm silver. (Redman and others, 1989).