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Camp Six

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity Molybdenum
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10000271
MRDS ID A010315
Record type Site
Current site name Camp Six
Alternate or previous names Huff's Prospect, Nelson Glacier, Whistlepig

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -132.05573, 56.51169 (WGS84)
Relative position The coordinates are for the approximate center of a two-square-mile area of molybdenum prospects and drill sites that extends from near the junction of Groundhog Basin with Porterfield Creek, to the vicinity of Peak 4362, and then continues some uncertain distance under Nelson Glacier.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Wade Hampton(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Petersburg C-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Petersburg N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Petersburg(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Southern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Tongass National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Molybdenum Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Molybdenite Ore
Fluorite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Topaz Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 50
USGS model code 16
Deposit model name Climax Mo

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite

Nearby scientific data

(1) g
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rocks in the area of the prospects include Tertiary to Cretaceous biotite schist, biotite-garnet-quartz schist, quartzofeldspathic gneiss, and minor marble and calcsilicate gneiss (Brew, 1997 [OF 97-156-H]). The schist and paragneiss are intruded by a swarm of variously oriented rhyolite sills and dikes up to several hundred feet thick. Unpublished K-Ar radiometric dates on samples collected by an exploration company in the 1980's indicate that the rhyolite is no older than 20 m.y. Locally, the rhyolite displays prominent igneous brecciation. A few quartz veins are also present, and a large Cretaceous tonalite pluton that intrudes the metamorphic section to the east. The deposits may also be genetically related to a 15-17 Ma zinnwaldite 'tin' granite plug at the north end of the site (Newberry and Brew, 1989). The area also is transected by the Coast Range megalineament, a prominent northwest-trending topographic depression that has been traced for the length of southeastern Alaska.? Almost no information has been published on the Mo exploration in this area and this description is largely pieced together from informal discussions with a number of involved parties. At least two major companies and a number of individual prospectors have explored the area. A mineral subsidiary of a large oil company established a large camp in the late 70's on the ridge about a mile southwest of Peak 4362 and drilled a number of holes in the vicinity, some through the ice of Nelson Glacier. AMAX Exploration had a camp for several years in the mid-80's near the mouth of Groundhog Basin creek and drilled a number of deep diamond drill holes stretching from the vicinity of that camp (in about the center of section 1, T. 62 S, R. 86 E.) to at least the prominent cirque at the head of Groundhog Basin Creek (in section 7); this included several holes on the east side of Groundhog Basin creek among the base-metal 'ore beds' of the Groundhog Basin deposit (see PE040). A block of 295 claims was staked in 1963 (U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1980) and much or all of the area was probably covered by claims well into the 1980's . There has been little or no drilling in the area since the mid-80's. Some claims are probably still active in 1998 and there has been occasional prospecting by various companies and individual prospectors to the present (1998). ? Despite extensive exploration for molybdenite, and the widespread felsic dikes and sills, apparently little molybdenite has been found at the surface in the prospect area. An exception is at 'Huff's Adit,' at an elevation of about 3,500 feet on the wall of the cirque at the head of Groundhog Basin creek, where molybdenite can be found on the dump. Fluorite and topaz are not uncommon throughout the area, but rarely are present in quantity. Apparently the model for the exploration programs was to test for a deep molybdenum orebody; many of the drill holes reportedly were very deep.
  • Age = 15-20 Ma (see geologic description).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active?

Mining district

District name Petersburg

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = None

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Almost no information has been published on the Mo exploration in this area and this description is largely pieced together from informal discussions with a number of involved parties. At least two major companies and a number of individual prospectors have explored the area. A mineral subsidiary of a large oil company established a large camp in the late 70's on the ridge about a mile southwest of Peak 4362 and drilled a number of holes in the vicinity, some through the ice of Nelson Glacier. AMAX Exploration had a camp for several years in the mid-80's near the mouth of Groundhog Basin creek and drilled a number of deep diamond drill holes stretching from the vicinity of that camp (in about the center of section 1, T. 62 S, R. 86 E.) to at least the prominent cirque at the head of Groundhog Basin Creek (in section 7); this included several holes on the east side of Groundhog Basin creek among the base-metal 'ore beds' of the Groundhog Basin deposit (see PE040). A block of 295 claims was staked in 1963 (U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1980). There has been little or no drilling in the area since the mid-80's. Some claims are probably still held in 1998 and there has been occasional prospecting by various companies and individual prospectors to the present (1998).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1980, Claim map, Petersburg quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Map 117, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Brew, D. A., Ovenshine, A. T., Karl, S. M., and Hunt, S. J., 1984, Preliminary reconnaissance geologic map of the Petersburg and parts of the Port Alexander and Sumdum 1:250,000 quadrangles, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-405, 43 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Grybeck, D.J., Berg, H.C., and Karl, S.M., 1984, Map and description of the mineral deposits in the Petersburg and eastern Port Alexander quadrangles: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-837, 86 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Newberry, R.J., and Brew, D.A., 1989, Epigenetic hydrothermal origin of the Groundhog Basin-Glacier Basin silver-tin-lead-zinc deposits, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1903, p. 113-121.

  • Deposit

    Brew, D.A., 1997, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Petersburg C-1 quadrangle, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-156-H, 23 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Grybeck, Berg, and Karl, 1984

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Climax Mo? (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 16)
Deposit Other Comments = 'Camp Six' was the name used for the exploration camp that was active in the late 1970's on the ridge about a mile southwest of Peak 4362 ; in descriptions of the exploration drilling, the property was often referred to as the Nelson Glacier prospect. The name 'Whistlepig' is a name commonly given to this prospect in 1998. Huff's Prospect is the name of the prospect and adit high on the wall of the prominent cirque at the northeast end of Groundhog Basin creek. The prospect is at an elevation of about 3600 feet in about the center of the west half of sec. 7, T. 62 S., R. 85 E.; it was found by Bill Huff, a prospector, probably in the 1970's.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1998 H.C. Berg U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 01-NOV-1998 D.J. Grybeck U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

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