Latouche Beatson Copper Co.

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Copper, Silver, Gold, Zinc, Lead
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Host and associated rocks
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Ore body information
  11. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Ownership information
  16. Workings at the site
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10000455
MRDS ID A010628
Record type Site
Current site name Latouche Beatson Copper Co.
Alternate or previous names Mines: Beatson-Bonanza, Latouche, Kennecott Copper Corp., Prospects: Blackbird, Chinega
Related records 10185544

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -147.88668, 60.04455 (WGS84)
Elevation 137

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Valdez-Cordova(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Seward A-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Seward SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Seward(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Resurrection River-Frontal Resurrection Bay(hydrologic unit)

Prince William Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Chenega Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Chugach 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

Comments on the location information

  • DEPOSIT NUMBER IS THE MAP LOCATION NUMBER FROM MF-880A. LAND STATUS VALUE CALCULATED 6-94 USING GIS OVERLAY ANALYSIS WITH BLM 1:2,500,000 SCALE OWNERSHIP STATUS MAP (1991).

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Silver Secondary
Gold Tertiary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Lead Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Cubanite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Silver Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Ankerite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Pyrrhotite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Siderite Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Porphyry > Lamprophyre
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
    Rock unit name Orca Group;Orca Group;Orca Group
    Rock description Orca Group;Orca Group;Orca Group

Nearby scientific data

(1) -147.88668, 60.04455

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Beatson Fault Locally Strikes N5e, Dips 60w. Sediments In Area Oriented N20, 65-70w

Ore body information

  • General form LENS
    Strike NE
    Dip W
    Thickness 121.92M
    Length 304.8M
    Width 152.4M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Ore Bodies Are Located On Footwall Of Beatson Fault

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant No
Discovery year 1897
Year of first production 1904
Year of last production 1930

Mining district

District name Prince William Sound District

Land status

Ownership category National Park

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Kennecott Copper Corp.

Comments on the production information

  • SILVER VALUES ARE QUESTIONABLE. PRODUCTION FOR 1916 IS SUM OF LINES 6 AND 7.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • WHEN MINE CLOSED IN 1930, ALL THEN ECONOMICALLY VIABLE ORE (71.5% CU) WAS MINED OUT. AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF LOWER GRADE MATERIAL REMAINS.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Length 16093M
    Overall depth 152.4M

Comments on the workings information

  • UP TO 10 MILES OF WORKINGS ON 5 LEVELS.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    USGS BULLETIN 662, P. 204-206, 208-209

  • Deposit

    THE COPPER HANDBOOK, V. 14, 1920: HOUGHTON, MICH., W.H. WEED, P. 154

  • Deposit

    ECONOMIC GEOLOGY V. 19. NO 4, 1924 P. 338-368

  • Deposit

    USGS BULLETIN 963, P. 63-65

  • Deposit

    USGS MISCELLANEOUS FIELD STUDIES 880-A, LOCATION 254-256

  • Deposit

    USGS OPEN FILE 80-621, P. 137-138

  • Deposit

    D. SINGER PERSONAL COMMUNICATION 1984

  • Production

    THE COPPER HANDBOOK, V. 14, 1920: HOUGHTON, MICH., W.H. WEED, P.154; D. SINGER UNPUB. DATA, 1984.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit MAIN ORE BODY (BEATSON) IS A LENS OF DISSEMINATED ORE ALONG THE FOOTWALL OF THE BEATSON FAULT. THE ORE BODY IS BOUNDED ON THE EAST ONLY BY THE LIMIT OF ITS ECONOMIC VIABILITY, AS THE DISSEMINATED LODE GRADES INTO COUNTRY ROCK AND ON THE WEST BY THE FAULT ITSELF. POCKETS OF PARTICULARLY RICH ORE WERE LOCATED PROXIMAL TO FAULT. THE CHINEGA AND BLACKBIRD ORE BODIES OCCUR TO THE NORTH ALONG THE SAME TREND AND ARE OF SIMILAR MORPHOLOGY AND MINERALOGY, THOUGH MUCH SMALLER AND PERHAPS SOMEWHAT RICHER (TOWARDS MASSIVE). INTERPRETED TO BE CYPRUS TYPE MASSIVE SULFIDE (D. SINGER, PERSONAL COMMUNICATION, 1984)
Deposit THIS SITE NAME WAS CREATED BY THE REPORTER OR OTHER USGS EMPLOYEE BASED ON PROXIMITY TO SOME MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC FEATURE.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-1984 Hirschmann, M. M. (Elliott, R. L.) U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 13-APR-1994 Mosier, Dan U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.