Dead Creek

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Copper, Lead, Zinc, Silver
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 10001183
MRDS ID A011888
Record type Site
Current site name Dead Creek
Alternate or previous names Steptoes

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -156.50347, 67.19955 (WGS84)
Relative position Located on ridge north of VABM Riley, east of the Shungnak River in sec. 18, T. 21 N., R. 11 E., Kateel River Meridian. This prospect is shown as locality 41 in Mayfield and Grybeck (1978), but is not correctly located.???

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Northwest Arctic(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Ambler River A-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Ambler River SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ambler River(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle Kobuk River(hydrologic unit)

Kobuk-Selawik Rivers(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Lead Primary
Zinc Critical Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bornite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Sphalerite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 184
USGS model code 28a
Deposit model name Massive sulfide, kuroko
Mark3 model number 93

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Schist
    Rock unit name Ambler Sequence; Adggs Gr 75
    Rock description Ambler Sequence; Adggs Gr 75
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Devonian
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Devonian

Nearby scientific data

(1) -156.50347, 67.19955

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = This deposit consists of coarse disseminated grains and semi-massive lenses of sulfide minerals hosted by south dipping coarse grained quartz-muscovite schist. The schist is interlayered with greenstone(metabasalt) and locally interbedded with thin quartzite beds.The two ore horizons are complexly deformed to pinch and swell structure and are cut off to the east along strike by a discordant body of greenstone. Some concordant greenstone may be tuffaceous or argillaceous dolomite. This schist belt type volcanogenic Cu-Zn deposit is similar to the Arctic deposit (AR025) (unpublished Bear Creek Exploration Report, 1984).
  • Age = Devonian-Mississippian

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Shungnak

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Explored by several diamond drill holes and surface geologic mapping (Nana Development Corporation, written comm., 1997)

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Sichermann and others, 1976

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Kuroko
Deposit Other Comments = New location based on information provided by J.M. Proffett, 1997. Information from Nana Development Corporation (1997) based on 1984 unpublished Bear Creek Exploration report.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 29-APR-1997 K.R. Leonard U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 29-APR-1997 R.L. Elliott U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 29-APR-1997 J.M. Schmidt U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 29-APR-1997 S.W. Nelson U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Authoritative Alaska resources

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