Unnamed (Big Hurrah Creek)

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  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 10001787
MRDS ID A012591
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (Big Hurrah Creek)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.25438, 64.66042 (WGS84)
Relative position This prospect is about 3/4 mile northwest of the Big Hurrah mine on the ridge east of Trilby Creek. It is at about 350 feet elevation and 1/2 mile north of big Hurrah Creek. It is locality 18 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Solomon C-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Solomon(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Solomon Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Silicification.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) DOnx

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Quartz vein in graphitic schist with pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, and free gold. Three shafts and several trenches were caved in 1920 (Cathcart, 1922). The alignment of the trenches may indicate a N to NE strike, and dump samples contained up to 0.17 ounces Au per ton and 0.04 percent Cu (Asher, 1969, DGGS R33). The country rock is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage that includes a distinctive black, very fine-grained, graphitic schist (Sainsbury and others, 1972, OFR 511; Till and others, 1986).? This quartz vein may be similar in age to some other gold-quartz veins of southern Seward Peninsula. The southern Seward Peninsula lode gold deposits formed as a result of mid-Cretaceous metamorphism (Apodoca, 1994; Ford, 1993, Ford and Snee, 1996; Goldfarb and others, 1997) that accompanied regional extension (Miller and Hudson, 1991) and crustal melting (Hudson, 1994). This higher temperature metamorphism was superimposed on high pressure/low temperature metamorphic rocks of the region.
  • Age = Cretaceous

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = There were about a dozen trenches, 5 to 30 feet long and 3 to 4 feet deep, and three shafts that were caved and water filled in 1920.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cathcart, 1922

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Gold-quartz vein in metamorphic rocks; low sulfide-Au quartz vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 19-AUG-1999 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

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.