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Unnamed (near headwaters of Humbolt Creek)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Lead, Copper, Tin, Zinc
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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. Alteration
  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 10001900
MRDS ID A012728
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (near headwaters of Humbolt Creek)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.49342, 65.80934 (WGS84)
Relative position This occurrence is on the north side of the ridge overlooking the main west headwater tributary to Humbolt Creek. Humbolt Creek is a northeast-flowing tributary to Goodhope River. It is at an elevation of 1,460 feet adjacent to a flat spot on the ridge and 5,300 feet north of the continental divide. This is locality 2 of Cobb (1972; MF 417; 1975; OFR 429).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bendeleben D-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Bendeleben NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Bendeleben(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Goodhope-Spafarief Bay(hydrologic unit)

Northern Seward Peninsula(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bering Land Bridge National Preserve(National Preserve)

National Preserve NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

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

Comments on the commodity information

  • Gangue = Iron oxides

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Quartz veining and oxidation of iron-bearing sulfide minerals is common along a high angle fault zone.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Rock unit name Donatut Granite Complex
    Rock description Donatut Granite Complex
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone

Nearby scientific data

(1) -164.49342, 65.80934
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = This occurrence is poorly exposed at the break in slope on the north side of the ridge overlooking the main west headwater tributary to Humbolt Creek. It appears to be associated with an altered fault zone that trends N 50 W and contains veins, veinlets, stringers and disseminations of quartz and iron oxide staining over a distance of at least 2,500 feet (Sainsbury and others, 1970; Hudson, 1979). The fault zone and related mineralization is in lower Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks. This fault appears to mark the boundary between Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks and polydeformed, metapelitic schist that may be Precambrian in age (Till and others, 1986). Float of argentiferous galena was sampled from an old caved prospect pit at this locality. This sample contained 0.8 ppm Au, 5,000 ppm Ag, 700 ppm As, 9 ppm Hg, 3,000 ppm cu, greater than 20,000 ppm Pb, 1,500 ppm Sb, greater than 1,500 ppm Sn, 150 ppm Mo, and 3,000 ppm Zn. Samples of frost-heaved bedrock taken over a 1,000 by 200 feet area contained anomalous levels of Au, Ag, Pb, Hg, As, Mo, Sb, Sn, Cu, and Zn (Sainsbury and others, 1970). Epigenetic mineralization in this area is interpreted to have developed above buried parts of the Oonatut Granite Complex. The Oonatut Granite, exposed 2.5 miles to the northwest, is part of the western Seward Peninsula tin granite suite (Hudson and Arth, 1983). The polymetallic character of this mineralization may be reflective of the lead-zinc zone in tin deposit systems (Hudson, 1979).
  • Age = Probably Late Cretaceous; this occurrence is probably related to emplacement and crystallization of the Oonatut Granite Complex. K/Ar ages for the Oonatut Granite Complex are about 70 my (Hudson, 1979).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairhaven; Serpentine Hot Springs

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Shallow hand-dug prospect pits are present.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Sainsbury and others, 1970

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic quartz and sulfide-bearing veins and stringers along a fault zone in metasedimentary rocks

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 15-MAR-1999 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

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