1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Unnamed (near 'Fluorite Creek')

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Fluorine-Fluorite, Silver, Molybdenum
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
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 10002105
MRDS ID A012968
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (near 'Fluorite Creek')

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.97832, 64.91234 (WGS84)
Relative position Fluorite Creek was a local name assigned by Sainsbury, Kachadoorian, and Smith (1970) to an upper tributary to Tisuk River in the NW1/4 section 4, T. 7 S., R. 36 W., Kateel River Meridian. The occurrence is at an elevation of about 1,800 feet and located within about 1,000 feet of the coordinates.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome D-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Fluorine-Fluorite Critical Primary
Silver Secondary
Molybdenum Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Fluorite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Fluorite and silica replacement.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Marble

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.97832, 64.91234
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Fluorite was found in two breccia pipes at this locality (Sainsbury, Kachadoorian, and Smith, 1970). The easternmost pipe is 40 to 60 percent fluorite and 20 feet wide; it consists of a central core of crystalline fluorite surrounded by a margin of banded silica and fluorite with pyrite. Locally this breccia is silicified, pyritized, and cemented by fluorite. The central fluorite-rich core is cut by iron-stained veinlets 0.25 to 0.5 inch thick. The second pipe, located 350 feet west of the first, is smaller and more pyritized and contains a higher percentage of silicified breccia. A large fault, spatially associated with the pipes, is marked by a 30- to 40-foot-wide jasperoid containing a few percent fluorite. A sample of the pyrite-bearing jasperoid breccia contained 3 ppm silver and 70 ppm molybdenum; no gold was detected. The wall rock along normal faults in the general area are mineralized with pyrrhotite, pyrite, and traces of other sulfides.? Mid-Cretaceous granite stocks and felsic dikes are common in the western Kigluaik Mountains where they intrude amphibolite facies metasedimentary schist and gniess (Sainsbury, Smith, and Kachadoorian, 1972). The metasedimentary rocks are derived from a late Proterozoic or early Paleozoic protolith (Till and Dumoulin, 1994; Hannula and others, 1995), perhaps correlative with parts of the Nome Group. Like the Nome Group, these rocks probably underwent regional blueschist facies metamorphism in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous (Sainsbury, Coleman, and Kachadoorian, 1970; Forbes and others, 1984; Thurston, 1985; Armstrong and others, 1986; Hannula and McWilliams, 1995). The blueschist facies rocks were recrystallized to greenschist facies or higher metamorphic grades in conjunction with regional extension, crustal melting, and magmatism in the mid-Cretaceous (Miller and Hudson, 1991; Miller and others, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995; Hannula and others, 1995; Hudson and Arth, 1983; Hudson, 1994; Amato and others, 1994; Amato and Wright, 1997, 1998). Uplift of the higher temperature metamorphic rocks took place in the mid- to Late Cretaceous and in the Eocene (Calvert, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995).
  • Age = Cretaceous; breccias crosscut mid-Cretaceous amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks and may be related to Cretaceous granitic rocks in the area.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Non-metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Only natural surface exposures are present.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Sainsbury, Kachadoorian, and Smith, 1970

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Fluorite breccia pipe in amphibolite facies metasedimentary rocks.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 22-OCT-99 Hawley, C.C. Hawley Resource Group
Reporter 22-OCT-99 Travis L. Hudson Hawley Resource Group

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.