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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Unnamed (near the mouth of Crillon Inlet to Lituya Bay)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Copper, Nickel, Silver, Gold, Cobalt
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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 10002221
MRDS ID A013123
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (near the mouth of Crillon Inlet to Lituya Bay)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -137.48601, 58.65665 (WGS84)
Relative position The occurrence is approximately 0.2 mile south of triangulation station Berg at the mouth of Crillon Inlet to Lituya Bay at an inferred elevation of about 800 feet. A float sample was collected near 58.658 and 137.484 at the base of the cliff, and this is the location shown as number 1 of Kimball and others (1978), number 84 of MacKevett and others (1971) and location 1 of Cobb (1972). Kennedy and Walton (1946) report a stained gabbroic rock on the southwest shore of the southeast arm of Lituya Bay, presumably the same--and original location--of the occurrence.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Hoonah-Angoon(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

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

Mount Fairweather NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Mount Fairweather(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Glacier Bay(hydrologic unit)

Northern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Glacier Bay National Park(National Park)

National Park NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Nickel Critical Primary
Silver Secondary
Gold Secondary
Cobalt Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = pyrrhotite (nickeliferous)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Goethite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Nickel Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Limonitic staining.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -137.48601, 58.65665
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Disseminated sulfide minerals (chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite) occur in gabbro about 0.6 mile southwest of the Fairweather fault within the eastern part of the Lituya terrane defined by Brew and others (1978). The eastern part of the Lituya terrane is similar to the adjacent Fairweather terrane in abundance of intrusive rocks and presence of schistose metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.? Mineralized (iron-stained) float was at the base of a cliff by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Kimball and others, 1978, p. C93). Earlier Kennedy and Walton (1946, p. 71) had reported a gabbro dike, that contained about 1 percent chalcopyrite, also, pyrrhotite, cut granitic rock near the same location. Kimball and others (1978, p. C93) reported that the iron-stained float in scree contained as much as 1600 ppm copper, 2000 ppm nickel, 300 ppm cobalt and traces of gold and silver. Visible minerals in the scree float were quartz, chlorite, epidote, hornblende, pyrite and secondary goethite. The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigators observed a conspicuous iron-stained zone on the cliff that they inferred could be the dike reported by Kennedy and Walton, but they did not have time to investigate the possible source.
  • Age = Tertiary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Yakutat

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Surface exposure, cliff and talus. A float sample of iron-stained altered gabbro(?) from the talus contained 2000 ppm nickel, 1600 ppm copper, 300 ppm cobalt, 1 ppm silver, and 0.15 ppm gold. Kennedy and Walton (1946) reported a gabbro dike from the same area that contained disseminated chalcopyrite.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Kennedy, G.C. and Walton, M.S., Jr., 1946, Geology and associated mineral deposits of some ultrabasic rocks in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 947-D, p. 65-84.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., Brew, D.A., Hawley, C.C., Huff, L.C., and Smith, J.G., 1971, Mineral resources of Glacier Bay National Monument, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 632, 90 p., 12 plates, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Kimball, A.L., Still, J.C., and Rataj, J.L., 1978, Mineral resources, in Brew, D. A., and others, Mineral resources of the Glacier Bay National Monument wilderness study area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-494, p. C1-C375.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Mount Fairweather quadrangle, AK: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Study Map MF-436, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Kennedy and Walton, 1947; Kimball and others, 1978

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Lode: Disseminated copper and nickel(?) sulfide minerals in an altered mafic dike.
Deposit Other Comments = Kimball and others (1978) did not recover the mineralized dike reported earlier by Kennedy and Walton (1946), but they did note iron-stained on the cliff above the mineralized scree at the base of the cliff. The Bureau of Mines party did not have time to examine the stained occurrence. The site is in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 15-DEC-98 Hawley, C.C. 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.