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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Ikalooksik River

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodity Copper
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Nearby scientific data
  7. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  8. Mining district
  9. Links to other databases
  10. Bibliographic references
  11. General comments
  12. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10003564
MRDS ID A106322
Record type Site
Current site name Ikalooksik River

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -171.50321, 63.53912 (WGS84)
Relative position The Ikalooksik River flows northward to Niyrakpak Lagoon on northwest St. Lawrence Island. This site includes the drainage area of the principal course of the river where stream sediments collected over a length of 8 miles have low but consistently anomalous amounts of copper. It was not identified as a separate locality by Cobb (1972, 1980).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Saint Lawrence C-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Saint Lawrence NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Saint Lawrence(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

St. Lawrence Island(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -171.50321, 63.53912
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Stream sediments collected along the main drainage of the Ikalooksik River, over a distance of 8 miles, have low but anomalous levels of copper, vanadium, nickel, and manganese. Of the 21 stream sediment samples along this drainage, 18 have 100 to 150 ppm copper, all have 300 to 1,000 ppm vanadium, all have 30 to 100 ppm Ni, and 20 contain 1,500 to 5,000 ppm Mn (Patton and Csejtey, 1972). Nineteen of these samples have chromium values between 100 and 300 ppm. These widespread slightly elevated metal values probably reflect a general characteristic of the bedrock in the drainage area. ??The bedrock in this drainage is a Triassic to Permian age assemblage characterized by gabbro and diabase intrusions (Patton and Csejtey, 1980). Gabbro samples from this assemblage along the Okok River (see SL012) contain disseminated chalcopyrite and up to 700 ppm copper (Patton and Csejtey, 1971, p. C15). Samples of gabbro from along the Ikalooksik River are not available but the slightly elevated metal contents in stream sediments throughout this drainage probably reflect the presence of gabbro intrusions here.?
  • Age = Original, disseminated sulfide minerals in gabbro would be Triassic to Permian in age based on the results of two K/Ar age determinations on associated intrusive rocks (221 +/- 7 and 244 +/- 7 Ma; Patton and Csejtey, 1980).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Bering Sea

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Of the 21 stream sediment samples along this drainage, 18 have 100 to 150 ppm copper, all have 300 to 1,000 ppm vanadium, all have 30 to 100 ppm Ni, and 20 contain 1,500 to 5,000 ppm Mn (Patton and Csejtey, 1972). Nineteen of these samples have chromium values between 100 and 300 ppm.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Patton, W.W., Jr., and Csejtey, Bela, Jr., 1971, Preliminary geologic investigations of western St. Lawrence Island, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 684-C, p. C1-C15.

  • Deposit

    Patton, W.W., Jr., and Csejtey, Bela, Jr., 1972, Analyses of stream sediment and rock samples from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 1966-1971: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 72-293, 78 p.

  • Deposit

    Patton, W.W., Jr., and Csejtey, Bela, Jr., 1980, Geologic map of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigation Series Map I-1203, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1980, Summaries of data and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in fifteen quadrangles in southwestern and west-central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-909, 103 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Saint Lawrence quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-465, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Patton and Csejtey, 1972

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Disseminated sufide minerals in gabbro.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-SEP-1998 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.