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Copper Creek

Prospect 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. 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 10094064
MRDS ID A012795
Record type Site
Current site name Copper Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.17998, 64.88013 (WGS84)
Relative position The Copper Creek occurrence is in the valley of Copper Creek about 0.6 mile above the confluence of Copper Creek and Nugget Creek. Nugget Creek is a east tributary to lower Grand Central River. Copper Creek heads on hill 2160. The occurrence is at an elevation of about 800 feet. It is locality 5 of Hummel (1962 [MF 248]) and locality 17 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).

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-1(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)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Azurite Ore
Bornite Ore
Malachite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Marble is bleached and contains bornite and secondary copper carbonate minerals in silica-rich zones, and oxidation.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.17998, 64.88013
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = An incline was driven on mineralized marble on the east side of Copper Creek; it showed roughly stratabound bornite and copper carbonate minerals in bleached marble with silica-rich zones (Cathcart, 1922). Nearby schist is cut by sulfide-bearing quartz-calcite veins. Country rock at the Copper Creek occurrence is dominantly graphitic and calcareous schist with some marble layers. Locally, marble has been bleached from a characteristic blue-gray color to white. One zone about 12 feet thick has been bleached; in other places altered white marble alternates with less altered bluish marble to form a banded unit (Cathcart, 1922, p. 219-220). The rocks mainly strike northeast and dip southeast (Hummel, 1962 [MF 248]). Near the prospect, marble layers as much as 100 feet thick are interlayered with schist. This prospect appears to have similarities to several other copper-bearing deposits in the eastern Teller quadrangle (for example, the Ward mine, Hudson, 1998, TE071) and in the western Solomon quadrangle (for example, the Wheeler mine, Hudson, 1999, SO172).? the metamorphic rocks here are part of the Nome Group derived from Precambrian to early Paleozoic protoliths (Thurston, 1985; Till and Dumoulin, 1994). The Nome Group 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 (Hudson and Arth, 1983; Miller and Hudson, 1991; Miller and others, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995; Hannula and others, 1995; Hudson, 1994; Amato and others, 1994; Amato and Wright, 1997, 1998). Lode gold mineralization on Seward Peninsula is mostly related to the higher temperature metamorphism in the mid-Cretaceous (Apodoca, 1994; Ford, 1993 [thesis]; Ford and Snee, 1996; Goldfarb and others, 1997). The origin of the nearly stratabound copper deposits is enigmatic. They could have formed in the Proterozoic, Paleozoic or, as replacement deposits, in the Mesozoic.
  • Age = Late Proterozoic, early Paleozoic, or mid-Cretaceous.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Early prospecting occurred here before 1913 (Moffit, 1913); an adit had been driven about 25 feet and abandoned. Cathcart (1922) reported a shallow shaft and incline were opened on the west side of the creek; about 200 feet to the east, the zone was explored with an incline. When visited by Cathcart, the incline was filled with ice at a depth of about 20 feet.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cathcart, 1922

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Carbonate-hosted, sulfide-bearing silica-rich rock.

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.