Unnamed (Kipchuk River area)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Copper, Mercury, Lead, Zinc, Tin
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. Mineral occurrence model information
  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 10307257
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (Kipchuk River area)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -159.2928, 60.81933 (WGS84)
Relative position This occurrence is at an elevation of about 2100 feet, about 3.4 miles north of the 'elbow' of Kipchuck River. The map site is in the SW1/4 of sec. 31, T 9 N, R 56 W, of the Seward Meridian. The site corresponds to is locality 7 of Frost (1990, fig. 1). The location is probably accurate within about 1 mile.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bethel D-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Bethel NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Bethel(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Aniak(hydrologic unit)

Lower Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

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

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Quartz Gangue
Tourmaline Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Quartz and tourmaline replacement, oxidation.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Nearby scientific data

(1) -159.2928, 60.81933

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = At this occurrence, waterlain tuff near the base of the Kipchuk volcanic field is partially to completely replaced by quartz and tourmaline (Frost, 1990, p. C4). The altered rocks weather as bright red, vegetation-free areas. Rock samples contain up to 70 ppm Ag, 1,500 ppm As, greater than 2,000 ppm B, 1,000 ppm Cu, 2,000 ppm Pb, 1,500 ppm Sb, 100 ppm Sn, greater than 20,000 ppm Zn, and greater than 36 ppm Hg (Frost, 1990; Frost and others, 1992). Gold was detected at less than 0.05 ppm in one sample. The Kipchuk volcanic field is a large area of Upper Cretaceous andesite, basalt, tuff, and local rhyolite in the uplands between the Kipchuk and Aniak River drainages (Box and others, 1993).
  • Age = Post-Late Cretaceous. Quartz and tourmaline replace volcanic rocks of the Kipchuk volcanic field that locally yield 69 to 71 Ma K/Ar ages (Box and others, 1993).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Aniak

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Reconnaissance surface observation and geochemical sampling has occurred at this site.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Frost, 1990

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 24-MAR-01 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

Beyond USGS

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

Authoritative Alaska resources

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