Whalen and Nelson

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

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10307372
Record type Site
Current site name Whalen and Nelson

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -146.14852, 60.8096 (WGS84)
Relative position This prospect is at an elevation of about 900 feet about 1.5 miles east-southeast of the head of Whalen Bay. It is in the SE1/4 sec. 20, T. 12 S., R. 5 W., of the Copper River Meridian. The location is accurate within 1000 ft. This prospect is site C-59 in Jansons and others (1984) and #22 in Cobb (1972: MF-392).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Valdez-Cordova(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Cordova D-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Cordova NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Cordova(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Eastern Prince William Sound(hydrologic unit)

Prince William Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Chugach National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 91
USGS model code 24b
Deposit model name Massive sulfide, Besshi (Japanese deposits)
Mark3 model number 30

Nearby scientific data

(1) -146.14852, 60.8096

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rock at this prospect is graywacke and slate of the Tertiary Orca Group (Nelson and others, 1985). Grant and Higgins (1909) reported a resistant band of nonslaty rock containing irregular stringers and disseminated grains of chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite. The band is up to 12 ft. wide, averages 2-4 feet wide, and is traceable for a 'considerable' distance.
  • Age = Probably Tertiary based on the age of the host rocks.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Copper River

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = One adit and surface stripping reported by Grant and Higgins (1909). Site could not be found in the 1980s (Jansons and others, 1984).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Grant and Higgins, 1909

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Besshi massive sulfide (?) (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 24b)
Deposit Other Comments = Crowe and others (1992; 1993) and Sainsbury (1993) discuss the genesis of the volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in this area.. The prospect is in the Chugach National Forest.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-00 S.W. Nelson U.S. Geological Survey

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.