Unnamed (southwest of Sunshine Valley)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Copper
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 10307456
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (southwest of Sunshine Valley)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -159.10269, 59.44931 (WGS84)
Relative position This occurrence is on the ridge southwest of lower Sunshine Valley, near the north end of Lake Aleknagik. It is approximately located, perhaps within a mile. For this record, the map site is at an elevation of 1,000 feet at the head of an unnamed creek, just south of the center of section 25, T 8 S, R 58 W, of the Seward Meridian.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Dillingham(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Goodnews Bay B-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Goodnews Bay SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Goodnews Bay(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Wood River(hydrologic unit)

Nushagak River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Wood-Tikchik State Park(State Park)

State Park ST(Type of land area)

ST(Federal land areas administered by ST)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Pyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Silicification and 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) -159.10269, 59.44931

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The ridge in the area of this occurrence is underlain by two small granitic stocks that sharply crosscut and thermally metamorphose Mesozoic sedimentary country rocks; other plutons may be present in the subsurface of the area (Mertie, 1938; Kilburn and others, 1993). A general area of mineralization and its relation to intrusive rocks on the ridge southwest of Sunshine Valley was originally reported by Mertie (1938, p. 88). This occurrence is in the contact zone of the easternmost of the two exposed plutons. Silicified and oxidized samples of argillite contained anomalous concentrations of Ag, As and Cu (Gray and others, 1992; Kilburn and others, 1993). The contact zone generally is iron-stained and silicified. Weakly mineralized hornfels contains some disseminated pyrite and small quartz-pyrite veinlets. Stream sediment and heavy mineral concentrate in the area contain anomalous concentrations of As, Au, Ba, Bi, Hg, Mo, Pb, Sn, W, and Zn, especially in streams headwatered near the granitic plutons (Cieutat and others, 1988).
  • Age = Late Cretaceous or Early Tertiary. Mineralization is probably related to the granitic plutons in the area, which are part of a regionally extensive Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary plutonic suite. K/Ar ages for samples collected from the western stock on this ridge are 69.5 +/-2.1 Ma on biotite and 63.4 +/- 1.9 Ma on hornblende (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Bristol Bay Region

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Surface reconnaissance geochemical sampling has been completed in the area (Kilburn and others, 1993).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geologic map of the Goodnews and Hagemeister Island quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-B, two sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cieutat, B.A., Goldfarb, R.J., and Specman, W.S., 1988, Analytical results and sample locality map of stream-sediment, heavy-mineral-concentrate, and organic material samples from the Goodnews, Hagemeister Island, and Nushagak quadrangles, southwest Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 88-591, 187 p.

  • Deposit

    Gray, J.E., Adrian, B.M., Hagemon, P.L., and Kilburn, J.E., 1992, Analytical results and sample locality map of rock samples from the eastern Goodnews Bay quadrangle, southwest Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 92-8-A, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Kilburn, J.E., Goldfarb, R.J., Griscom, Andrew, and Box, S E., 1993, Map showing metallic mineral resource potential in the Goodnews Bay, Hagemeister Island, and Nushagak Bay quadrangles, southwest Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2228, 4 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1938, The Nushagak district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 903, 96 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Kilburn and others, 1993

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c)
Deposit Other Comments = This occurrence is within Wood-Tikchik State Park.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 20-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.