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Worcester

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. 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 10308433
Record type Site
Current site name Worcester

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.1354, 65.61432 (WGS84)
Relative position This locality is at 2,500 to 2,600 feet on a ridgecrest between headwater tributaries of Henry Creek, a west tributary to the Kougarok River. It is in the east-central Teller C-1 quadrangle, 1 mile south of the Henry Creek occurrence (TE074) and 5.4 miles southeast of the summit of Kougarok Mountain. This is locality 18 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972) although they referred to it as an unnamed occurrence and called their locality 17 the Worcester prospect. The description by Sainsbury and others (1969, p. 22) suggests that this locality is actually the Worcester prospect. Cobb (1975) summarized references to this prospect under the name 'Worcester'.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Teller C-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Bendeleben NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Teller(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Imuruk Basin(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
Malachite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) The development of silica-rich rocks at the base of marble overlying metapelitic rocks, by whatever process, characterizes the deposit.

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.1354, 65.61432
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Silica-rich rocks are present at the base of a marble assemblage overlying schist. Small amounts of copper-bearing sulfide minerals are present in vertical joints and secondary copper staining is present. The occurrence has been explored by two short adits. Because of the presence of observed mineralization and early exploration workings here, this location rather than the locality 1 mile to the north (Cobb and Sainsbury, 1972) is considered the Worcester prospect of Mertie (1918). .Sainsbury and others (1969, p. 37) report spectrographic analyses for four samples from this locality. A selected high-grade sample contained 7.1% copper and 7,000 ppm zinc. Traces of gold and mercury were also reported in these analyses. This occurrence is similar in setting and character to the Ward mine (TE071) north of Kougarok Mountain. The summary characterization of this type of Seward Peninsula mineral deposit by Sainsbury (1975, p. 90-94) contains inconsistencies with some descriptions of these deposits. Their origin is uncertain and other possibilities should be considered. One possiblity is that the silica-rich rocks are quartzites and that there is a stratigraphic control to the Ward deposit and similar occurrences elsewhere on Seward Peininsula. Quarzite at the base of the regional carbonate assemblage is recognized elsewhere in the Kougarok Mountain area (Puchner, 1986, p. 1777).
  • Ore Material = some copper-bearing sulfides
  • Age = Paleozoic ; the silica-rich rocks are apparently metamorphosed and would therefore predate mid-Mesozoic deformation and metamorphism in the region. The associated marbles are probably Paleozoic in age. However, the relation of copper metallization to the genesis of the silica-rich rocks is not clear.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Kougarok

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Not defined

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Two short adits and surface pits are present.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Sainsbury and others, 1969

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Silica-rich rock with minor copper-bearing mineralization at the base of a marble assemblage overlying schist

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-MAY-98 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.