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Ellamar

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Copper, Zinc, Silver, Gold
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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. 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 10308821
MRDS ID A010674
Record type Site
Current site name Ellamar
Alternate or previous names Gladhaugh
Related records 10256117, 10000490

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -146.70104, 60.89519 (WGS84)
Relative position The Ellamar mine is at and below sea level at the Ellamar townsite in Virgin Bay. It is in the SW1/4 sec. 19, T. 11 S., R 8 W., of the Copper River Meridian. The location is accurate to within 100 ft. This prospect is shown as #4 in Cobb (1972: MF-392) and as C-91 in Jansons and others (1984).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Cordova D-8 NE(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Cordova NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Cordova(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

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
Zinc Critical Primary
Silver Secondary
Gold Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bornite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Cubanite Ore
Galena Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Epidote Gangue
Quartz Gangue

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) -146.70104, 60.89519
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rocks at the Ellamar mine are mafic volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks of the Tertiary Orca Group (Nelson and others, 1985). The deposit is associated with pillow basalt and a diabase dike, and consists of steeply-pitching stratabound lenticular sulfide ore bodies in folded and sheared graywacke and slate (argillite). The ore bodies consist chiefly of masses of pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, cubanite, bornite and sphalerite that form lenses up to 240 ft. wide and 500 ft. long. Gangue minerals are calcite, epidote, and quartz. One 35-foot-thick lens of pyrite overlies and is parallel to lenses of other sulfides (Moffit, 1954). Three core holes were drilled in 1955-1956. Hole no. 2 cut 10 ft. of ore containing 0.02% Cu, 0.02 oz. Au/ton, and 0.02 oz. Ag/ton; hole no. 3 cut 28 ft. of pyrite which contained 0.5% Cu, 0.085 oz. Au/ton, and 0.75 oz. Ag/ton (Jansons and others, 1984). Jansons and others (1984) sampled the property in the 1980s. A chip sample assayed 5.4% Cu, and 0.10 oz. Au/ton. A grab sample from the dump contained 50 ppm Cu, 0.006 oz. Au/ton, and 0.2 oz. Ag/ton.
  • Age = Early Tertiary based on the age of the host rocks.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Copper River

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = 15,761,337 lbs. Cu, 51,305 oz. Au, and 191,615 oz. Ag were recoverd from 301,835 tons of ore (Jansons and others, 1984).

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Indicated reserves: 36,000 tons @ 2% Cu, 0.1 oz. Au/ton, and 0.5 oz. Ag/ton. Inferred reserves: 500,000 tons @ 0.5% Cu, 0.085 oz. Au/ton, and 0.75 oz. Ag/ton (Jansons and others, 1984).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The Ellamar mine was developed by about 9300 feet of underground workings on eight levels, with connecting stopes between the levels. It was mined from about 1897 to 1920 when the workings flooded. Three core holes were drilled in 1955-1956. Hole no. 2 cut 10 ft. of ore containing 0.02% Cu, 0.02 oz. Au/ton, and 0.02 oz. Ag/ton; hole no. 3 cut 28 ft. of pyrite which contained 0.5% Cu, 0.085 oz. Au/ton, and 0.75 oz. Ag/ton (Jansons and others, 1984). Jansons and others (1984) sampled the property in the 1980s. A chip sample assayed 5.4% Cu, and 0.10 oz. Au/ton. A grab sample from the dump contained 50 ppm Cu, 0.006 oz. Au/ton and 0.2 oz. Ag/ton.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Jansons, 1984

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Besshi massive sulfide (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 24b)
Deposit Other Comments = Nelson and others (1985) interpret the country rocks as accreted ocean crust. Crowe and others (1992; 1993) and Sainsbury (1993) discuss the genesis of the volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in this area. Chugach Alaska Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska has control of these lands.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-2000 S.W. Nelson, Anchorage, AK U.S. Geological Survey

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.