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Christophosen

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Antimony, Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead
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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. 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 10308935
MRDS ID A012797
Record type Site
Current site name Christophosen
Alternate or previous names Last Chance
Related records 10001958

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.53659, 64.73748 (WGS84)
Relative position This mine is in upper Waterfall Creek, a name and stream not currently shown on the Nome C-2 topographic map. The creek is a north tributary of Last Chance Creek; it flows south through sections 6 and 8, T. 9 S., R. 34 W., Kateel River Meridian. The location shown, at an elevation of about 1,500 feet, is the approximate intersection of a mineralized segment of the Penny River fault and Waterfall Creek. The area is complexly mineralized; vein deposits were developed in short adits southeast of the location down to about 1,100 feet elevation along Waterfall Creek. This location is approximately the same as locality 20 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome C-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Sitnasuak Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Antimony Critical Primary
Silver Secondary
Gold Secondary
Copper Secondary
Lead Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Azurite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Malachite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Stibnite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • Sulfidation along a wide shear zone.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.53659, 64.73748
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Christophosen mine is on quartz-sulfide veins as much as 5 feet wide within a weakly mineralized shear zone hundreds of feet across. The shear zone strikes north-northeast and is a mineralized part of the Penny River fault. Discrete veins occur on subsidiary structures southeast of the main shear zone. Samples of the shear zone contained about 100 ppb gold and were strongly anomalous in arsenic. The associated quartz veins contain galena, stibnite, chalcopyrite and display surface stainings of azurite and malachite. The main activity on the claims occurred before 1916, when the mine was visited by Mertie (1918 [B 662-I, p. 425-449]). According to Mertie (1918 [B 662-I, p. 439]), the shear zone is about 100 feet across, strikes about N 20 E, and contains pyrite, pyrrhotite, stibnite, and gold. The mine produced about 2.5 tons of stibnite-rich material that assayed more than 58 percent antimony and contained some gold and silver. A mineralized quartz vein concordant to schistosity was cut off by the shear zone. Although the vein contained sulfides, including stibnite, Mertie proposed that the quartz was early, predating the sulfide mineralization. The prospect was also visited by Herreid (1970, p. 36), who called it the Last Chance prospect. Herreid reported scattered stibnite crystals about 0.25 inch across in one quartz vein and found about 0.1 ounce of gold per ton in a graphitic fault zone about 900 feet northeast of the prospect. The country rock near the mine was mapped as chlorite-rich metaturbite schist and marble by Bundtzen and others (1994).
  • Age = Mid-Cretaceous or younger; host structure crosscuts rocks metamorphosed in the mid-Cretaceous.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = More than 2.5 tons of stibnite ore assaying more than 58 percent antimony were produced.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The prospect was explored by surface pits and adits that were driven before 1916 on four mining claims (Mertie, 1918 [B 662-I, p. 425-449]). An upper adit was about 105 feet long; the lower adit, in part a crosscut, was driven N 25 W for about 270 feet. A total of about 2.5 tons of stibnite-bearing ore containing more than 58 percent antimony was mined and sold. The prospect was visited by Herreid (1970) and remapped and sampled by Kennecott Exploration Co. in about 1991.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mertie, 1918

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins; associated mineralized shear zone (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 12-MAR-00 Hawley, C.C. and Hudson, Travis L. Hawley Resource Group

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.