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Arnold

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper, Molybdenum, Lead, Tungsten
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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. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Links to other databases
  14. Bibliographic references
  15. General comments
  16. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308995
MRDS ID A013406
Record type Site
Current site name Arnold
Related records 10112824, 10002474

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.89893, 61.8293 (WGS84)
Relative position The Arnold prospect is in the northeast headwaters of Willow Creek. It is at an elevation of about 1,250 feet and 1 mile east-southeast of the summit of Mount Okumiak. The map site is in the SW1/4 sec. 12, T. 20 N., R. 70 W., of the Seward Meridian. This is locality 1 of Hoare and Cobb (1972, 1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Russian Mission D-8(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Russian Mission NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Russian Mission(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Maserculiq, Incorporated(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
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary
Molybdenum Secondary
Lead Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Gangue = iron carbonate

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Anglesite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Hematite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Malachite Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • Silicification, oxidation, sericitization, iron-carbonate development, and potassic replacement(?).

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Early Cretaceous

Nearby scientific data

(1) -161.89893, 61.8293
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Arnold prospect was first staked in 1914 (Harrington, 1918). It has been explored with surface trenches and pits at several times since, but mining has not occurred. The deposit is quartz veins, quartz vein stockworks, and quartz-cemented breccia in pyrite-bearing mafic volcanic rocks intruded by quartz porphyry. As mapped by Turner (1987), the breccia is commonly in quartz porphyry but also includes greenstone fragments. The largest stockwork and (or) breccia zone is about 200 feet wide and 700 feet long, but exposure is mostly slope rubble. Most geologic units trend northwest, including well-developed shears and small faults; contacts are commonly slickensided. The quartz veins contain as much as 2 percent sulfide minerals, including chalcopyrite, galena, molybdenite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and sphalerite. Other minerals in the veins include magnetite, hematite, anglesite, malachite, limonite, scheelite, and calcite. The best gold grades are in quartz veins. Selected quartz veins contain as much as 2.72 ounces of gold per ton but altered greenstone with or without quartz veins commonly contains a few tens to a few hundreds parts per billion gold (Turner, 1987). Homestake collected 78 rock, 5 stream sediment, and 70 soil samples in the general area, but almost all anomalous samples were from the Arnold prospect (Bull and Schneider, 1997). The anomalous rock and soil samples mostly contained a few tens to hundreds of parts per billion gold, although one quartz vein with visible gold contained 63.5 grams of gold per ton. Copper, in the 100 to 835 ppm range, was the element most commonly anomalous in these samples. Molybdenum, as much as 126 ppm, was locally anomalous, and lead, zinc, silver, antimony, and arsenic were present in low amounts in most of the samples. A reconnaissance examination of the prospect for radioactive minerals did not find any material containing more than 0.001 percent equivalent uranium (West, 1954). The general area is one where mafic volcanic rocks are intruded by a variety of intermediate to felsic igneous rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1959; Turner, 1987; Bull and Schneider, 1997). Mineralization appears to be dominantly associated with felsic intrusive rocks.
  • Age = Cretaceous or Tertiary. The altered and mineralized host volcanic rocks are part of the Gemuk Group that includes rocks as young as Early Cretaceous (Hoare and Coonrad, 1959). The felsic intrusive rocks in the prospect area may be part of a Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary suite of igneous rocks that are widespread in southwest Alaska (e.g., Box and others, 1993).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Marshall

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = A test shipment of high-grade material returned $80 per ton in 1915.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The Arnold prospect has been explored with surface trenches, pits, and dozer cuts several times since it was first staked in 1914. Drilling has not been reported. Surface mapping and sampling was completed for Calista Corporation in the 1980's (Turner, 1987), and additional sampling, including a soil grid, was completed in 1997 (Bull and Schneider, 1997).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Harrington, G.L., 1918, The Anvik-Andreafsky region, Alaska (including the Marshall district): U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 683, 70 p.

  • Deposit

    West, W.S., 1954, Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in the lower Yukon-Kuskokwim region, Alaska, 1952: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 328, 10 p.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

  • Deposit

    Turner, T.R., 1987, The geology and geochemistry of the Arnold prospect, Marshall district, Alaska: Anchorage, Alaska, Calista Corporation, unpublished report, 13 p.

  • Deposit

    Box, S.E, Moll-Stalcup, E.J., Frost, T.P., and Murphy, J.M., 1993, Preliminary geologic map of the Bethel and southern Russian Mission quadrangles, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2226-A, 20 p., scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Bull, Katharine, and Schneider, Craig, 1997, 1997 Summary report for Calista Corporation: Unpublished report prepared for Calista Corporation, Anchorage, 10 pages plus tables.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1959, Geology of the Russion Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-292, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Turner, 1987

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic veins (Cox and Singer, 1986: model 22c)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-2001 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology
Reporter 10-JUN-2001 Madelyn A. Millholland Millholland & Associates

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.