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Klukwan Fan

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper, Iron, Titanium, Vanadium
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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. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Links to other databases
  11. Bibliographic references
  12. General comments
  13. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10309004
MRDS ID A013095
Record type Site
Current site name Klukwan Fan
Related records 10161024, 10002197

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -135.90212, 59.40975 (WGS84)
Relative position This prospect is an alluvial fan on the southwest side of Iron Mountain; it is about 1 mile north of the village of Klukwan. The alluvial fan extends for a radius of approximately 1 mile around the location. It is shown as location 15 by Cobb (1972; MF-424).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Haines(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Skagway B-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Skagway SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Skagway(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Chilkat-Skagway Rivers(hydrologic unit)

Northern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Primary
Iron Primary
Titanium Critical Primary
Vanadium Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Hematite Ore
Ilmenite Ore
Palladium Ore
Platinum Ore
Titaniferous Magnetitite Ore

Nearby scientific data

(1) -135.90212, 59.40975
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The following description is summarized from MacKevett and others (1974). The Klukwan fan is a Holocene alluvial deposit consisting of pyroxenite, gabbro, and diorite detritus that ranges from silt to large boulders in size. Parts of the fan are almost entirely pyroxenite while others are as much as 50% diorite and gabbro. The iron and the titanium are primarily in titaniferous magnetite that is widely distributed in the pyroxenite, both as disseminations and as nearly pure fragments. This alluvial material has been eroded from the mid-Cretaceous zoned mafic/ultramafic complex at Iron Mountain (SK030), which includes a core of pyroxenite surrounded by hornblende diorite. The northwest-trending Chilkat Fault, which separates the Taku terrane on the east from the Alexander terrane on the west, lies under the alluvial fan. Wells and Thorne (1953) comment that much of the titanium occurs in sphene, but later workers (MacKevett and others, 1974; Still, 1984 [OF 21-84]) refer only to titaniferous magnetite and ilmenite as the titanium-bearing minerals.
  • Age = The deposit is a Holocene alluvial fan (MacKevett and others, 1974).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Juneau (Skagway subdistrict)

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Williams (1953) notes that the alluvial fan is a nearly perfect cone that contains about 600 million tons of material. He indicates that sampling showed the alluvial fan to average about 12% iron. Based on volume calculation for the alluvial fan and a density of 20 cubic feet per ton, Robertson (1956) estimates the fan to contain 500 million tons of broken rock that averages 10% magnetite. Still (1984 [OFR 21-084]) cites an unpublished 1972, Henry J. Kaiser Company report that estimates the fan contains 989,761,000 tons of material with 10.8% soluble iron.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = According to Still (1984 [OF 21-84]), claims covering both the alluvial and lode occurrences (SK030) were staked in 1946. The Alaska Iron Mines company was created to develop the deposit(s). Work through 1961 included sampling and diamond drilling of the lode, pit sampling and churn drilling of the placer, aeromagnetic and ground magnetic surveys, and surface mapping. A pilot mill was constructed and copper concentrates were produced for metallurgical testing. The claims were leased to Columbia Iron Mining Company in 1961 and some claims were patented in 1964. The property reverted back to Alaska Iron Mines in 1972. Wells and Thorne (1953) reported that the most effective metallurgical treatment resulted from wet magnetic separation of ore ground to minus-20 mesh, followed by grinding and retreatment of the rougher concentrate. This produced concentrates with 62% to 64% iron and total iron recoveries of 45% to 97%, depending on the head grades of the samples. These recoveries corresponded to a recovery of about 98% of the magnetic iron. The titanium-oxide content of the concentrates from low-grade ores averaged about 2.2%. Concentrates from higher-grade samples contained up to 4.2% titanium dioxide.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Still, 1984 (OF 21-84)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = A placer iron deposit in an alluival fan eroded from a magnetite-bearing pyroxenite body.
Deposit Other Comments = The Haines Highway crosses this alluvial fan and provides good accessibility. However, the alluvial fan lies partly in, and adjacent to, the Alaska, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 04-FEB-2001 T.C. Crafford T. Crafford & 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.