1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Salmon River

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Copper, Silver
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Host and associated rocks
  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 10003079
MRDS ID A015607
Record type Site
Current site name Salmon River
Related records 10233342

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -159.82361, 67.67949 (WGS84)
Relative position This occurrence is on the Salmon River at an elevation of about 650 feet. It is in section 5, T. 26 N ., R. 5 W., of the Kateel River Meridian. Cobb (1972, MF-386), location 3, and Schmidt and Allegro (1988), location 123.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Northwest Arctic(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

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

Ambler River NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Baird Mountains(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Middle Kobuk River(hydrologic unit)

Kobuk-Selawik Rivers(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Kobuk Valley National Park(National Park)

National Park NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Malachite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Phyllite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -159.82361, 67.67949
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The area of this occurrence is underlain by north-trending, lower to mid-Paleozoic sedimentary and metamorphic rocks (Schmidt and Allegro, 1988). Stream float and bedrock consist of graphitic schist, chloritic schist, light-colored quartz-mica schist and abundant quartz. The mineral occurrence consists of chalcopyrite-bearing quartz veins in graphite-chlorite phyllite. The veins are from 3 inches to 3 feet thick and 100 to 250 feet long. Stringers and blebs of pyrite and chalcopyrite, along with some malachite occur in the quartz veins.? A sample of quartz stream float contained more than 20,000 ppm Cu, 6 ppm Ag, and 80 ppb Au. Another sample of chalcopyrite-bearing stream float contained 8,200 ppm Cu, 11 ppm Ag, and 5 ppb Au. Twelve stream silt samples were analyzed and no significant metal values were found (Degenhart and others, 1978). Rock samples collected in the mid-1960's contain from 60 ppm to 2% Cu, 12 to 94 ppm Pb, 6 to 11 ppm Ag, and 5 to 80 ppb Au (Brosge and others, 1967).
  • Age = Mid-Paleozoic

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Kiana

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Some evidence of placer exploration in the area was noted by Degenhart and others (1978). The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated the area in the mid-1970's (Degenhart and others, 1978). They collected two rock samples and 12 stream silt samples. The area was also mapped and sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey (Brosge and others, 1967).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Baird Mountains quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-386, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in northern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-628, 106 p.

  • Deposit

    Brosge, W.P., Reiser, H.N., and Tailleur, I.L., 1967, Copper analyses of selected samples, southwestern Brooks Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 274, 1 sheet.

  • Deposit

    Grybeck, D.J., 1977, Known mineral deposits of the Brooks Range, Alaska: US Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-166C, 41 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    Degenhart, C.E., Griffis, R.J., McQuat, J.F., and Bigelow, C.G., 1978, Mineral studies of the western Brooks Range performed under contract to the U.S. Bureau of Mines, Contract #JO155089: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 103-78, 529 p., 11 sheets.

  • Deposit

    Schmidt, J.M., and Allegro, G.L., 1988, Map showing mineral occurrences and indicators in the Baird Mountains quadrangle, northwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1992, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Brosge and others, 1967; Degenhart and others, 1978

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Chalcopyrite-bearing quartz veins in a graphite-chlorite phyllite.
Deposit Other Comments = This occurrence is located in Kobuk Valley National Park.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 29-DEC-99 Williams, Anita 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.