Virginia

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc
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 10000188
MRDS ID A010225
Record type Site
Current site name Virginia
Related records 10233896

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -130.04369, 56.03977 (WGS84)
Relative position The Virginia prospect is at the southwest corner of Section 24 at an elevation of about 600 feet, between an abandoned aerial tramway and the old road that follows the Salmon River to the International Boundary (Elliott and Koch, 1981, p. 16, loc. 61). The location is accurate to within about 0.1 mile.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Prince of Wales-Hyder(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bradfield Canal A-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Bradfield Canal SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Bradfield Canal(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Southern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Tongass 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
Gold Primary
Copper Primary
Lead Primary
Zinc Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Tetrahedrite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Local contact metamorphism of greenstone; greenstone is impregnated with sulfide minerals

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46
Model code 60
USGS model code 18c
Deposit model name Skarn Zn-Pb
Mark3 model number 22

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metavolcanic Rock > Mafic Metamorphic Rock > Greenstone

Nearby scientific data

(1) -130.04369, 56.03977

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rocks in the area of the Virginia prospect are pelitic metasedimentary and subordinate andesitic metavolcanic (greenstone) strata of the Jurassic or older Mesozoic Hazelton Group; the Triassic Texas Creek Granodiorite, which underlies and locally intrudes the Hazelton; the Eocene Boundary Granodiorite, which intrudes the Hazelton and Texas Creek rocks; and still-younger Tertiary lamprophyre dikes that cut all the other rocks (Smith, 1973, 1977; Koch, 1996).? the deposit (Buddington, 1925, p. 74, 84; 1929, p. 43, 88-89) is in a mineralized shear zone in porphyritic greenstone cut by granodiorite and lamprophyre(?) dikes. An interval 12-16 feet wide in the 50-foot wide shear zone contains an oreshoot of nearly solid sulfides, accompanied by quartz gangue. The sulfides are pyrrhotite, sphalerite, pyrite, and a little galena and tetrahedrite. The greenstone also contains disseminated sulfide minerals, stringers of quartz, calcite, and sulfide minerals. Near contacts of granodiorite porphyry dikes, the greenstone also contains the contact-metamorphic minerals garnet and epidote. A little chalcopyrite occurs along with the other sulfides in some of the epidote-rich greenstone.?Selected samples of the ore reportedly assayed as high as 4.5 oz Au per ton.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Hyder

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Prospect was explored in 1920's by 600-700 feet of crosscuts and tunnels. ? Selected sampes of the ore reportedly assayed as high as 4.5 oz Au per ton; average Au content was about 0.25 oz per ton.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Buddington, 1929

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic veins; Skarn Zn-Pb
Deposit Model Number = 22c; 18c
Deposit Other Comments = Deposit originally staked in 1919.?

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 17-MAY-1998 H. C. Berg U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.