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McKinley Lake mine, Rilley Group, Lucky Strike prospect, Bear Creek prospect (McKinley Lake gold camp)

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Arsenic, Antimony
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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. 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 10000376
MRDS ID A010443
Record type Site
Current site name McKinley Lake mine, Rilley Group, Lucky Strike prospect, Bear Creek prospect (McKinley Lake gold camp)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -145.19553, 60.48044 (WGS84)
Relative position This location includes the McKinley Lake mine, the Rilley Group prospect , the Lucky Strike prospect , and the Bear Creek prospect. The map site is the center of an approximately 0.75 square mile area north of McKinley Lake that contains these mines and prospects. It is in S1/2 sec. 15, T. 16 S., R. 1 E., of the Copper River Meridian. Accuracy of location is within 400 ft. The site corresponds to localities C-6 to C-9 in Jansons and others (1984), and locality 29 in Cobb (1972: MF-392).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Valdez-Cordova(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Cordova B-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Cordova SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Cordova C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Copper River(hydrologic unit)

Copper River(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Chugach 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
Silver Secondary
Arsenic Critical Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = Gold (native)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore
Stibnite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
    Rock unit name Orca Group
    Rock description Orca Group
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -145.19553, 60.48044
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The deposits at this site consist of reportedly auriferous quartz veins in Tertary Orca Group sedimentary rocks adjacent to the 51.6 Ma McKinley Lake pluton (Winkler and Plafker, 1981). Schrader and Spencer (1901) report that the veins both parallel and cross-cut the bedding in the host rock. They also report large amounts of visible gold in the quartz. Haney and Jansons (1987) report three major quartz veins and quartz stockworks from a few inches up to 40 ft. thick. They note that the veins are parallel to bedding in the host rock. Minerals noted by them include pyrite, stibnite, and gold. Analyses of samples from two adits at McKinley Lake contained 0.005 to 0.107 oz. Au/ton and 0.2 oz. Ag/ton. Samples from the mill site contained 25-50 ppm Au and 2.6 ppm Ag (Jansons and others, 1984). Goldfarb and others (1992) report anomalous values of Ag, As, and Au in concentrate samples from streams draining the nearby granite stock. They consider the granite to be the heat source for the mineralizing event.
  • Age = Tertiary (51 Ma) based on the age of the mineralizing event (Goldfarb and others, 1992).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Copper River

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = 16 oz. Au and 9 oz. Ag apparently produced in the early 1900s (Schrader and Spencer, 1901).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Five adits ranging from 18-569 ft.; one shaft and numerous open cuts. Ball mill on site.? Analyses of samples from two adits at McKinley Lake contained 0.005 to 0.107 oz. Au/ton and 0.2 oz. Ag/ton. Samples from the mill site contained 25-50 ppm Au and 2.6 ppm Ag (Jansons and others, 1984). Goldfarb and others (1992) report anomalous values of Ag, As, and Au in concentrate samples from streams draining the nearby granite stock.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Haney and Jansons, 1987

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Chugach-type low sulfide Au-quartz veins (Bliss, 1992; Goldfarb and others, 1986)
Deposit Other Comments = Site is in Chugach National Forest.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-00 S.W. Nelson 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.