Snoopy

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Copper
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 10000682
MRDS ID A011306
Record type Site
Current site name Snoopy
Alternate or previous names Costello Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.47283, 63.25959 (WGS84)
Relative position The Snoopy occurrence, often linked to the nearby Nim claim block (HE074), covers a 0.25 by 0.75 mile area. The map site is at the center of the area, in sec. 21, T. 19 S., R. 10 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. Useful published maps showing the general location of the Snoopy prospect are: Hawley and Clark (1974); Hawley and others (1978); Bundtzen (1983); and Salisbury and Dietz (1984).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Matanuska-Susitna(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Healy B-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Healy S(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Healy(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Chulitna River(hydrologic unit)

Susitna River(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Denali 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
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Copper Primary

Materials information

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

Alteration

  • (Local) Alteration consists of widespread propylitic alteration and silicification. Local zones of potassic alteration (secondary biotite) have been reported.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46
Model code 78
USGS model code 20c
Deposit model name Porphyry Cu-Au
Mark3 model number 34

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Siltstone
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Ultramafic Intrusive Rock > Hornblendite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.47283, 63.25959

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Thick Quaternary glacial deposits cover much of the bedrock at the Snoopy prospect. The country rocks in the area are Upper Triassic to Upper Jurassic crystal tuff, argillite, chert, graywacke, and limestone. These strata are intruded by garnetiferous diorite porphyry, which in turn is cut by monzonite porphyry and quartz porphyry. The intrusive rocks are correlated with similar hypabyssal plutons at the Golden Zone mine (HE043), which have been dated as Late Cretaceous (Swainbank and others, 1977). The deposit is poorly exposed. It mat be a breccia pipe or a porphyry deposit that contains as much as 3% disseminated sulfides (Hawley and Clark, 1974). ?The sulfide minerals are arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and sphalerite. Selected samples contain 0.5 to 0.7 ppm gold, 200 to more than 10,000 ppm silver, and 150 to 1,000 ppm copper (Hawley and Clark, 1974). The Snoopy deposit probably is an extension of the deposit at the adjacent Nim prospect (HE074), where geophysical methods indicate 5 breccia-pipes in addition to disseminated porphyry-style mineralization. The same geophysical surveys suggest that the Snoopy area may contain 2 more pipes (Bundtzen, 1983, fig. 5).
  • Age = Late Cretaceous (70-65 Ma) or younger.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Valdez Creek

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Surface workings including trenching and drilling. Intensive exploration in the late 1970s included 18 shallow reverse-circulation drill holes in the Snoopy and Nim prospect areas. Geophysical surveys including IP and magnetics were conducted on the property (Bundtzen, 1983).? Selected samples contain 0.5 to 0.7 ppm gold, 200 to more than 10,000 ppm silver, and 150 to 1,000 ppm copper (Hawley and Clark, 1974).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Bundtzen, 1983

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic vein and Au-Ag breccia pipe or Cu-Au porphyry (Cox and Singer, 1986; models 22c, 20c)
Deposit Model Number = 22c, 20c

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-APR-2000 N. Van Wyck Stevens Exploration Management Corporation

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.