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Miners River

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Cobalt, Copper, Nickel
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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. Alteration
  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 10000998
MRDS ID A011669
Record type Site
Current site name Miners River
Alternate or previous names Miners River Nickel, Miners Bay

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -147.41258, 61.08958 (WGS84)
Relative position Located near the mouth of Miners River, on the east side of Unakwik Bay. It should be noted that the Cobb (1972) locality is plotted too far upstream on MF 409. Accurate within 1 mile. Locality 65 of Cobb (1972), locality 53 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), locality 73 of Hoekzema (1984) and locality A-14 of Jansons and others (1984).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Valdez-Cordova(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Anchorage A-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Anchorage SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Anchorage(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Eastern Prince William Sound(hydrologic unit)

Prince William Sound(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
Cobalt Critical Primary
Copper Primary
Nickel Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Pentlandite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Pyritization of diorite country rock.

Nearby scientific data

(1) -147.41258, 61.08958
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = A 'vein' or zone that has no sharply defined walls in the diorite country rock has been pyrrhotitized in a zone 10-20 ft wide. This sulfide-bearing rock is iron-stained and contains pegmatitic veins which also carry pyrrhotite. These veins are 0.25 to 2 inches in width and are not sharply defined (Grant, 1906). The pyrrhotite disseminated in the pegmatitic veins carry nickel, cobalt, and copper (Hoekzema and Fechner, 1986).? Chip samples contained from 400 ppm to 2,000 ppm Ni, 93 ppm to 2,000 ppm Co, and 100 ppm to 2,000 ppm Cu. Grab samples contained from 20 ppm to 2,000 ppm Ni, 36 to 800 ppm Co, and 20 ppm to 1,000 ppm Cu. A 260 lb bulk sample contained 2,500 ppm Ni, 200 ppm Co, and 3,100 ppm Cu (Hoekzema, 1984).
  • Age = Tertiary or younger.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Prince William Sound

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Webber and Rutledge (1944) stated that inferred reserves are 11,000 tons at 0.2 percent Ni and 0.2 percent Cu.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Exploration consists of an 8 ft and an 218 ft adit. Chip samples contained from 400 ppm to 2,000 ppm Ni, 93 ppm to 2,000 ppm Co, and 100 ppm to 2,000 ppm Cu. Grab samples contained from 20 ppm to 2,000 ppm Ni, 36 to 800 ppm Co, and 20 ppm to 1,000 ppm Cu. A 260 lb bulk sample contained 2,500 ppm Ni, 200 ppm Co, and 3,100 ppm Cu. These results indicate low mineral potential (Hoekzema, 1984).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Grant, U.S., 1906, Copper and other mineral resources of Prince William Sound: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 284, p. 78-87.

  • Deposit

    Grant, U.S., and Higgins, D.F., 1910, Reconnaissance of the geology and mineral resources of Prince William Sound, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 443, 89 p.

  • Deposit

    Webber, B.S., and Rutledge, F.A., 1944, Horseshoe Bay deposits, Latouche Island, Prince William Sound, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines unpublished War Minerals Report.

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H. , and Fellows, R.E. , 1950, Coper deposits of the Prince William Sound district, Alaska; Geological Survey Bullentin 963-B, p. 47-80.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous and selected non-metalliferous mineral deposits in the eastern part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-A, 99 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoekzema, R.B., 1984, Strategic and critical mineral development potential of the Chugach National Forest, southcentral Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 215-84, 64 p., 1 sheet.

  • Deposit

    Jansons, Uldis, Hoekzema, R.B., Kurtak, J.M., and Fechner, S.A., 1984, Mineral occurrences in the Chugach National Forest, Southcentral Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 5-84, 218 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoekzema, R.B., and Fechner, S.A., 1986, Placer Gold sampling in and near the Chugach National Forest, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 9091, 42 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Anchorage quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-409, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous mineral deposits in the western part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-F, 38 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    Grant, U.S., and Higgins, D.F., Jr., 1910, Reconnaissance of the geology and mineral resources of Prince William Sound, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 443, 89 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1979, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials in the Anchorage quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1095, 184 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Hoekzema, 1984

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Other Comments = Cobb (1972) located this site north of Miners Lake, however Grant (1906) whom serves as Cobb primary references, indicate that it is where Miners River enters into Miners Bay.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 D.P. Bickerstaff U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 S.W. Huss 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.