Hurricane-Diane

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity 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 10001399
MRDS ID A012142
Record type Site
Current site name Hurricane-Diane

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.16335, 67.73972 (WGS84)
Relative position This site is at an elevation of about 4,200 feet approximately 5 1/2 miles north of Horace Mountain and a mile east of the head of Sheep Creek (secs. 28, 29, T. 34 N., R. 7 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian). The reference point is near the center of a mile-long northeast-trending zone of mineral occurrences. This zone constitutes the Hurricane-Diane prospect. The location is accurate within a 1/2-mile radius.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Chandalar C-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Chandalar N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Chandalar(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Doyon, Limited(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Contact metasomatic.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 59
USGS model code 18b
Deposit model name Skarn Cu
Mark3 model number 8

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Skajit Limestone;
    Rock description Skajit Limestone;

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.16335, 67.73972

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Hurricane-Diane prospect is one of a number of copper occurrences that comprise the Chandalar copper belt. Information describing the geology of individual prospects generally is scarce. Early descriptions (Grybeck, 1977; DeYoung, 1978; Cobb and Cruz, 1983) combined this prospect with the Luna prospect (CH101). Together they were described as small skarn-hosted chalcopyrite deposits in Devonian Skajit Limestone intruded by a small greenstone-greenschist body (Cobb and Cruz, 1983). Later information has shown that they are distinct deposits. Newberry and others (1986) included them in a group of skarn deposits northwest of and related to the Devonian(?) Horace Mountain granitic plutons. Many of these skarns exhibit both garnet and pyroxene prograde and epidote and actinolite retrograde mineral assemblages, and Newberry and others (1986) stated that their mineralogy, mineralization, and alteration tend to place them in the category of continental-margin, porphyry-related copper skarns. Newberry and others (1986) noted that the Hurricane-Diane prospect is a Cu-Zn-Pb skarn, which suggests that it is a distal occurrence within the belt. Because the Zn and Pb values are nominal, however (see below), Newberry and others (1997) have classified the Hurricane prospect as a calcic Cu skarn. Ventures Resource Corporation (currently exploring Doyon, Limited lands in the area under an agreement with Doyon, Limited) classifies the Hurricane-Diane prospect as a copper prospect (URL http://www.venturesresource.com/). A hand-specimen description (Newberry and others, 1986) showed the mineralogy of the skarn to be principally garnet, epidote, actinolite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and magnetite. The epidote-actinolite is described as part of a crosscutting retrograde assemblage. An analysis of the hand specimen gave values of 1.6 percent Cu, 105 ppm Ag, 0.2 percent Zn and 0.07 percent Pb. The prospect is in an area mapped by Dillon and others (1996) as principally Devonian Skajit Limestone, Ordovician black phyllite and marble, and Ordovician to Cambrian(?) calcareous-chlorite-quartz schist and quartzite. These units are intruded by Devonian aplite, a component of the Horace Mountain plutonic assemblage, and their contact-related tactite and calcareous hornfels presumably host the skarn mineralization.
  • Age = Devonian based on reported Early Devonian Pb/Pb zircon ages from the associated Baby Creek batholith and Horace Mountain plutons (Dillon and others, 1996).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Koyukuk

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Claims staked from 1967 to 1973 lapsed in 1977, and the land was acquired by Doyon, Limited via its Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act selections. Surface exploration only.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Newberry and others, 1986

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Cu skarn deposits (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 18b)
Deposit Other Comments = This prospect is approximately 3 miles south-southwest of the Luna prospect (CH0101). See also: Luna (CH101), Gayle (CH091), Ginger (CH060), and Evelyn Lee (CH059). Alaska Kardex No. 00-31-53B (Kardex is a card file mining claim information system located at the State of Alaska DNR Public Information Center in Fairbanks).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 17-NOV-1999 J.M. Britton 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.