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Incas

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Arsenic
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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. 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 10002252
MRDS ID A013155
Record type Site
Current site name Incas
Related records 10234120

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -136.83518, 58.85972 (WGS84)
Relative position The Incas vein crops out on the steep side-hill west of Reid Inlet at an elevation of about 1000 feet. Incas is about 0.75 mile south of the Sentinel vein (MF028) and 0.6 mile north-northwest of the Galena (MF031). The Incas is a vein-mineralized fault zone that can be traced for nearly 2000 feet. The coordinates given are the approximate location of workings on the vein; they are probably correct within 0.15 mile of the workings.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Hoonah-Angoon(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Mount Fairweather D-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Mount Fairweather NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Mount Fairweather(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Glacier Bay(hydrologic unit)

Northern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Glacier Bay 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
Gold Primary
Arsenic Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = Gold (native)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Rossman (1959) notes alteration (bleaching?) along the 2000-foot strike exposure of the vein fissure.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -136.83518, 58.85972
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Reid Inlet gold area is mainly underlain by granitic rocks of Cretaceous age (Brew and others, 1978). The area was mapped in detail by Rossman (1959, B 1058-B). ? the Incas is a productive north-striking, steeply-dipping vein fissure 1-3-feet thick with lenses of quartz and calcite in a shear zone. Rossman (1959) traced the vein for about 2000 feet and found free gold in all quartz lenses. Locally, gold may have been concentrated by supergene enrichment. Workings driven below the surface outcrops found only low grade quartz veins. The Incas structure is subparallel to and similar geologically to the Monarch vein fissure (MF026). Rossman (1959, plate 4) mapped another subparallel vein about 400-feet east of the Incas vein; the vein was partly covered by colluvium.
  • Age = Tertiary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Juneau

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Incas was discovered in 1924 by Joe Ibach and is one of the earliest discoveries in the district. Claims were located by Ibach and famous Alaska novelist, Rex Beach, in 1936 after Glacier Bay National Monument was opened for mining (Kimball and others, 1978, p. C217). Gold, possibly enriched by supergene processes, was mined along the exposed vein fissure for about 60 feet near an elevation of 1100 feet. A crosscut tunnel was driven below the stoped area for about 170 feet. Near the face of the crosscut, the adit drifts for about 40 feet along a fissure reasonably inferred to be on the same vein mined at the surface. MacKevett found only about 0.029 oz/ton gold in narrow samples taken from the underground workings. One sample contains 20,000 ppm arsenic (MacKevett and others, table 11, location G).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Rossman, Darwin, 1959, Geology and ore deposits in the Reid Inlet area, Glacier Bay, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1058-B, p. 33-58.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., Brew, D.A., Hawley, C.C., Huff, L.C., and Smith, J.G., 1971, Mineral resources of Glacier Bay National Monument, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 632, 90 p., 12 plates, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Brew, D.A., Johnson, B.R., Grybeck, D., Griscom, A., Barnes, D.F., Kimball, A.L., Still, J.C., and Rataj, J.L., 1978, Mineral resources of the Glacier Bay National Monument Wilderness Study Area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-494, 670 p.

  • Deposit

    Kimball, A.L., Still, J.C., and Rataj, J.L., 1978, Mineral resources, in Brew, D. A., and others, Mineral resources of the Glacier Bay National Monument wilderness study area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-494, p. C1-C375.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Mount Fairweather quadrangle, AK: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Study Map MF-436, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Rossman, 1959 (B 1058-B)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low-sulfide gold-quartz vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).
Deposit Other Comments = Small pods of gold-bearing quartz exist along an altered but weakly mineralized shear zone. Best chances for ore are believed to be in the surface pods of quartz or in secondary fissures opened near the strong north-trending vein fissure. The vein is not well explored at depth. The Incas vein is in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 08-APR-99 Hawley, C.C. Hawley Resource Group

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.