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Broken Shovel

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Mercury, 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. 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 10002508
MRDS ID A013449
Record type Site
Current site name Broken Shovel

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -158.8439, 60.80545 (WGS84)
Relative position The Broken Shovel prospect is in the headwaters of an unnamed, north-flowing drainage, 0.5 mile northeast of upper Cinnabar Creek (TA001) and 3.5 miles southwest of USGS benchmark Prom (2,709 feet elevation). The map site is at an elevation of about 1,250 feet, in the NE1/4 of section 12, T 8 N, R 55 W, of the Seward Meridian. The deposit is exposed on the northwest flank of a small ridge separating headwater tributaries to the north-flowing creek; the westernmost of these tributaries is locally called Broken Shovel Gulch. It is accurately located (see Rutledge, 1950, fig. 6) and included in locality 1 of Cobb (1972 [MF 384]; 1976 [OF 76-606]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Dillingham(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Taylor Mountains D-8(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Taylor Mountains NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Taylor Mountains(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Aniak(hydrologic unit)

Lower Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mercury Primary
Antimony Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Stibnite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Quartz veining and silica-carbonate alteration of mafic rocks.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 180
USGS model code 27d
Deposit model name Simple Sb (veins, pods, etc)

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite > Diabase
    Rock unit name Gemuk Group;;
    Rock description Gemuk Group;;

Nearby scientific data

(1) KTrs
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Broken Shovel prospect is 0.5 mile northeast of the Cinnabar Creek lode mercury mine (TA001). It consists of a zone of discontinuous quartz-stibnite veins along the faulted contact of a vertical mafic dike in Triassic sedimentary rocks (Sainsbury and MacKevett, 1965). The dike, exposed in a few shallow dozer trenches, is 1- to 3-feet-thick and trends N 5-20 E for a distance of at least 320 feet (Sainsbury and MacKevett, p. 40). The quartz veins are narrow, discontinuous, and only locally contain small stibnite lenses and minor cinnabar. Cinnabar was reportedly panned in the gulch drainage downslope from the Broken Shovel prospect. Cady and others (1955) report that sills of silica-carbonate rock (inferred to be altered mafic intrusive rocks) are also present in the gulch.
  • Age = Late Cretaceous or Tertiary . May be similar in age to other mercury deposits in southwest Alaska. Several of these postdate deposition and deformation of mid-Cretaceous clastic sedimentary rocks and emplacement of Upper Cretaceous or Tertiary intrusive rocks.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Aniak

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = A few shallow dozer trenches have explored the prospect.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Rutledge, F.A., 1950, Investigation of mercury deposits, Cinnabar Creek area, Georgetown and Akiak districts, Kuskokwim region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4719, 9 p.

  • Deposit

    Cady, W.M., Wallace, R.E., Hoare, J.M., and Webber, E.J., 1955, The central Kuskokwim region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 268, 132 p.

  • Deposit

    Sainsbury, C.L. and MacKevett, E.M., Jr., 1965, Quicksilver deposits of southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1187, 89 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Taylor Mountains quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-384, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Dillingham, Sleetmute, and Taylor Mountain quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-606, 92 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Dillingham, Sleetmute, and Taylor Mountains quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-606, 92 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Sainsbury and Mackevett, 1965

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Simple Sb deposits (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 27d)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-DEC-2000 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

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.