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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Makushin River

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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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. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10003268
MRDS ID A106011
Record type Site
Current site name Makushin River

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -166.8024, 53.86577 (WGS84)
Relative position Headwaters of south fork of Makushin River. Anomaly no. 19 of Christie (1974).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Aleutians West(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Unalaska C-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Unalaska NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Unalaska SE(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Fox Islands(hydrologic unit)

Aleutian Islands(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge(National Wildlife Refuge)

National Wildlife Refuge FWS(Type of land area)

FWS(Federal land areas administered by FWS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Pyrite Gangue
Pyrrhotite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Argillic alteration is characteristic with there being local development of silicification and sericitic alteration. Leaching (of sulfides?) is complete in fractures and only partial where they are disseminated (Christie, 1974).

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 105
USGS model code 25a-d
Deposit model name Epithermal vein, generic
Mark3 model number 119

Nearby scientific data

(1) -166.8024, 53.86577
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = A pale yellow-brown to dark red-brown color anomaly 3,000 ft (900 m) in diameter located in volcanic flows and pyroclastic rocks of the Unalaska Formation (see Drewes and others, 1961) is reported by Christie (1974). These volcanic rocks are intruded by numerous small dikes and plugs of diorite containing sparse disseminated pyrite. Post-mineralization andesite and gabbro dikes are present. "Fracture sulfides were important in several areas that are now totally leached. No evidence for copper mineralization was seen there or elsewhere in the system (Christie, 1974)."
  • Age = Cenozoic

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Aleutians

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Limited reconnaissance mapping and 8 soil(?) samples. Samples contained up to 2.4 ppm silver, one contained 0.44 ppm gold.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Drewes, Harold, Fraser, G.D., Snyder, G.L., and Barnett, H.F., Jr., 1961, Geology of Unalaska Island and adjacent insular shelf, Aleutian Islands, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1028-S, p. 583-676.

  • Deposit

    Christie, J.S., 1974, Aleut-Quintana-Duval 1974 joint venture, final report: Unpublished Quintana Minerals Corporation report, 24 p., 3 appendices, 2 maps. (Report held by the Aleut Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska.)

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Christie, 1974

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Epithermal gold vein(?)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 03-MAY-1994 Damon Bickerstaff U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 03-MAY-1994 F.H. Wilson 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.