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Mespelt

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Lead, Uranium, Gold, Tin, Tungsten, Zinc
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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 10096773
MRDS ID A011561
Record type Site
Current site name Mespelt

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -152.21286, 62.88952 (WGS84)
Relative position The Mespelt prospect is located at the end of the trail shown in the east half of Section 2, T. 32 N., R. 16 W., of the Seward Meridian. C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc. (1978, Fig. 4.2-C) locate this prospect approximately 800 feet east-southeast of Little Mountain at about 4300 feet. Also shown by Reed and others (1978) as locality 5.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Denali(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Talkeetna D-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Talkeetna NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Talkeetna(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

North Fork Kuskokwim River(hydrologic unit)

Upper Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Lead Primary
Uranium Primary
Gold Secondary
Tin Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary
Zinc Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = Ytterbium

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Pyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Metazeunerite Ore
Zeunerite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Limonite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Siderite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Greisen assemblages of quartz-tourmaline-muscovite-chlorite are developed locally (C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc. 1978).

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 47
USGS model code 15b
Deposit model name Sn veins

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type

Nearby scientific data

(1) -152.21286, 62.88952
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Mespelt prospect consists of two bulldozer cuts, several prospect pits, and a 40 foot shaft (now caved) constructed to evaluate a 7-foot-wide, 1000-foot-long quartz-carbonate vein that cuts the Tertiary-age Tonzona granitic pluton (Tmt), part of the McKinley sequence mapped by Reed and Nelson (1980). The vein, comprised of argentiferous galena, low-grade uranium, and tin mineralization, occurs beneath a gossan cap. High grade grab samples collected in 1959 contained 0.18 to 32.91 oz/ton Ag; trace Au, up to 46.4% Pb, 0.037 to 0.14% eU, up to 2.52% Sb, up to 0.06% Sn, and 0.01 to 0.04% W. A chip sample collected in 1956 assayed 56.3% WO3 (Maloney and Thomas,1966, Table 3; Reed and others, 1978). Greisen assemblages of quartz-tourmaline-muscovite are developed adjacent to the vein. Tin in excess of 1,500 ppm in the nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates from stream silt samples collected from the Camp Creek drainage to the west of this prospect is reported by Curtin, Karlson, Tripp, and Day (1978).? the geologic setting of the Mespelt silver-lead-tin-tungsten vein is described, as follows, by C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., (1978) and Reed and Nelson (1980). Blocky slate, argillite, thin-bedded siliceous limestone and chert define a belt of lower Paleozoic sedimentary and metavolcanic rocks (possibly Keevy Peak, Totalanika series, or equivalents) bordered by the Tonzona granitic pluton. The granite has three phases: a coarse-grained, locally porphyritic biotite granite; a medium-grained biotite granite; and a late fine-grained, leucocratic, locally aplitic, muscovite - tourmaline granite in which ovoid clusters of small black tourmaline crystals give the rock a 'dalmatian' appearance. Muscovite may exceed biotite and accessory minerals include tourmaline with lesser amounts of topaz, fluorite, garnet, zircon, and apatite. Late-stage greissen veinlets, like those at the Mespelt propect, contain muscovite, topaz, tourmaline, locally abundant beryl, and occasionally, cassiterite. Lead, silver and tin mineralization occurs in Paleozoic metasediments and metavolcanic rocks along the north and northeast contact of the pluton. The Tonzona pluton has metamorphosed the country rocks to skarn assemblages along the contact and has formed skarn hosted polymetallic mineralization such as at the Jiles-Knudson (TL 004), Boulder Creek (TL073) and the nearby Hogback prospect (TL006). ? In much of the literature, the Jiles-Knudson, Mespelt, Hogback and Boulder Creek are included as the Purkeypile group of lode claims.
  • Age = Tertiary; mineralization in the Boulder Creek, Jiles-Knudson , Hogback and Mespelt areas is interpreted to be linked to the Tonzona granite (Tmt), part of the McKinley Sequence, that has been determined to range from 52.3 to 56.2 m.y. in age (Reed and Lanphere, 1972; Reed and Nelson, 1980).
  • Age = Chron age is for McKinley Sequence.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name McGrath

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = No published information available.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Workings consist of two bulldozer cuts, prospect pits, and a 40-foot shaft (now caved) (C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Maloney and Thomas, 1966

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Fringe zone of Pb, Zn, and Ag sulfide mineralization to tin veins (generally related to the tin vein model of Cox and Singer, 1986; model 15b).
Deposit Other Comments = High grade samples were taken by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1959 and by the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978). In much of the literature, the Jiles-Knudson, Mespelt, Hogback and Boulder Creek are included as the Purkeypile group of lode claims.? High grade grab samples collected in 1959 contained 0.18 to 32.91 oz/ton Ag; trace Au, up to 46.4% Pb, 0.037 to 0.14% eU, up to 2.52% Sb, up to 0.06% Sn, and 0.01 to 0.04% W. A chip sample collected in 1956 assayed 56.3% WO3 (Maloney and Thomas,1966, Table 3; Reed and others, 1978). Greisen assemblages of quartz-tourmaline-muscovite are developed adjacent to the vein. Tin in excess of 1,500 ppm in the nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates from stream silt samples collected from the Camp Creek drainage to the west of this prospect is reported by Curtin, Karlson, Tripp, and Day (1978).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-AUG-98 Madelyn A. Millholland Millholland & Associates

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

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