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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Unnamed (between Fairweather and Sea Otter Glaciers)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Copper, Nickel, Silver, Cobalt, Chromium, PGE, Vanadium
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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. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Links to other databases
  11. Bibliographic references
  12. General comments
  13. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10307810
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (between Fairweather and Sea Otter Glaciers)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -137.65114, 58.88271 (WGS84)
Relative position Sulfide and heavy oxide boulders occur in the moraine about 4.5-7 miles west-southwest of the top of Mt. Fairweather on an east-heading glacier that is between Fairweather and Sea Otter Glaciers. The coordinates given above are for the approximate location of Bureau of Mines sample 7S008 (Kimball and others, 1978) collected at an elevation of about 3500 feet. The Bureau estimated the collection elevation at about 3700 feet which would be about 0.4 mile to the east of the coordinates assumed here. Sample 7S009 was collected in moraine about 0.4 mile south, slightly east, of the 7S008 location. The exact locations of the samples are not believed to be critical.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yakutat(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Mount Fairweather D-5(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
Copper Primary
Nickel Critical Primary
Silver Secondary
Cobalt Critical Secondary
Chromium Critical Secondary
PGE Critical Secondary
Vanadium Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Pentlandite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore

Nearby scientific data

(1) -137.65114, 58.88271
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = This occurrence consists of boulders on a moraine about 1 mile southwest of the contact of the Mt. Fairweather layered mafic intrusion. The boulders consist of mafic intrusive rocks which contain disseminated sulfides, including chalcopyrite and nickel-bearing minerals. The boulders were derived from the intrusion. An area of bedrock about 1.5 miles northeast of the boulder field is conspicuously copper-stained and may be at or near the source of the boulders. . Samples collected from the moraine field by Plafker and MacKevett (1970) and by Kimball and others (1978)contained as much as 0. 5 percent copper, 0.2 percent nickel, a trace of silver, also as much as 0.005 ounce/ton platinum and 0.008 ounce/ton palladium. A sample collected below the copper-stained bedrock area contained 0.2 percent vanadium.
  • Age = Tertiary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Yakutat

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Sampling by Plafker and MacKevett (1970) was followed up by the Bureau of Mines (Kimball and others, 1978). Samples collected by the Bureau (7S008 and 009) contain 0.002-0.005 ounce/ton platinum, 0.008-0.01 ounce/ton palladium, as much as 1.5 ppm Ag, about 0. 5 percent copper and 0.2 percent nickel, and 150 ppm cobalt. A sample of gabbro within the intrusive and below the copper-stained area contained 0.2 percent vanadium.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Kimball and others, 1978

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Metalliferous glacial moraine. The metalliferous boulders are derived from primary cumulate-sulfide segregations in an layered mafic-ultramafic(?) intrusion.
Deposit Other Comments = the site is in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Further search for the source of the metalliferous moraine would need mountaineering support.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 06-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.