Unnamed (east of upper Illinois Creek)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Lead, Zinc, Copper
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 10307898
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (east of upper Illinois Creek)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -157.80309, 63.99944 (WGS84)
Relative position This occurrence, locally called 'Airstrip Sinter,' is located near the north end of the Illinois Creek airstrip (not shown on the 1953/1966 Ophir A-4 topographic map). The site is 0.4 mile north-northeast of the top of hill 988, in the NE1/4 sec. 2, T. 17 S., R. 5 E., Kateel River Meridian. The location is accurate within 5 miles.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Ophir D-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Ophir NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ophir C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Lead Primary
Zinc Critical Primary
Copper Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Hemimorphite Ore
Malachite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Oxidation of copper mineral.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Nearby scientific data

(1) -157.80309, 63.99944

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = This occurrence is a 1-meter-thick quartz vein that trends northeast across the northern end of the Illinois Creek mine airstrip. The vein cuts silty gray limestone and contains blebs and pockets of crystalline galena and possibly hemimorphite, locally accompanied by malachite staining. Soil sampling shows anomalous lead values coincident with the trend of vein float. A vein sample contained 0.3-1.0% lead, 1.0-3.0% zinc, and 30-100 ppm copper (Flanigan, 1998).
  • Age = Flanigan (1998) interprets this occurrence to be related to magmatic fluids from the Khotol pluton, based on its proximity to the pluton and its low molybdenum content . K-Ar and Ar/Ar dates for the Khotol pluton are approximately 110 Ma (Flanigan, 1998).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence

Mining district

District name Kaiyuh

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = This occurrence was discovered by Anaconda Minerals Company in 1980 (Flanigan, 1998). The vein was exposed by bulldozer work on the Illinois Creek airstrip.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Flanigan, B., 1998, Genesis and mineralization of ore deposits in the Illinois Creek region, West Central Alaska: University of Alaska, Fairbanks, M.Sc. thesis, 125 p., 2 plates.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Flanigan, 1998

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Pb-Zn vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c?)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-AUG-01 Cameron, C.E. Northern Associates Inc.

Beyond USGS

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

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.