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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Kako

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Gold
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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. Host and associated rocks
  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 10308196
Record type Site
Current site name Kako

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.47293, 61.90731 (WGS84)
Relative position The Kako prospect is on the ridge crest at the head of Buster Creek (see RM008). It is on a saddle at an elevation of about 800 feet, 1,200 feet southwest of hill 901. The map site is in the SE1/4 sec. 13, T. 21 N., R. 67 W., of the Seward Meridian.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Russian Mission D-7(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Russian Mission NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Russian Mission(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Calista Corporation(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Gangue = iron oxide

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Clay Gangue
Jarosite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Sericite Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Silicification, sericite/clay replacement, and oxidation.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleocene
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Late Cretaceous

Nearby scientific data

(1) -161.47293, 61.90731
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Kako lode gold prospect was discovered in 1974 by Resource Associates of Alaska (RAA) geologists under contract to Calista Corporation. RAA completed surface examination and a grid geochemical survey in 1974 and 1975. Calista Corporation and others continued work on the prospect in 1989 (Hickok and McAtee, 1990), 1996, and 1997 (Enos, 1997; Bull and Schneider, 1997). The principal gold-bearing area that has been identified is centered on a saddle at the head of Buster Creek, where there is a 30- by 300-foot area of rhyolite breccia. The breccia consists of angular sericite/clay-altered rhyolite fragments in a matrix of quartz, iron oxide, sericite/clay, and possibly jarosite (Bull and Schneider, 1997). It is vuggy and variably silicified. Thirty-two rock samples of the breccia range in gold content from 100 ppb to 900 ppb (Hickok and McAtee, 1990). Silver content ranges as much as 9.6 ppm, and arsenic content is commonly several hundred parts per million to greater than 2,000 ppm. A few hundred rock and soil samples have been collected in the general prospect area over several years. These samples show that arsenic is widely distributed at anomalous levels that are commonly a few hundred or more parts per million. Other elements locally occur in anomalous amounts (Hickok and McAtee, 1990). These include silver (to 17.9 ppm), copper (to 562 ppm), lead (to 431 ppm), zinc (to 750 ppm), antimony (to 112 ppm), and mercury (to 100 ppm). Bedrock in the area of the prospect includes a zone about 2,500 feet across in which outcrops of felsic intrusive rocks are common. These rocks consist of aphanitic rhyolite to quartz porphyry that intrude strata that include chert, limestone, siltstone, and shale. The sedimentary rocks are in contact to the north and south with mafic volcanic rocks (Enos, 1997). The sedimentary and mafic volcanic rocks are part of the Paleozoic to Mesozoic Gemuk Group (Hoare and Coonrad, 1959). The bedrock units and several faults strike approximately northwest-southeast and trend toward Buster Creek (RM008), where felsic intrusive rocks have been reported to be bedrock in some areas of previous placer mining (Hickok and McAtee, 1990).
  • Age = Cretaceous or Tertiary. Mineralization is hosted by felsic intrusive rocks that are probably part of a regional suite of Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary igneous rocks that are widespread in southwest Alaska. The sedimentary rocks intruded by the felsic igneous rocks may be as young as Early Cretaceous (Hoare and Coonrad, 1959).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Marshall

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The Kako prospect has been explored by surface mapping and grid-based soil and rock geochemical surveys. Some of the geochemical surveys used hand and power augers to recover subsurface materials.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Hickok, B., and McAtee, J., 1990, Lode gold occurrences near the Kako and Stuyahok placer mines, southwestern Alaska: Calista Corporation, Anchorage, unpublished report, 17 p.

  • Deposit

    Bull, Katharine, and Schneider, Craig, 1997, 1997 Summary report for Calista Corporation: Unpublished report prepared for Calista Corporation, Anchorage, 10 pages plus tables.

  • Deposit

    Enos, N., 1997, Kako property, July work summary: Anchorage, Alaska, Calista Corporation, internal memorandum, 6 p.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1959, Geology of the Russion Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-292, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Hickok and McAtee, 1990

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Gold in altered and brecciated rhyolite

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-01 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology
Reporter 10-JUN-01 Madelyn A. Millholland Millholland & Associates

Beyond USGS

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

External references

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.