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Gold Nugget

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

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308612
Record type Site
Current site name Gold Nugget
Alternate or previous names South quarry

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -131.57677, 55.30874 (WGS84)
Relative position This site is in section 3, T. 76 S., R. 91 E., of the Copper River Meridian. It includes the Gold Nugget prospect and the South quarry occurrence. The Gold Nugget prospect is on the Tongass Narrows shoreline of Revillagigedo Island, about 1.8 miles northwest of Mountain Point. The South quarry occurrence is at an elevation of about 100 feet, 0.25 mile southeast of the Gold Nugget prospect. The coordinates are for the Gold Nugget prospect. The Gold Nugget prospect corresponds to loc. 74 in Elliott and others (1978), and to loc. 284 in Maas and others (1995). The South quarry occurrence is loc. 285 in Maas and others (1995). The location of the Gold Nugget prospect is accurate within 0.1 mile.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Ketchikan Gateway(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Ketchikan B-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Ketchikan SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ketchikan(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Ketchikan(hydrologic unit)

Southern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

LG(Federal land areas administered by LG)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Lead Secondary
Zinc Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Pyrite Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -131.57677, 55.30874
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The country rocks in this part of Revillagigedo Island are mainly marine, andesitic or basaltic metavolcanic rocks and interbedded pelitic sedimentary rocks that are intruded by Cretaceous stocks, sills, and dikes of feldspar-porphyritic granodiorite, and by a stock and probably related plugs of Tertiary gabbro (Berg and others, 1988). The strata and some of the granodiorite were regionally metamorphosed to greenschist grade in Late Cretaceous time. These rocks subsequently were contact metamorphosed to hornblende hornfels: locally, near some of the Cretaceous granodiorite contacts, and, more widely, peripheral to the Tertiary gabbro. The premetamorphic age of the strata is uncertain. Berg and others (1988) note that they closely resemble Upper Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous flysch and volcanic rocks nearby on Gravina Island. The country rocks are cut by a high-angle fault along Tongass Narrows that displays about 4 miles of right-lateral offset. Maas and others (1995, p. 194, 197) describe the Gold Nugget deposit as irregular quartz ladder veins hosted in a 30-foot-thick porphyritic dike that cuts the foliation of slate country rock. The veins carry lenses and disseminations of pyrite, sphalerite, and galena. The dike is exposed for a length of 150 feet. Samples of the deposit assayed as high as 14.05 ppm Au, 7.9 ppm Ag, 829 ppm Pb, and 1585 ppm Zn, but most samples were much lower in grade. The Gold Nugget prospect was developed in the early 1900s by opencuts and two shafts that subsequently were covered or plugged during housing development. Small amounts of gold probably were recovered early in the century, but there is no public record of any production. At the South quarry occurrence, a small rock sample of unspecified type contained 8.1 ppm Au, 31.5 ppm Ag, 1.04% Pb, and 2.08% Zn (Maas and others, 1995, p. 201).
  • Age = Cretaceous or younger.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Ketchikan

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Small amounts of gold probably were recovered in the early 1900s, but there is no public record of any production.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The Gold Nugget prospect was developed in the early 1900s by opencuts and two shafts that subsequently were covered or plugged during housing development. Samples of the deposit assayed as high as 14.05 ppm Au, 7.9 ppm Ag, 829 ppm Pb, and 1585 ppm Zn, but most samples were much lower in grade (Maas and others, 1995, p. 197, 201). At the South quarry occurrence, a small rock sample of unspecified type contained 8.1 ppm Au, 31.5 ppm Ag, 1.04% Pb, and 2.08% Zn (Maas and others, 1995, p. 201).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Maas and others, 1995

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Polymetallic veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 03-JUL-1999 H.C. Berg 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.