1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Stepovich

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Tungsten, Beryllium, Molybdenum, Antimony
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
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 10308842
MRDS ID A015304
Record type Site
Current site name Stepovich
Related records 10101018

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -147.36995, 64.98067 (WGS84)
Relative position The Stepovich mine is located in the SW1/4SW1/4 sec. 21, T. 2 N., T. 2 E., Fairbanks Meridian. The Stepovich mine is located just west of the summit of Gilmore Dome and is accessible by a road from the Steese Highway up Gilmore Creek. The prospect is included in locality 32 of Cobb (1972 [MF 410]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Fairbanks D-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Big Delta NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Fairbanks(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Tungsten Critical Primary
Beryllium Critical Secondary
Molybdenum Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Meliphanite Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite Ore

Alteration

  • Silicified layers in the marble contain pyroxene, hornblende, and quartz (Mertie, 1917).

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 42
USGS model code 14a
Deposit model name W skarn

Nearby scientific data

(1) -147.36995, 64.98067
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = In 1915, Johnson discovered a scheelite-bearing lode in a crystalline marble bed in schist. The marble has intervals that consist of calcite, pyroxenite, hornblende, and quartz associated with granular scheelite ore, quartz pegmatite, and silicified mica schist (Mertie, 1917; Byers, 1957). The crystalline marble is in discontinuous, irregular bodies roughly parallel to the foliation of the schist. Various descriptions indicate that the limestone may occur as an impure, thin beds, interlayered with other sedimentary rock, or as irregularly shaped, lens-like bodies of relatively pure limestone found at irregular intervals (Gebhardt, 1942).The average thickness of the marble is 2 feet, but it may be as much as 10 feet thick in troughs and crests of folds. Granular scheelite is localized at the intersections of limestone [marble] and scheelite-bearing quartz pegmatite. Typical contact-metamorphic minerals are present, including the beryllium mineral, meliphanite. Green amphibolite forms the footwall of the lode below the 50-foot level of the shaft. The lode generally strikes about N. 70 W. and dips about 35 NW (Byers, 1957). It is offset as much as several tens of feet along steep, northward-striking faults. The weighted average of 32 channel samples in the ore zones was 6.1 percent tungsten tri-oxide, and the average of the ore that was mined was less than 5 percent (Byers, 1957). The richest ore shoots are at the intersections of marble and pegmatite dikes (Berg and Cobb, 1967, p. 220).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairbanks

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = From 1915 to 1916, the Tungsten claim produced 210 tons of ore. During World War I, the production was 10 tons of concentrates thst contained about 65 percent tungsten tri-oxide; 300 tons of sorted ore contained 8 percent tungsten tri-oxide, but only 2 percent was recoverable. Production from 1942 to 1944 was about 98.4 tons of ore (Byers, 1957). There was as small mill on the property that recovered the scheelite concentrate on a Wilfley table.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = During the period 1915-18, inclined shafts were driven down the dip of the lode. In 1942-44, Cleary Hill Mines Co. sank a 170-foot inclined shaft with levels at 50 feet and 150 feet. Gabhardt (1942) reported shafts 50 and 190 feet deep and about 300 feet apart and a 100-foot tunnel. By 1957, there were 2,000 feet of underground workings (Byers, 1957).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Byers, 1957

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = W skarn deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 14a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 31-JUL-2001 J.R. Guidetti Schaefer and C.J. Freeman Avalon Development Corporation

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.