Christophosen

Site Name

Primary: Christophosen

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Commodity

Primary: Zinc
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Antimony
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: Gold

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Nome

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Land Status

Not available

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Prospect
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Massive sulfide, kuroko

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Dolomitization?

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Stibnite
Gangue: Ankerite
Gangue: Dolomite
Gangue: Quartz

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Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Bundtzen and others, 1994, and this report

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Several prospect pits are present; a shallow shaft was caved by 1916. Surface examination and sampling by Kennecott Exploration Company in 1991 and 1992.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Christophosen prospect was discovered before 1916. When Mertie (1918 [B 662-I, p. 447]) visited the prospect in 1916, he found one caved shaft and reported sphalerite and pyrite with quartz. The locality was visited by Herreid (1968), who reported dolomite with sparsely disseminated galena, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite in an old prospect area. Approximately 500 feet south-southeast of the Christophosen pits is a rubble crop of sphalerite-bearing schist, similar to that found at the Aurora Creek prospect (NM140). It apparently lies stratigraphically above a graphitic quartz schist, as does the Aurora deposit. The zinc content of soils near the rubble crop exceeds 2,000 ppm; the soil also is strongly anomalous in lead and silver. The rubble crop is contained within a broader, north-northwest trending soil anomaly about 1,200 feet long and 400 feet wide where samples contain 1,000 ppm or more zinc. A lens of fine-grained cherty rock, possibly an exhalite layer, with disseminated galena, sphalerite, and stibnite appears to be stratigraphically above the sphalerite-bearing schist (Cindy Buxton and C.C. Hawley, written communication 1992). Country rock in the area of the prospect has been interpreted as a tightly folded complex of felsic metavolcanic schist and complexly mixed chloritic, calcareous, and felsic schist (Bundtzen and others, 1994).

Comment (Geology): Age = Syngenetic in early Paleozoic (Devonian) sedimentary and marine volcanic rocks.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = See Aurora prospect (NM140).

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Metamorphosed volcanogenic massive sulfide (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 28a [Kuroko massive sulfide]).

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References

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Reger, R.D., Laird, G.M., Pinney, D.S., Clautice, K.H., Liss, S.A., and Cruse, G.R., 1994, Progress report on the geology and mineral resources of the Nome mining district: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Public Data-File 94-39, 21 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

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