Copper King

The Copper King is a copper and lead mine located in Alaska.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

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Site Name

Primary: Copper King

Commodity

Primary: Copper
Primary: Lead
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Gold

Location

State: Alaska
District: Nome

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

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

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Bleaching, development of silica-rich rock, introduction of white mica, and oxidation.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Azurite
Ore: Bornite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Pyrite
Gangue: Mica
Gangue: Quartz

Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Late Proterozoic, early Paleozoic, or mid-Cretaceous.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Hummel (1962 [MF 248]) noted the presence of copper and lead minerals here. On the basis of descriptions of copper mineralization in the general area (Smith, 1908; Cathcart, 1922), the mineralization is likely to include azurite, malachite, bornite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and possibly galena in silica-rich rocks near a marble-schist contact. Early workers noted that the mineralization was stratabound but interpreted it to be in silicified zones and to have a replacement origin.? Picked samples (probably from the Copper Mountain prospect, NM054, 0.6 mile to the south) contained 15 percent copper, 20 percent lead, and 'rather high silver and low gold content' (Smith, 1908, p. 240-242). This prospect appears to have similarities to several other copper-bearing deposits in the eastern Teller quadrangle (for example, the Ward mine, Hudson, 1998, TE071) and in the western Solomon quadrangle (for example, the Wheeler mine, Hudson, 1999, SO172).? the Copper King prospect occurs in graphitic calc-mica schist with interlayered marble; the schist includes concordant bodies of granitic orthogneiss; one of the orthogneiss bodies occurs below the Copper King prospect (Hummel, 1962, MF-248; Thurston, 1985, figure 3A). Cathcart (1922, p. 219) described the orthogneiss as mainly fine grained, but with local porphyritic facies. An orthogneiss body 4.5 miles to the northeast has been determined to have a 678 Ma protolith age (Amato and Wright, 1998).? the metamorphic rocks are part of the Nome Group and derived from Precambrian to early Paleozoic protoliths (Till and Dumoulin, 1994). The Nome Group underwent regional blueschist facies metamorphism in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous (Sainsbury, Coleman, and Kachadoorian, 1970; Forbes and others, 1984; Thurston, 1985; Armstrong and others, 1986; Hannula and McWilliams, 1995). The blueschist facies rocks were recrystallized to greenschist facies or higher metamorphic grades in conjunction with regional extension, crustal melting, and magmatism in the mid-Cretaceous (Hudson and Arth, 1983; Miller and Hudson, 1991; Miller and others, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995; Hannula and others, 1995; Hudson, 1994; Amato and others, 1994; Amato and Wright, 1997, 1998). Lode gold mineralization on Seward Peninsula is mostly related to the higher temperature metamorphism in the mid-Cretaceous (Apodoca, 1994; Ford, 1993 [thesis]; Ford and Snee, 1996; Goldfarb and others, 1997). The age of nearly stratabound copper occurrences is more enigmatic, with a range of ages from that of the protolith through the late Proterozoic emplacement of some orthogneiss to the mid-Cretaceous.

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Carbonate-hosted, sulfide-bearing silica-rich rock.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = There is a short adit and shallow shaft on the property. The earliest workings were before 1908 (Smith, 1908). There has been little recent work.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Smith, 1908

References

Reference (Deposit): Amato, J.M., and Wright, J.E., 1997, Potassic mafic magmatism in the Kigluaik gneiss dome, northern Alaska -- A geochemical study of arc magmatism in an extensional tectonic setting: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. B102, no. 4, p. 8065-8084.

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.

Reference (Deposit): Goldfarb, R.J., Miller, L.D., Leach, D.L., and Snee, L.W, 1997, Gold deposits in metamorphic rocks in Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J., and Miller, L.D., eds., Mineral deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, 482 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome D-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-248, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Sainsbury, C.L., Coleman, R.G., and Kachadoorian, Reuben, 1970, Blueschist and related greenschist faces rocks of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in Geological Survey research 1970: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 700-B, p. B33-B42.

Reference (Deposit): Cathcart, S.H., 1922, Metalliferous lodes in southern Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 722, p. 163-261.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1908, Investigations of mineral deposits of Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 345, p. 206-250.

Reference (Deposit): Apodoca, L. E., 1994, Genesis of lode gold deposits of the Rock Creek area, Nome mining district, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Boulder, Colorado, University of Colorado, Ph.D. dissertation, 208 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hudson, T.L. 1994, Crustal melting events in Alaska, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H. C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, v. G-1, p. 657-670.

Reference (Deposit): Miller, E.L., Calvert, A.T., and Little, T.A., 1992, Strain-collapsed metamorphic isograds in a sillimanite gneiss dome, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geology, v. 20, p. 487-490.

Reference (Deposit): Ford, R.C., 1993, Geology, geochemistry, and age of gold lodes at Bluff and Mt. Distin, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Golden, Colorado School of Mines, Ph.D. dissertation, 302 p.

Reference (Deposit): Miller, E.L., and Hudson, T.L., 1991, Mid-Cretaceous extensional fragmentation of a Jurassic-Early Cretaceous compressional orogen, Alaska: Tectonics, v. 10, p. 781-796.

Reference (Deposit): Armstrong, R.L., Harakal, J.E., Forbes, R.B., Evans, B.W., and Thurston, S.P., 1986, Rb-Sr and K-Ar study of metamorphic rocks of the Seward Peninsula and southern Brooks Range, Alaska, in Evans, B.W., and Brown, E.H., eds., Blueschists and eclogites: Geological Society of America Memoir 164, p. 184-203.

Reference (Deposit): Hannula, K.A., and McWilliams, M.O., 1995, Reconsideration of the age of blueschist facies metamorphism on the Seward Peninusla, Alaska, based on phengite 40Ar/39Ar results: Journal of Metamorphic Geology, v. 13, p. 125-139.

Reference (Deposit): Hannula, K.A., Miller, E.L., Dumitru, T.A., Lee, Jeffrey, and Rubin, C.M., 1995, Structural and metamorphic relations in the southwest Seward Peninsula, Alaska; Crustal extension and the unroofing of blueschists: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 107, p. 536-553.

Reference (Deposit): Dumitru, T.A., Miller, E.L., O'Sullivan, P.B., Amato, J.M., Hannula, K.A., Calvert, A.T., and Gans, P.B., 1995, Cretaceous to Recent extension in the Bering Strait region, Alaska: Tectonics, v. 14, p. 549-563.

Reference (Deposit): Amato, J.M., Wright, J.E., Gans, P.B., and Miller, E.L., 1994, Magmatically induced metamorphism and deformation in the Kigluaik gneiss dome, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Tectonics, v. 13, p. 515-527.

Reference (Deposit): Hudson, T.L., 1999, Alaska Resource Data File, Solomon quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-573, 360 p.

Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., and Dumoulin, J.A, 1994, Geology of Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H.C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, DNAG, v. G-1, p. 141-152.

Reference (Deposit): Amato, J.M., and Wright, J.E., 1998, Geochronologic investigations of magmatism and metamorphism within the Kigluaik Mountains gneiss dome, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in Clough, J.G., and Larson, Frank, eds., Short Notes on Alaskan Geology 1997: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Professional Report 118a, p. 1-21.

Reference (Deposit): Hudson, T.L, 1998, Alaska Resource Data File, Teller quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-328, 235 p.

Reference (Deposit): Ford, R.C., and Snee, L.W., 1996, 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of white mica from the Nome district, Alaska: The first ages of lode sources to placer gold deposits in the Seward Peninsula: Economic Geology, v. 91, p. 213-220.

Reference (Deposit): Thurston, S.P., 1985, Structure, petrology, and metamorphic history of the Nome Group blueschist terrane, Salmon Lake area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 96, p. 600-617.

Reference (Deposit): Forbes, R.B., Evans, B.W., and Thurston, S.P., 1984, Regional progressive high-pressure metamorphism, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Journal of Metamorphic Geology, v. 2, p. 43-54.

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): Hudson, T.L., and Arth, J. G., 1983, Tin-granites of Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 94, p. 768-790.

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