Nelson

The Nelson is a zinc 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: Nelson

Commodity

Primary: Zinc
Primary: Lead

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: Marble was bleached at the prospect.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Galena
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Sphalerite
Gangue: Calcite

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Cathcart, 1922

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Developments included a 55-foot adit, an open cut, and several pits; all are now badly sloughed. The site does not appear to have been active since before 1920. Hummel and Chapman (1960) did not find anomalous zinc in stream sediment samples collected from Steep Creek about a mile below the Nelson prospect.

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = the Nelson prospect is on Bering Straits Native Corporation selected lands.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Nelson zinc-lead prospect contains sphalerite, galena, and pyrite in veinlets subparallel to layering in marble and in stockwork-like fracture zones; it includes a galena veinlet 2 inches thick (Mertie, 1918 [B 662-I, P. 425-449]; Cathcart, 1922). When the prospect was visited by Cathcart in 1920, mineralization was exposed over about a 6-foot width in an open cut near a contact of marble and mica schist; the schist had a strike of N 15 W and dipped 18 degrees west. The marble was bleached in the mineralized zone. An adit, reportedly 55-feet long (Mertie, 1918 [B 662-I, p. 425-449]), was caved and inaccessable to Cathcart (1922). The prospect was visited in 1995 by C.C. Hawley, but the exposures were badly sloughed and the nature of the mineralization could not be observed. The Nelson propect is within the main marble mass of Mount Distin where thin mica schist layers occur (Hummel, 1962 [MF 248]; Bundtzen and others, 1994). Layering in the marble and the schist is generally north-dipping and the prospect is about one-half mile south of the east-west axis of the Mount Distin syncline of Hummel (1962 [MF 248]).

Comment (Geology): Age = Probably mid-Cretaceous or younger; appears to postdate regional metamorphism of mid-Cretaceous age.

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Carbonate-hosted, lead-zinc deposit.

References

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): 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): Hummel, C.L., and Chapman, R.M., 1960, Geologic and economic significance of some geochemical results obtained from stream sediment samples near Nome, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 400-B, p. B30-33.

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

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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