Hanging Glacier

The Hanging Glacier is a lead, copper, barium-barite, gold, silver, and zinc 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: Hanging Glacier

Commodity

Primary: Lead
Primary: Copper
Primary: Barium-Barite
Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver
Primary: Zinc

Location

State: Alaska
District: Juneau (Skagway subdistrict)

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

Model Name: Massive sulfide, Besshi (Japanese deposits)
Model Name: Massive sulfide, kuroko

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Late Cretaceous

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Barite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Gold
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Sphalerite

Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Still and others, 1991

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Geology): Age = The Hanging Glacier prospect and other similar prospects in the Mt. Henry Clay area are probably correlative with the Windy Craggy deposit in Canada and the Greens Creek deposit on Admiralty Island and are therefore Late Triassic (Still, 1984 [OFR 118-84]; Newberry and others, 1997).

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Probably a volcanogenic massive-sulfide deposit with associated veining, some of which may be due to remobilization during deformation and metamorphism (Cox and Singer, 1986; models 28a or 24b).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = According to Still (1984 [OF 118-84]) and Still and others (1991), this prospect is an iron-stained zone of metasediments and hydrothermally altered metabasalt several hundred feet thick and about 2,000 feet long that strikes northeast and dips steeply north. The mineralization consists of barite lenses up to several feet thick and quartz-calcite ladder veins up to 0.5 feet thick. Both lenses and veins contain barite, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, and minor chalcopyrite. Samples from the lenses and veins contain up to 54% Ba, 14.1% zinc, 0.035% copper, 0.37% lead, 19.36 ppm silver, and 0.244 ppm gold. MacKevett and others (1974) note that the ladder veins occur within a 4- to 8-foot-thick altered dike that cuts the metavolcanic rocks. The ladder veins are as much as 6 inches thick and contain quartz, calcite, sphalerite, galena and minor chalcopyrite. They describe the barite lenses as a baritic footwall vein that contains fairly abundant galena and minor pyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite.? Sampling by Rubicon Minerals (1998) indicated values of up to 18.25% zinc, 0.11% copper, 0.05% lead, 0.49 ppm gold, and 36.2 ppm silver. Rubicon considers the Hanging Glacier prospect to be a volcanogenic massive-sulfide system that may be stratigraphically higher relative to the Cap (SK060) and Nunatak (SK058) prospects or, alternatively, a structural repetition of the Cap-Nunatak horizon (Rubicon Minerals, 1998). The Hanging Glacier prospect and other similar prospects in the Mt. Henry Clay area are probably correlative with the Windy Craggy deposit in Canada and the Greens Creek deposit on Admiralty Island and are therefore Late Triassic (Still, 1984 [OF 118-84]; Newberry and others, 1997).

References

Reference (Deposit): Rubicon Minerals, 1998, Palmer VMS Project, southeast Alaska, Executive Summary: unpublished report by Rubicon Minerals Corporation, Vancouver, British Columbia, 25 p.

Reference (Deposit): Still, J.C., Hoekzema, R.B., Bundtzen, T.K., Gilbert, W.G., Wier, K.R., Burns, L.E., and Fechner, S.A., 1991, Economic geology of Haines-Klukwan-Porcupine area, southeastern Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Report of Investigations 91-4, 156 p., 5 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Gilbert, W.G., and Redman, E.C., 1989, Lode deposits, prospects, and occurrences of the Porcupine mining area, southeast Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 17-89, 1 sheet, scale 1:39,600.

Reference (Deposit): Berg, H.C., 1984, Regional geologic summary, metallogenesis, and mineral resources of southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 84-572, 298 p., 1 plate, scale approx. 1:600,000.

Reference (Deposit): Still, J.C., 1984, Stratiform massive sulfide deposits in the Mt. Henry Clay area, southeast Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 118-84, 65 p.

Reference (Deposit): MacKevett, E.M., Jr., Robertson, E.C., and Winkler, G.R., 1974, Geology of the Skagway B-3 and B-4 quadrangles, southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 832, 33 p.

Reference (Deposit): Newberry, R.J., Crafford, T.C., Newkirk, S.R., Young, L.E., Nelson, S.W., and Duke, N.A., 1997, Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J. and Miller, L. D., eds., Mineral deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, p. 120-150.

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