Unnamed (near the mouth of Crillon Inlet to Lituya Bay)

The Unnamed (near the mouth of Crillon Inlet to Lituya Bay) is a copper and nickel 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: Unnamed (near the mouth of Crillon Inlet to Lituya Bay)

Commodity

Primary: Copper
Primary: Nickel
Secondary: Gold
Secondary: Cobalt
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Alaska
District: Yakutat

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Occurrence
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: Limonitic staining.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Goethite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Nickel
Ore: Pyrrhotite

Comments

Comment (Commodity): Ore Material = pyrrhotite (nickeliferous)

Comment (Geology): Age = Tertiary.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Disseminated sulfide minerals (chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite) occur in gabbro about 0.6 mile southwest of the Fairweather fault within the eastern part of the Lituya terrane defined by Brew and others (1978). The eastern part of the Lituya terrane is similar to the adjacent Fairweather terrane in abundance of intrusive rocks and presence of schistose metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.? Mineralized (iron-stained) float was at the base of a cliff by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Kimball and others, 1978, p. C93). Earlier Kennedy and Walton (1946, p. 71) had reported a gabbro dike, that contained about 1 percent chalcopyrite, also, pyrrhotite, cut granitic rock near the same location. Kimball and others (1978, p. C93) reported that the iron-stained float in scree contained as much as 1600 ppm copper, 2000 ppm nickel, 300 ppm cobalt and traces of gold and silver. Visible minerals in the scree float were quartz, chlorite, epidote, hornblende, pyrite and secondary goethite. The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigators observed a conspicuous iron-stained zone on the cliff that they inferred could be the dike reported by Kennedy and Walton, but they did not have time to investigate the possible source.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Kennedy and Walton, 1947; Kimball and others, 1978

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Lode: Disseminated copper and nickel(?) sulfide minerals in an altered mafic dike.

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Kimball and others (1978) did not recover the mineralized dike reported earlier by Kennedy and Walton (1946), but they did note iron-stained on the cliff above the mineralized scree at the base of the cliff. The Bureau of Mines party did not have time to examine the stained occurrence. The site is in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Surface exposure, cliff and talus. A float sample of iron-stained altered gabbro(?) from the talus contained 2000 ppm nickel, 1600 ppm copper, 300 ppm cobalt, 1 ppm silver, and 0.15 ppm gold. Kennedy and Walton (1946) reported a gabbro dike from the same area that contained disseminated chalcopyrite.

References

Reference (Deposit): Kennedy, G.C. and Walton, M.S., Jr., 1946, Geology and associated mineral deposits of some ultrabasic rocks in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 947-D, p. 65-84.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Mount Fairweather quadrangle, AK: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Study Map MF-436, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Kimball, A.L., Still, J.C., and Rataj, J.L., 1978, Mineral resources, in Brew, D. A., and others, Mineral resources of the Glacier Bay National Monument wilderness study area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-494, p. C1-C375.

Reference (Deposit): MacKevett, E.M., Jr., Brew, D.A., Hawley, C.C., Huff, L.C., and Smith, J.G., 1971, Mineral resources of Glacier Bay National Monument, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 632, 90 p., 12 plates, scale 1:250,000.

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