Red Mountain

The Red Mountain is a pge 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: Red Mountain

Commodity

Primary: PGE
Secondary: Chromium
Secondary: Gold
Secondary: Gold
Tertiary: Nickel
Tertiary: Copper
Tertiary: Chromium

Location

State: Alaska
District: Goodnews Bay

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: Alaskan Cr-Pt (PGE)

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Partial to complete serpentization of the dunite is common. Mertie (1969, p. 79) reports that 25 percent of the Red Mountain dunite is serpentine.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Chromite

Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Alaska Earth Sciences, 2000

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alaskan PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 9)

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = the Red Mountain dunite is probably the major source of platinum metals in the placer deposits of the Salmon River drainage.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Material = platinum group metal (PGM) alloys

Comment (Geology): Age = Jurassic, the age of the Red Mountain ultramafic pluton. Hoare and Coonrad (1978) report K/Ar ages for two samples of amphibole from the southeast border of the Red Mountain pluton: 176.4 +/- 5.3 Ma and 186.9 +/- 5.6 Ma.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = A surface soil and rock geochemical survey has been completed over a large part of the Red Mountain dunite. An aeromagnetic survey was flown over the Salmon River (Goodnews) area in 1994, a gravity survey has been completed, and some controlled-source audio magneto-telluric lines have been run over selected parts of the ultramafic complex (Alaska Earth Sciences, 2000). A portable washing plant was used for trial placer prospecting of residual material on the crest of Red Mountain in 1965.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Red Mountain is a large, composite ultramafic pluton of Jurassic age (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978). It is dominantly dunite with a thin border zone assemblage of peridotite, clinopyroxenite, and hornblende-bearing rocks (Southwith, 1986; Southwith and Foley, 1986; Alaska Earth Sciences, 2000). This prospect is in dunite between the crest of Red Mountain and the eastern border zone of the pluton. It is defined by a soil-geochemistry anomaly that is 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) long and 700 meters (2,300 feet) wide. Platinum values in this anomaly range from 60 to 3,300 ppb (Alaska Earth Sciences, 2000). Bird and Clark (1976, Table 4, p. 724) reported Red Mountain sample results of up to 1.4 ppm Pt, 0.020 ppm Pd, 0.0300 ppm Rh, and 0.300 ppm Ir. Fechner (1988, p. 43) reported Red Mountain sample results of up to 1.681 ppm Pt, 0.515 ppm Pd, 0.117 ppm Rh, and 0.823 ppm Ir.? Chromite occurs as disseminations and layers in the dunite. Platinum-bearing alloys have been identified as inclusions in chromite (Bird and Clark, 1976) and as separate grains in heavy mineral concentrate from residual materials over dunite (Fechner, 1988). Three samples of heavy-mineral concentrate contained a trace to 0.0011 ounce of PGM per cubic yard and a trace to 0.0002 ounce of gold per cubic yard. Platinum was recovered from concentrates of residual materials over dunite sampled near the crest of Red Mountain by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company in 1965 (Mertie, 1969, p. 84). The platinum-bearing alloy inclusions in chromite comprise 20 percent platinum, 40 percent iridium, 25 percent iron and lesser amounts of rhodium, nickel, and chromium (Bird and Clark, 1976, p. 724).

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

References

Reference (Deposit): Southwith, D.P., and Foley, J.Y., 1986, Lode platinum-group metals potential of the Goodnews Bay ultramafic complex, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 51-86, 82 p.

Reference (Deposit): Southwith, D.P., 1986, Geology of the Goodnews Bay ultramafic complex: University of Alaska, Fairbanks, M.Sc. thesis, 115 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geologic map of the Goodnews and Hagemeister Island quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-B, two sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Bird, M.L., and Clark, A.L., 1976, Microprobe study of olivine chromitites of the Goodnews Bay ultramafic complex, Alaska, and the occurrence of platinum: U.S. Geological Survey Journal of Research, v. 4, p. 717-725.

Reference (Deposit): Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1969, Economic geology of platinum minerals: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 630, 120 p.

Reference (Deposit): Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1976, Platinum deposits in the Goodnews Bay district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 938, 42 p.

Reference (Deposit): Alaska Earth Sciences, 2000, The Goodnews Bay ultramafic complexes: Unpublished data, http://aes.alaska.com/UMAF/FIGURES/page4.html
URL: http://aes.alaska.com/UMAF/FIGURES/page4.html

Reference (Deposit): Fechner, S.A., 1988, Bureau of Mines mineral investigation of the Goodnews Bay mining district, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 1-88, 230 p.

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