Su-Lik

The Su-Lik is a silver, zinc, and lead mine located in Alaska at an elevation of 984 feet.

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: Su-Lik
Secondary: Wulik River

Commodity

Primary: Silver
Primary: Zinc
Primary: Lead
Secondary: Cadmium
Secondary: Barium-Barite
Tertiary: Barium-Barite
Tertiary: Cadmium

Location

State: Alaska
District: Red Dog

Land Status

Land ownership: Federal
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Type: Surface

Ownership

Owner Name: General Crude Oil Co./Noranda Exploration, Inc.
Home Office: Texas
Info Year: 1986

Owner Name: Echo Bay Mines
Info Year: 1992

Owner Name: Moneta-Porcupine Mines, Inc.
Info Year: 1992

Owner Name: Cominco Alaska
Years: 1999 -

Owner Name: Zazu Metals and Teck Resources
Info Year: 2010

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Deposit
Operation Category: Prospect
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Discovery Year: 1977
Discovery Method: Geochemical Anomaly
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sedimentary exhalative Zn-Pb

Orebody

Name: Lik North
Form: tabular

Name: Lik South-Su
Form: tabular

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Host rocks are intensely silicified close to the sulfides.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Barite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Bournonite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Marcasite
Ore: Boulangerite
Gangue: Dolomite
Gangue: Calcite

Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Sterne and others, 1984

Comment (Workings): Discovered in 1977, the deposit was explored by more than 125 drill holes in the early 1990's. Lik South will be open-pit. Lik North will probably be developed by underground mining, access will be from the bottom of the Lik South pit.

Comment (Geology): Leach et al, 2005 lists the primary deposit model as sedimentary exhalative Zn-Pb, but the deposit also shows shale-hosted and carbonate replacement aspects.

Comment (Identification): Lik claim names - Lik 2020-2030, Lik 2031 Fraction, Lik 3019 Fraction, Lik 3020-3030, Lik 3030a Fraction, Lik 3031-3034, Lik 4019 Fraction, Lik 4020-4034, Lik 5023-5035, Lik 5035x, Lik 5036-5045, Lik 5045a Fraction, Lik 5046-5047, Lik 6020 Fraction, Lik 6021 Fraction, Lik 6022-6045, Lik 6045a Fraction, Lik 6046-6047, Lik 7020-7033 Su claim names - Bear Claims 1-74, Deadlock Mtn, Wul, Cal, Clam, Oak 4954-5769, Stop, Su Fraction, Rok 1-500, Tak 5050-5562, Punupkankroak Mtn, Pun, Mat, Su, Boo Claims, Boo, Jan, Who/Haw Claims, Sur 1-24, Tan 5048-5974, Jer, Mongo, Tak, Bil, Jerk, Mac, Suds 1-344, Noa 4252-5253, Cub, Suc 1-27, Dik, Cr0ak

Comment (Geology): The Lik prospect is a black, carbonaceous shale- and chert-hosted, volcanogenic exhalative, massive, Pb-Zn-Ag sulfide deposit. The deposit strikes northeast and dips about 30 degrees west. The sulfide horizons are thinly bedded, stratiform and confined to carbonaceous shale and chert. The ore consists of fine- to very fine-grained, sulfides in thin bands or massive lenses which occur discontinuously along strike for over a kilometer. The dominant sulfides are pyrite, marcasite, sphalerite and minor galena. Pyrite accounts for about 50% of the sulfides. Barite is also reported. In silver-rich zones, boulangerite and bournonite appear as exsolution blebs in galena. There are three types of sulfide mineralization in the Lik deposit. The most common type consists of thinly-banded, fine-grained sulfides in black shales that occur in the lowest portion of the section. The second type consists of lenses of massive sulfide, quartz, and barite higher in the section. The third type consists of vein and breccia sulfide deposits stratigraphically below the massive sulfide lenses. The Lik deposit is hosted by a sequence of black shales, black cherts, calcareous black shales and occasional calcareous sandstones. The sequence grades upward from the foot-wall of the deposit through the mineralized zone into an oxidized zone without any apparent depositional hiatus. The hanging-wall of the deposit consists of Permian-Triassic, thick-bedded, gray-green cherts and siliceous mudstones. The Permian-Triassic strata either grade downward into black shales or rest directly on the massive sulfides. The Permian-Triassic rocks are overlain by the severely-sheared sole of an overriding, Upper Cretaceous thrust sheet. Complex folding and disrupted bedding are commonly found in the banded sulfides. The deposit is divided into three parts, Lik North, Lik South, and Su. Lik North is adjacent but offset from Lik South by a fault. Su is the southern continuation of Lik South, but on different claims.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Geology): Age = Potassium-argon dating indicates that the mineralization is Late Mississippian in age.

References

Reference (Geology): Leach, D., Sangster, D., Kelley, K., Large, R.R., Garven, G., Allen, C., Gutzmer, J., and Walters, S., 2005, Sediment-hosted lead-zinc deposits: A global perspective. Economic Geology, 100th Aniversary Volume. pp. 561-607. Also Appendices A, B, C, D, E, and Supplement
Pages: Appendix A, Table A1

Reference (Deposit): Eakins, G.R., Bundtzen, T.K., Robinson, M.S., Clough, J.G., Green, C.B., Clautice, K.H., and Albanese M.A., 1983, Alaska's mineral industry, 1982, Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 31, 63 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., Mayfield, C.F., and Brosge, W.P., 1981, Summaries of data on and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral occurrences in eleven quadrangles in northern Alaska (Arctic, Baird Mountains, Chandler Lake, DeLong Mountains, Demarcation Point, Howard Pass, Misheguk Mountain, Mount Michelson, Noatak, Point Lay, and Table Mountain); Supplement to Open-File Report 75-628; Part A, Summaries of data to January 1, 1981: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 81-767-A, 25 p.

Reference (Deposit): Forrest, K., 1983, Geologic and isotopic studies of the Lik deposit and the surrounding mineral district, DeLong Mountains, western Brooks Range, Alaska: University of Minnesota, Ph.D. dissertation, 161 p.

Reference (Deposit): Sterne, E.J., Zantop, H. and Reynolds, R.C., 1984, Clay mineralogy and carbon-nitrogen geochemistry of the Lik and Competition Creek zinc-lead-silver prospects, DeLong Mountains, Alaska: Economic Geology, v. 79, p. 1406-1411.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., and Henning, M.W., 1978, Barite in Alaska: Mines and Geology Bulletin, v. 27, no. 4, p. 1-4.

Reference (Deposit): Grybeck, D.J., and Nokleberg, W.J., 1979, Metallogeny of the Brooks Range, Alaska, in Johnson, K.M., and Williams, J.R., Jr., The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1978: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 804-B, p. B19-B22.

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