The Montana Saddle is a gold 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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Montana Saddle MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Montana Saddle
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Mercury
Secondary: Arsenic
Secondary: Antimony
Location
State: Alaska
District: Innoko
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: Porphyry Cu-Au
Orebody
Not available
Structure
Not available
Alterations
Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Ankerite alteration near quartz-sulide vein swarms.
Rocks
Not available
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Arsenopyrite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Feldspar
Comments
Comment (Exploration): Status = Active
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Porphyry Cu-Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model no. 20c)
Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = See Wyoming Lode (MD016), Neirod East (MD020), and Moose Jaw (MD019) prospects.
Comment (Geology): Age = A Late Cretaceous age is inferred based on a 71.0 Ma age for the adjacent Cripple Creek Mountains pluton (Bundtzen and others, 1997).
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The prospect area has been cut by four trenches of two distinct ages. One trench system is nearly completely overgrown with vegetation, whereas good rock exposures are still preserved in the two younger excavations. Five chip-channel samples of that aggregate about 45 feet (14 m) of vein width yielded an average assay of 465 ppb gold, 968 ppm arsenic, and 1,995 ppb mercury (Bundtzen and others,1997). One sample contained 590 ppm antimony; however, the remaining samples contained only trace amounts. Placer Dome U.S., Inc. and Novagold Inc. sampled and trenched the prospect in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Montana Saddle prospect consists of an en echelon series of cox-comb quartz-arsenopyrite-chalcopyrite and quartz-feldspar veinlets ranging from 1 to 5 inches (2.5 to 13 cm) thick in a hornblende granite phase of the Cripple Creek Mountains stock. The vein spacing, which varies from 6 inches to 3 feet (15 cm to 0.9 m), trends in a consistent north 60 degrees east for a traceable strike distance of at least 450 feet (137 m) and for a width of at least 275 feet (84 m), before disappearing under tundra in all directions. . The Montana Saddle prospect is aligned along a north 40 degrees east trending fault mapped by Bundtzen and others (1997), which apparently controls the distribution of other metallic prospects--including the Wyoming (MD016), Neirod-East (MD020), and Moose Jaw (MD019) lodes. The coarse grained, hypidiomorphic, hornblende granite contains about 10 percent olive green hornblende, and contrasts with the biotite pyroxene monzonite phase, which is more typical of the Cripple Creek Mountains stock. Age of mineralization is inferred to be Late Cretaceous based on a 71.0 Ma age for the adjacent Cripple Creek Mountains pluton (Bundtzen and others, 1997). Five chip-channel samples that aggregate about 45 feet (14 m) of vein width yielded an average assay of 465 ppb gold, 968 ppm arsenic, and 1,995 ppb mercury (Bundtzen and others,1997). One sample contained 590 ppm antimony; however, the remaining samples contained only trace amounts of antimony.
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Bundtzen and others, 1997
References
Reference (Deposit): Patton, W.W., Jr., Moll, E.J., Dutro, J.T., Jr., Silberman, M.L., and Chapman, R.M., 1980, Preliminary geologic map of Medfra quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-811-A, 1 sheet, scale l:250,000.
Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Pinney, D.S., and Laird, G.M., 1997, Preliminary geologic map and descriptive data tables from the Ophir C-1 and western Medfra C-6 quadrangles, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Public Data File Report 97-46, 10 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.
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