Kako

The Kako is a gold and silver 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

Satelite View

MRDS mine locations are often very general, and in some cases are incorrect. Some mine remains have been covered or removed by modern industrial activity or by development of things like housing. The satellite view offers a quick glimpse as to whether the MRDS location corresponds to visible mine remains.

Site Name

Primary: Kako

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver

Location

State: Alaska
District: Marshall

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

Not available

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Silicification, sericite/clay replacement, and oxidation.

Rocks

Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Paleocene
Age Old: Late Cretaceous

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold
Gangue: Sericite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Jarosite
Gangue: Clay

Comments

Comment (Commodity): Gangue = iron oxide

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Hickok and McAtee, 1990

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The Kako prospect has been explored by surface mapping and grid-based soil and rock geochemical surveys. Some of the geochemical surveys used hand and power augers to recover subsurface materials.

Comment (Geology): Age = Cretaceous or Tertiary. Mineralization is hosted by felsic intrusive rocks that are probably part of a regional suite of Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary igneous rocks that are widespread in southwest Alaska. The sedimentary rocks intruded by the felsic igneous rocks may be as young as Early Cretaceous (Hoare and Coonrad, 1959).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Kako lode gold prospect was discovered in 1974 by Resource Associates of Alaska (RAA) geologists under contract to Calista Corporation. RAA completed surface examination and a grid geochemical survey in 1974 and 1975. Calista Corporation and others continued work on the prospect in 1989 (Hickok and McAtee, 1990), 1996, and 1997 (Enos, 1997; Bull and Schneider, 1997). The principal gold-bearing area that has been identified is centered on a saddle at the head of Buster Creek, where there is a 30- by 300-foot area of rhyolite breccia. The breccia consists of angular sericite/clay-altered rhyolite fragments in a matrix of quartz, iron oxide, sericite/clay, and possibly jarosite (Bull and Schneider, 1997). It is vuggy and variably silicified. Thirty-two rock samples of the breccia range in gold content from 100 ppb to 900 ppb (Hickok and McAtee, 1990). Silver content ranges as much as 9.6 ppm, and arsenic content is commonly several hundred parts per million to greater than 2,000 ppm. A few hundred rock and soil samples have been collected in the general prospect area over several years. These samples show that arsenic is widely distributed at anomalous levels that are commonly a few hundred or more parts per million. Other elements locally occur in anomalous amounts (Hickok and McAtee, 1990). These include silver (to 17.9 ppm), copper (to 562 ppm), lead (to 431 ppm), zinc (to 750 ppm), antimony (to 112 ppm), and mercury (to 100 ppm). Bedrock in the area of the prospect includes a zone about 2,500 feet across in which outcrops of felsic intrusive rocks are common. These rocks consist of aphanitic rhyolite to quartz porphyry that intrude strata that include chert, limestone, siltstone, and shale. The sedimentary rocks are in contact to the north and south with mafic volcanic rocks (Enos, 1997). The sedimentary and mafic volcanic rocks are part of the Paleozoic to Mesozoic Gemuk Group (Hoare and Coonrad, 1959). The bedrock units and several faults strike approximately northwest-southeast and trend toward Buster Creek (RM008), where felsic intrusive rocks have been reported to be bedrock in some areas of previous placer mining (Hickok and McAtee, 1990).

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Gold in altered and brecciated rhyolite

References

Reference (Deposit): Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1959, Geology of the Russion Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-292, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Bull, Katharine, and Schneider, Craig, 1997, 1997 Summary report for Calista Corporation: Unpublished report prepared for Calista Corporation, Anchorage, 10 pages plus tables.

Reference (Deposit): Enos, N., 1997, Kako property, July work summary: Anchorage, Alaska, Calista Corporation, internal memorandum, 6 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hickok, B., and McAtee, J., 1990, Lode gold occurrences near the Kako and Stuyahok placer mines, southwestern Alaska: Calista Corporation, Anchorage, unpublished report, 17 p.

The Top Ten Gold Producing States

These ten states contributed the most to the gold production that built the West from 1848 through the 1930s. The Top Ten Gold Producing States.