Unnamed (around mouth of Cahoon Creek)

Site Name

Primary: Unnamed (around mouth of Cahoon Creek)

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Juneau (Skagway subdistrict)

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Land Status

Not available

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Occurrence
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Polymetallic veins

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Some of the larger auriferous quartz-sulfide veins in the vicinity are associated with mafic dikes that have been altered to silica-carbonate rocks (see Golden Eagle (SK047)).

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Galena
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Calcite

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Comments

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Eakin (1918 and 1919) describes a nearly 1,200-foot-wide band of abundant quartz-sulfide veining in slate that cuts across Cahoon Creek near its mouth. He further notes that this zone of abundant veining occurs within a northwest-trending larger area of sediment hosted, discontinuous lode mineralization that consist of quartz, iron sulfides, and calcite veins, veinlets, and lenses that extends from south of the Salmon (Tsirku) River across the basins of Porcupine, Glacier, and Jarvis Creeks and into the mountain mass north of the Jarvis Glacier. Eakin infers that this larger zone of veining is the source of the placer gold in the Klehini and Salmon (Tsirku) River basins. Wright (1904 [B 225 and B 236]) noted that this zone of mineralization occurs in sedimentary rocks in the Porcupine area that are all more or less mineralized by veins of quartz and calcite. Iron sulfides that occur as films and conformable lenticular masses up to a few inches thick form an interrupted zone of mineralization in the southern portion of the sedimentary series. Quartz veins are not abundant and are often stringers parallel to the cleavage of the slate. The few crosscutting quartz veins carry galena, sphalerite, and minor chalcopyrite. Although these quartz-sulfide veins are quite narrow, they often persist for considerable distances. Light-brown-weathering calcite veins are more numerous than quartz veins, are often more than a foot thick; they may include pyrite cubes up to an inch across. Gold has been reported from veins of this nature up McKinley Creek ; see (SK046) and (SK047). MacKevett and others (1974) observed that, 'Lode occurrences are localized mainly in or near the slate in the central part of the B-4 quadrangle, and the placers are mainly along streams that drain the slate terrane.'

Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive

Comment (Geology): Age = Unknown, but probably Cretaceous or younger based on the age of intrusives in the area (MacKevett and others, 1974).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Hoekzema and others, 1986

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Auriferous quartz-sulfide veins in slate and in silica-carbonate-altered mafic dikes (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c).

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References

Reference (Deposit): Eakin, H.M., 1918, Gold placer mining in the Porcupine district: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 662-B, p. 93-100.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., 1986, Placer geology of the Porcupine Mining District, Skagway B-4 Quadrangle, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Public-Data File 86-27, 26 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:40,000.

Reference (Deposit): Roppel, Patricia, 1975, Porcupine: Alaska Journal, v. 5, no. 1, pp. 2-10.

Reference (Deposit): Wright, C.W., 1904, The Porcupine district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 236, 35 p.

Reference (Deposit): Eakin, H.M., 1919, The Porcupine gold placer district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 699, 29 p.

Reference (Deposit): Wright, C.W., 1904, The Porcupine placer mining district, Alaska in Emmons, S.F., and Hayes, C.W., eds., Contributions to economic geology 1903: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 225, p.60-63.

Reference (Deposit): Winkler, G.R., and MacKevett, E.M., Jr., 1970, Analyses of bedrock and stream-sediment samples from the Haines-Porcupine region, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 369, 91 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:125,000.

Reference (Deposit): Beatty, W.B., 1937, Geology of the placer deposits of Porcupine, Alaska: University of Washington, Seattle, Bachelor of Science thesis, 97 p.

Reference (Deposit): Koschmann, A.H. and Bergendahl, M.H., 1968, Principal gold producing districts of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 610, 283 p.

Reference (Deposit): Stewart, B.D., 1926, Notes on placer operations in Porcupine District: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 109-1, 5 p.

Reference (Deposit): Still, J.C., Weir, K.R., Gilbert, W.G., and Redman, E.C., 1984, Stream-sediment, float, and bedrock sampling in the Porcupine mining area, southeast Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 173-84, 19 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hoekzema, R.B., Fechner, S.A., and Bundtzen, T.K., 1986, Distribution, analysis, and recovery of placer gold from the Porcupine mining area, southeast Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 89-86, 49 p., 4 sheets.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Mt. Fairweather and Skagway quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-316, 123 p.

Reference (Deposit): Berg, H.C., 1984, Regional geologic summary, metallogenesis, and mineral resources of southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 84-572, 298 p., 1 plate, scale approx. 1:600,000.

Reference (Deposit): MacKevett, E.M., Jr., Robertson, E.C., and Winkler, G.R., 1974, Geology of the Skagway B-3 and B-4 quadrangles, southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 832, 33 p.

Reference (Deposit): Still, J.C., Gilbert, W.G., and Forbes, R.B., 1987, Final report of stream sediment, float, and bedrock sampling in the Porcupine mining area, southeast Alaska, 1983-1985: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 36-87, 35 p., 8 sheets.

Reference (Deposit): Williams, J.A., 1960, Report of the Division of Mines and Minerals for the year 1959: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Annual Report 1959, 80 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Past placer gold production from Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 857, 19 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1941, Fineness of gold from Alaska placers: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 910-C, p. 147-269.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Skagway quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-424, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1973, Placer deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1374, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Still, J.C., Hoekzema, R.B., Bundtzen, T.K., Gilbert, W.G., Wier, K.R., Burns, L.E., and Fechner, S.A., 1991, Economic geology of Haines-Klukwan-Porcupine area, southeastern Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Report of Investigations 91-4, 156 p., 5 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

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