Lost River-Ida Bell dike exogreisen

Site Name

Primary: Lost River-Ida Bell dike exogreisen

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Commodity

Primary: Tungsten
Primary: Tin

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Port Clarence

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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: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sn veins
Model Name: Sn greisen

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Significant alteration is restricted to the Ida Bell dike and includes greisen (quartz, topaz, sericite, fluorite, tourmaline, and arsenopyrite replacement of granite) and later overprinting kaolinization.

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Rocks

Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 80.200000+-2.900000
Material Analyzed: Granite
Age Young: Late Cretaceous

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Cassiterite
Ore: Wolframite
Gangue: Fluorite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Topaz
Gangue: Tourmaline
Gangue: Mica

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Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Chronological age is for Lost River Mine.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Several surface dozer trenches and four USBM diamond drill holes have been completed on the Ida Bell prospect. A short adit and winze were also developed (Heide, 1946, figure 2).

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active?

Comment (Commodity): Gangue = sulfide minerals

Comment (Commodity): Gangue = white mica

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Ida Bell prospect is developed within a 2-mile long, northwest-trending felsic dike in Ordovician limestone that is up to 55 feet wide but averages 28.5 feet in width where exposed in dozer trenches. At the surface, this dike intersects the Cassiterite dike at about 500 feet elevation on the low north-south trending divide between Cassiterite Creek and Lost River. The age of the mineralization is assumed to be related to the development of tin systems in the Lost River area and therefore Late Cretaceous, the age of the tin-mineralizing granites there (Hudson and Arth, 1983). Fine-grained, leucocratic granite collected from a Lost River Mine dump has been dated at 80.2 +/- 2.9 my (Hudson and Arth, 1983, p.769). Local greisen development and related veining has been overprinted by late kaolinization in most exposed areas. Greisen contains quartz, topaz, sericite, fluorite, and arsenopyrite. A USBM diamond drill hole that intersects the Ida Bell dike 483 feet below the surface intersection with the Cassiterite dike shows it to be 40 feet wide and to average 0.33% tin including a seven foot section of 1.13% tin (Sainsbury, 1964, p. 52). The available drill holes and trenches outline a 900 x 400 x 28.5 foot volume containing about 840,000 tons that averages 0.26% tin and less than 0.1% WO3. One part of this block, near the intersection with the Cassiterite dike, contains 60,000 tons of 1.06% tin (Sainsbury, 1964, p. 52). The more local greisen development in the Ida Bell dike, at least at the surface, contrasts with the more extensive greisen alteration of the Cassiterite dike to the east of Cassiterite Creek in the Lost River mine. However, this prospect has not been extensively explored.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves = the available drill holes and trenches outline a 900 x 400 x 28.5 foot volume containing about 840,000 tons that averages 0.26% tin and less than 0.1% WO3. One part of this block, near the intersection with the Cassiterite dike, contains 60,000 tons of 1.06% tin (Sainsbury, 1964, p. 52).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Heide, 1946; Sainsbury, 1964

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Exogreisen. This deposit has characteristics of both the tin vein model (15b) and tin greisen model (15c) of Cox and Singer (1986).

Comment (Deposit): Model Number = 15b, 15c

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Production from the Lost River Mine has been from the Cassiterite dike exogreisen deposit (TE048).

Comment (Geology): Age = the age of the mineralization is assumed to be related to the development of tin systems in the Lost River area and therefore Late Cretaceous, the age of the tin-mineralizing granites there (Hudson and Arth, 1983). Fine-grained, leucocratic granite collected from a Lost River Mine dump has been dated at 80.2 +/- 2.9 my (Hudson and Arth, 1983, p.769).

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References

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Teller quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-587, 130 p.

Reference (Deposit): Heide, H.E., 1946, Investigation of the Lost River tin deposit, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 3902, 57 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hudson, T.L., and Arth, J. G., 1983, Tin-granites of Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 94, p. 768-790.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Sainsbury, C.L., 1972, Metallic mineral resource map of the Teller quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-426, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Sainsbury, C.L., 1964, Geology of the Lost River mine area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1129, 80 p.

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