Willow Branch of Tozer Creek

The Willow Branch of Tozer Creek is a zinc 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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Site Name

Primary: Willow Branch of Tozer Creek

Commodity

Primary: Zinc
Secondary: Tin

Location

State: Alaska
District: Port Clarence

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: Garnet and sulfide-rich tactite replaces calc-silicate rock (hornfels); possibly some later quartz-fluorite veining.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Cassiterite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Garnet
Gangue: Fluorite
Gangue: Arsenopyrite

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Geology): Age = Late Cretaceous; the Black Mountain biotite granite, interpreted to be linked to alteration and mineralization in this area, has been determined to be 79.1 +/- 2.9 my old by the K/Ar method (Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 769).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Willow Branch of Tozer Creek is in the northwest part of the upland that includes Black Mountain. This upland is an area of hornfels, calc-silicate hornfels, and tactite intruded by a locally exposed biotite granite. The metasedimentary rocks, fine-grained metapelitic and metacarbonate rocks, are of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. The Late Cretaceous (79.1 +/- 2.9 my, Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 769) biotite granite, medium-grained and equigranular, is exposed in a small area on the southern flanks of the upland and is interpreted to be part of an early precurser granite phase rather than an mineralyzing granite phase (Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 784; Hudson and Reed, 1997, figure 3). The wide distribution of thermally metamorphosed rocks and the results of gravity and aeromagnetic surveys (McDermott, 1983) indicate that most of the Black Mountain area is underlain by granite at depth. The area is transected by many normal faults and related fractures. Sainsbury and Hamilton (1967) mapped a northwest-trending fault along the south side of Willow Branch that is noticeably mineralized over a distance of about 2,500 feet. This fault juxtaposes metapelitic rocks to the north against calc-silicate rocks to the south. Along the fault, calc-silicate rocks are variably replaced by garnet and sulfide-rich assemblages over widths of a few to 12 feet. The sulfide minerals include sphalerite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, and a sooty, black unidentified material. Fluorite and fine-grained silica are noted as gangue minerals in this assemblage (Sainsbury and Hamilton, 1969, p. B23). One sample of the sulfide-rich material has been analyzed (Sainsbury and Hamilton, 1967, p. B24). This sample contained 3% zinc, 700 ppm tin, 300 ppm copper, and 300 ppm lead.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Sainsbury and Hamilton, 1967

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Fault-controlled replacement and veining. Possibly tin skarn (14b) or tin vein (15b) model after Cox and Singer (1986).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Surface reconnaissance mapping and an analysis of one random chip sample is all the information available for this prospect.

References

Reference (Deposit): McDermott, M.M., 1983, Seward Peninsula reconnaissance 1982 geophysical report: Anchorage, Anaconda Minerals Company internal report, 29 p. (Report held by Cook Inlet Region, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska.)

Reference (Deposit): McDermott, M.M., 1983, Investigation of the magnetic contact aureoles of the Khotol and Black Mountain granites, Alaska: Anchorage, Alaska, Anaconda Minerals Company internal report (Report held by Cook Inlet Region, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska).

Reference (Deposit): McDermott, M.M., 1983, Seward Peninsula reconnaissance 1982 geophysical report: Anchorage, Anaconda Minerals Company internal report. 29 p. (Report held by Cook Inlet Region, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska.)

Reference (Deposit): Sainsbury, C.L., and Hamilton, J. C., 1967, Mineralized veins at Black Mountain, western Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 575-B, p. B21-B25.

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.

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