Venitia

The Venitia is a molybdenum and 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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Site Name

Primary: Venitia
Secondary: Black Swan
Secondary: Laundromat
Secondary: Jim's cut

Commodity

Primary: Molybdenum
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Copper

Location

State: Alaska
District: Ketchikan

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 Mo, low-F

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Alteration Text: Local oxidation of copper minerals (Jim's cut).

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Molybdenite
Ore: Pyrite

Comments

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Porphyry Mo, low-F (Jim's cut) (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 21b)

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Maas and others, 1995

Comment (Geology): Age = Probably Cretaceous (Jim's cut).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Workings dating from the early 1900s have largely been covered by housing or commercial development, or plugged. At Jim's cut, a 68-foot-long sample across disseminated sulfide mineralization in the diorite contained 163 ppb Au, 2632 ppm Cu, and 115 ppm Mo (Maas and others, 1995, p. 201).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = This part of Revillagigedo Island is underlain mainly by marine, andesitic or basaltic volcanic rocks and interbedded pelitic sedimentary rocks that are intruded by Cretaceous stocks, sills, and dikes of feldspar-porphyritic granodiorite, and by a stock and probably related plugs of Tertiary gabbro (Berg and others, 1988). The strata were regionally metamorphosed to greenschist-grade phyllite and semischist in Late Cretaceous time. They subsequently were contact metamorphosed to hornblende hornfels: locally, near some of the Cretaceous granodiorite contacts, and, more widely, peripheral to the Tertiary gabbro. The premetamorphic age range of the strata is uncertain. Berg and others (1988) note that they closely resemble Upper Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous flysch and volcanic rocks nearby on Gravina Island. The country rocks are cut by a high-angle fault along Tongass Narrows that displays about 4 miles of right-lateral offset. According to U.S. Bureau of Mines claim records (1977), the Venitia prospect, which appears to be in hornfelsed strata near the contact of a Tertiary gabbro stock, reportedly was staked for gold. No other information about this prospect has been made public. The following three occurrences were examined by Maas and others (1995, loc. 281-283), who named them either from U.S. Bureau of Mines claim records, or, informally, for local landmarks. Loc. 281 (Maas and others, p. 201): Black Swan. Samples of unidentified rock contained up to 555 ppm Cu. Loc. 282. Laundromat. A sample of unidentified rock contained 11 ppb Au. There is a 15-foot adit on this property. Loc. 283: Jim's cut. This occurrence, discovered during Maas and others' investigation, was exposed by residential and commercial development along the highway southeast of Ketchikan. It consists of diorite containing disseminated pyrite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, and malachite that is exposed for 180 feet in a 12-foot deep cut in the back yards of several new houses. A 68-foot-long sample across disseminated sulfide mineralization in the diorite contained 163 ppb Au, 2632 ppm Cu, and 115 ppm Mo, Maas and others (1995, p. 201) interpret this occurrence as a porphyry molybdenum-type deposit.

References

Reference (Deposit): U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1977, Claim map, Ketchikan quadrangle: U.S. Bureau of Mines Map 120, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Elliott, R.L., Berg, H.C., and Karl, Susan, 1978, map and table describing metalliferous and selected nonmetalliferous mineral deposits, Ketchikan and Prince Rupert quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report, 78-73-B,17 p., scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Berg, H.C., Elliott, R.L., and Koch, R.D., 1988, Geologic map of the Ketchikan and Prince Rupert quadrangles, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Investigations Series Map MF-1807,27 p., scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Maas, K.M., Bittenbender, P E., and Still, J.C., 1995, Mineral investigations in the Ketchikan mining district, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 11-95, 606 p.

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