Red Creek

Site Name

Primary: Red Creek
Secondary: Wolf Den

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Mercury
Secondary: Lead

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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: Prospect
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 Text: Based on its similarity to the Golden Eagle prospect (SK047) and other occurrences in the area, the tan dike is probably a mafic dike that has been altered to a silica-carbonate rock (Still and others, 1991).

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Arsenopyrite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Sphalerite
Gangue: Quartz

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Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = The Wolf Den prospect, if different from Red Creek prospect, may be related to Cretaceous plutonism. The description of Red Creek suggests it is a volcanogenic massive-sulfide deposit correlative with the Late Triassic Windy Craggy and Greens Creek deposits (Still, 1984 [OF 118-84]; Newberry and others, 1997).

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active?

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Polymetallic quartz-sulfide vein and/or a volcanogenic massive sulfide. There may be two different types of deposits (Cox and Singer, 1986; models 22c,? 24b?, 28a?.

Comment (Deposit): Model Number = 22c?, 24b?, 28a?

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Two different sources, Still and others (1991) and Rubicon Minerals (1998) provide similar locations for prospects with differing names and descriptions. Still and others (1991) describe the Wolf Den prospect as quartz-pyrite-arsenopyrite-sphalerite veins in a tan dike less than 10 feet thick. The veins are up to 0.3 feet thick, extend up to 5 feet in length, and are confined to the dike. Samples from the veins contained up to 11.4 ppm gold and 3,500 ppm zinc. A 5-foot-long chip sample of slate with pyrite bands collected upstream form the dike contained 0.103 ppm gold and 225 ppm zinc. Rubicon Minerals (1998) refers to an unpublished Cominco Alaska report that describes the Red Creek prospect as a, '...rhyolite fragmental with a small two-foot-thick exposure of a massive pyrite breccia in a creek bed.' They also report the discovery of barite and semi-massive pyrite at the site in 1998 and cite samples with 2,080 ppm zinc and 12.83 ppm mercury. Rubicon Minerals (1998) interprets the Red Creek prospect to be the most southeasterly known prospect of a mineral trend that extends to the northwest through the Main Zone/Palmer (SK066), Little Jarvis (SK069), and an unnamed (SK070) prospect. The descriptions for this prospect suggest both a volcanogenic massive-sulfide deposit of probable Late Triassic age (Still, 1984 [OF 118-84]; Newberry and others, 1997), and Cretaceous or younger, auriferous quartz-sulfide veins within a northwest trending zone of quartz-sulfide veining in metasediments (Wright, 1904 [B 225 and B 236]; Eakin,1918 and 1919; and MacKevett and others, 1974).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The Red Creek prospect was discovered by Cominco Alaska in 1990. Additional prospecting by Rubicon Minerals and its associates in 1998 discovered barite and semi-massive pyrite breccia (Rubicon Minerals, 1998).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Still and others, 1991

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References

Reference (Deposit): Newberry, R.J., Crafford, T.C., Newkirk, S.R., Young, L.E., Nelson, S.W., and Duke, N.A., 1997, Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J. and Miller, L. D., eds., Mineral deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, p. 120-150.

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): 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.

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., 1984, Stratiform massive sulfide deposits in the Mt. Henry Clay area, southeast Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 118-84, 65 p.

Reference (Deposit): Gilbert, W.G., and Redman, E.C., 1989, Lode deposits, prospects, and occurrences of the Porcupine mining area, southeast Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 17-89, 1 sheet, scale 1:39,600.

Reference (Deposit): Still, J.C., 1991, Bureau of Mines mineral investigations in the Juneau mining district, Alaska, 1984 - 1988, v. 2, Detailed mine, prospect, and mineral occurrence descriptions, section A, Haines-Klukwan-Porcupine subarea: U.S. Bureau of Mines of Mines Special Publication, 214 p.

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): Rubicon Minerals, 1998, Palmer VMS Project, southeast Alaska, Executive Summary: unpublished report by Rubicon Minerals Corporation, Vancouver, British Columbia, 25 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.

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