Potato Mountain

The Potato Mountain is a tin 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: Potato Mountain
Secondary: Quartz Porphry dike
Secondary: Red Fox
Secondary: Eureka
Secondary: Daisy
Secondary: Iron Creek valley
Secondary: Big and Little Potato Mountain divide
Secondary: Iron Creek-Oakland Creek divide

Commodity

Primary: 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 Text: Local argillic alteration and probably local weak to moderate tourmaline replacement.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Cassiterite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Tourmaline

Comments

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The Quartz Porphyry dike area is part of the thermally metamorphosed upland of Potato Mountain. The protolith for the hornfels is a sedimentary sequence of laminated to thinly bedded mudstone, siltstone, sandstone and some impure limestone that is of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. These rocks have a slaty cleavage but are everywhere thermally recrystallized. The most prominent felsic dike of the general area is exposed here (Mulligan, 1965, figure 23). It is a light-gray porphyritic granite with medium- to coarse-grained quartz and feldspar phenocrysts in a very fine-grained groundmass. The groundmass and the feldspar phenocrysts are locally replaced by quartz, tourmaline, and sericite (Hudson, 1983). The presence of a granite stock at depth is suggested by the large area of hornfels and by gravity data. A gravity profile and model across the Potato Mountain upland (McDermott, 1982; Hudson and Reed, 1997, figure 5B) indicate that a buried granite stock has an irregular, perhaps block-faulted upper surface at a depth of about 1,300 feet. Significant block faulting is also suggested by discontinuities in magnetic data for the area (McDermott, 1983). Although old prospect pits are present in this area, Mulligan (1965, p. 69-70) could not confirm the presence of significant tin. Kennecott (Meyers, 1990) identified this area as an intensely altered zone spatially associated with the northeast-trending quartz porphyry dike. Diamond-drill hole PMD-2 was drilled vertically 998 feet here to test the altered zone. According to Meyers (1990), this hole (collar elevation of 1,100 feet) encountered hornfels from 0 to 180 feet; weakly argillized feldspar porphyry from 180 to 186 feet; hornfels from 186 to 268 feet; moderately argillized feldspar porphyry (268 to 274 feet), hornfels with possible skarn and probable intense tourmalinization from 274 to 974 feet; and greenish sulfide-rich clay with clasts of green-brown garnet or tourmalinized rock from 974 to 998 feet. The hole could not be continued through the clay-rich material and was terminated at 998 feet. Tin values were weakly to moderately anomalous; 30 to 300 ppm with a high of 400 ppm throughout PMD-2. Boron was only locally high uphole but below 750 feet was generally in the 1000 to 2000 ppm range. Arsenic was generally in the 20 to 50 ppm range with local spikes to greater than 1 per cent; arsenic levels seemed to increase below 750 feet. Fluorine did increase downhole, from a 700 to 900 ppm range to 1,500 to 2,500 ppm below 500 feet. Silver variation was similar to fluorine; 0.1 to 0.2 ppm above 500 feet and 0.5 to 0.6 ppm below. Other minor prospects in the Potato Mountain upland (including Red Fox, upper Buck Creek valley, Eureka, Daisy, Iron Creek valley, Big and Little Potato Mountain divide, and Iron Creek-Oakland Creek divide, Mulligan, 1965) are minor mineral occurrences, such as local quartz veining, and commonly the location of old prospecting pits. Subsequent work (Mulligan, 1965) did not identify them as significant.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Local surface pits and one 998 foot vertical diamond-drill hole

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Mulligan, 1965 (USBM RI 6587); Meyers, 1990

Comment (Commodity): Gangue = sulfide minerals

Comment (Geology): Age = Late Cretaceous; the tin metallization at Potato Mountain is inferred to be similar in age to other tin sytems of western Seward Peninsula. These tin systems are interpreted to be linked to the evolution of associated granite intrusions that are 70 to 80 my old (Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 769).

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Altered hornfels with weak tin metallization and related hydrothermal alteration. Potential tin vein (model 15b) or tin greisen (model 15c) of Cox and Singer (1986) at depth.

References

Reference (Deposit): Hudson, T.L., 1983, Interim report on the Potato Mountain tin system: Anchorage, Alaska, Anaconda Minerals Company internal report (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): Meyers, W.C., 1990, Report on 1990 exploration activities at the Potato Mountain tin prospect, Teller AMS sheet, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Anchorage, Alaska, Kennecott Exploration Inc. internal report.

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): 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): Mulligan, J.J., 1965, Tin-lode investigations. Potato Mountain area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 6587, 85 p.

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): McDermott, M.M., 1982, Gravity profiles of Black Mountain and Potato Mountain, Seward Peninsula: Anchorage, Alaska, Anaconda Minerals Company internal report (Report held by Cook Inlet Region, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska).

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