Sheep Mountain

The Sheep Mountain is a silver, lead, and 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: Sheep Mountain

Commodity

Primary: Silver
Primary: Lead
Primary: Zinc
Secondary: Manganese
Secondary: Antimony

Location

State: Alaska
District: McGrath

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Occurrence
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Polymetallic veins

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age in Years: 54.250000+-1.950000
Dating Method: K-Ar
Age Young: Tertiary

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Not available

Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Chron age is for McKinley Sequence.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Reed and others, 1978

Comment (Geology): Age = Tertiary; mineralization is interpreted to be linked to the intrusive rocks mapped by Reed and Nelson (1980) as related to the Tonzona pluton which is determined to be 52.3 to 56.2 m.y. by the K/Ar method (Reed and Lanphere, 1972).

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Possibly Polymetallic veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Reed and others (1978) described this locality as sporadic areas of manganese-rich metasedimentary rocks within the lower Paleozoic Pzsv unit which is considered to be correlative with similar units in the Kantishna Hills (Reed and Nelson, 1980). Gossans are spatially associated with felsic porphyry dikes and a Tertiary granite stock (Tmt) that may represent a cupola of underlying granitic rocks similar to the Tonzona pluton eight miles to the east-northeast (Reed and others, 1978; Reed and Nelson, 1980). Curtin, Karlson, O'Leary, Day, and McDougal (1978) describe clusters of high copper (+7,000 ppm) and zinc (+2500 ppm) values and scattered high lead (+10,000 ppm) values in heavy-metal concentrates from stream sediment samples collected around the VABM Sheep area. They suggest that these anomalous samples are asociated with the granite stock. Mineralization at this locality could be similar to the Mespelt (TL005), Hogback (TL006) or Boulder Creek (TL073) areas, which are associated with the Tonzona pluton.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Reconnaissance mapping, stream sediment and rock sampling by the U.S. Geological Survey (Curtin, Karlson, O'Leary, Day, and McDougal, 1978; Reed and others, 1978; Reed and Nelson, 1980) are all that have been described here. Curtin, Karlson, O'Leary, Day, and McDougal (1978) describe clusters of high copper (more than 7,000 ppm) and zinc (more than 2500 ppm) values and scattered high lead (more than 10,000 ppm) values in heavy-metal concentrates from stream sediment samples collected around the VABM Sheep area.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Geology): Age = Chronological age is for McKinley Sequence.

References

Reference (Deposit): Reed, B.L., and Lanphere, M.A., 1972, Generalized geologic map of the Alaska-Aleutian range batholith showing potassium-argon ages of the plutonic rocks: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-372, 2 sheets, scale 1:1,000,000.

Reference (Deposit): Curtin, G.C., Karlson, R.C., O'Leary, R.M., Day, G.W., and McDanal, S.K., 1978, Geochemical and generalized geologic maps showing the distribution and abundance of gold and silver in the Talkeetna quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-870-E, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Reed, B.L., Nelson, S.W., Curtin, G.C., and Singer, D.A., 1978, Mineral resources map of the Talkeetna Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-870-D, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Reed, B.L., and Nelson, S.W., 1980, Geologic map of the Talkeetna quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Map I-1174, scale 1:250,000.

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