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Mercury

Prospect, Inactive

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Commodities and mineralogy

Main commodities Hg; Sb
Ore minerals cinnabar; stibnite
Gangue minerals quartz

Geographic location

Quadrangle map, 1:250,000-scale SM
Quadrangle map, 1:63,360-scale D-4
Latitude 61.76472
Longitude -157.32417
Nearby scientific data Find additional scientific data near this location
Location and accuracy The Mercury prospect is on a northeast-trending bluff overlooking the Kuskokwim River, about 1,600 feet south of the mouth of McCally Creek. The prospect is at an elevation of about 320 feet in the SW1/4 sec. 6, T. 19 N., R. 44 W., of the Seward Meridian. The Mercury prospect is locality 21 of Miller and others (1989). The location is accurate.

Geologic setting

Geologic description

The Mercury prospect consists of disseminated cinnabar and stibnite in thin quartz veins that intrude a shale-rich section of the Upper Cretaceous, Kuskokwim Group (Cady and others, 1955; Miller and others, 1989). The dimensions and orientation of the deposit are not known. The Kuskokwim Group strikes N60W and dips 40 SW in the area of the prospect. Native mercury has been panned in McCally Creek just downslope from the Mercury prospect (Sainsbury and MacKevett, 1965).
Geologic map unit (-157.326546091987, 61.7640300603162)
Mineral deposit model Silica-carbonate mercury (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 27c).
Mineral deposit model number 27c
Age of mineralization Undated; the nearby Fairview prospect (ARDF SM019) has a 40Ar/39Ar age of 72.6 Ma (Gray, Gent, and others, 1997).

Production and reserves

Workings or exploration The prospect was systematically trenched prior to 1951 (Cady and others, 1955).
Indication of production None

References

MRDS Number A013442

References

Cady, W.M., Wallace, R.E., Hoare, J.M., and Webber, E.J., 1955, The central Kuskokwim region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 268, 132 p.
Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Sleetmute quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-368, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.
Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Dillingham, Sleetmute, and Taylor Mountains quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-606, 92 p.
Gray, J.E., Gent, C.A., Snee, L.W., and Wilson, F.H., 1997, Epithermal mercury-antimony and gold-bearing vein lodes of southwest Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J., and Miller, L.D., eds., Mineral Deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, p. 287-305
Miller, M.L., Belkin, H.E., Blodgett, R.B., Bundtzen, T.K., Cady, J.W., Goldfarb, R.J., Gray, J.E., McGimsey, R.G., and Simpson, S.L., 1989, Pre-field study and mineral resource assessment of the Sleetmute quadrangle, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 89-363, 115 p., 3 plates, scale 1:250,000.
Sainsbury, C.L., and MacKevett, E.M., Jr., 1965, Quicksilver deposits of southwestern Alaska a description of the quicksilver mines and prospects, with special emphasis on the structural controls of ore deposition: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1187, 89 p.
Reporters T.K. Bundtzen (Pacific Rim Geological Consulting, Inc.) and M.L. Miller (U.S. Geological Survey)
Last report date 4/30/2003