Geologic descriptionMineralized northeast-trending fault zones cut Triassic Nikolai Greenstone and Chitistone Limestone at the Mullen prospect (Van Alstine and Black, 1946). Mineralization consists of calcite or quartz-calcite veins with copper-bearing minerals. The mineralized veins contain various amounts of bornite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, covellite, and pyrite; secondary minerals include azurite, malachite, and limonite. In places, the copper-bearing minerals form small irregular pods in the fault zones. The veins range from 1 to 12 inches in thickness and have been traced in underground workings for as much as a few tens of feet of strike length. A 5-foot channel sample contained 1.55 percent copper, and a 4-foot channel sample contained 5.82 percent copper, 0.28 ounces of silver per ton, and a trace of gold. The underground workings at the Mullen prospect consisted of two adits, short cross cuts and drifts, and two declines that have a total length of at least 800 feet (Van Alstine and Black, 1946). Small, altered diorite intrusive bodies are present at the contact between Nikolai Greenstone and Chitistone Limestone. The copper mineralization is believed to be related to the regional mineralizing event that produced the rich Kennecott copper deposits in the McCarthy quadrangle (MacKevett and others, 1997). |
Geologic map unit |
(-144.069195758506, 61.6778342413307) |
Mineral deposit model |
Vein and fracture fillings in greenstone and limestone; probably related to Kennecott-type copper deposits (MacKevett and others, 1997) |
Age of mineralization |
The copper mineralization is believed to be related to the mineralizing event that produced the rich Kennecott copper deposits in the McCarthy quadrangle to the east (MacKevett and others, 1997). This event is interpreted to have accompanied Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous deformation and metamorphism (MacKevett and others, 1997, p. 88). |
Alteration of deposit |
The diorite bodies are altered to a combination of chlorite, calcite, talc, leucoxene, quartz and pyrite (Van Alstine and Black, 1946). |