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Hurricane-Diane

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity Copper
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Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10001399
MRDS ID A012142
Record type Site
Current site name Hurricane-Diane

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.16335, 67.73972 (WGS84)
Relative position This site is at an elevation of about 4,200 feet approximately 5 1/2 miles north of Horace Mountain and a mile east of the head of Sheep Creek (secs. 28, 29, T. 34 N., R. 7 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian). The reference point is near the center of a mile-long northeast-trending zone of mineral occurrences. This zone constitutes the Hurricane-Diane prospect. The location is accurate within a 1/2-mile radius.
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Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Contact metasomatic.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 59
USGS model code 18b
Deposit model name Skarn Cu
Mark3 model number 8

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Skajit Limestone;
    Rock description Skajit Limestone;

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.16335, 67.73972
ListMap

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Hurricane-Diane prospect is one of a number of copper occurrences that comprise the Chandalar copper belt. Information describing the geology of individual prospects generally is scarce. Early descriptions (Grybeck, 1977; DeYoung, 1978; Cobb and Cruz, 1983) combined this prospect with the Luna prospect (CH101). Together they were described as small skarn-hosted chalcopyrite deposits in Devonian Skajit Limestone intruded by a small greenstone-greenschist body (Cobb and Cruz, 1983). Later information has shown that they are distinct deposits. Newberry and others (1986) included them in a group of skarn deposits northwest of and related to the Devonian(?) Horace Mountain granitic plutons. Many of these skarns exhibit both garnet and pyroxene prograde and epidote and actinolite retrograde mineral assemblages, and Newberry and others (1986) stated that their mineralogy, mineralization, and alteration tend to place them in the category of continental-margin, porphyry-related copper skarns. Newberry and others (1986) noted that the Hurricane-Diane prospect is a Cu-Zn-Pb skarn, which suggests that it is a distal occurrence within the belt. Because the Zn and Pb values are nominal, however (see below), Newberry and others (1997) have classified the Hurricane prospect as a calcic Cu skarn. Ventures Resource Corporation (currently exploring Doyon, Limited lands in the area under an agreement with Doyon, Limited) classifies the Hurricane-Diane prospect as a copper prospect (URL http://www.venturesresource.com/). A hand-specimen description (Newberry and others, 1986) showed the mineralogy of the skarn to be principally garnet, epidote, actinolite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and magnetite. The epidote-actinolite is described as part of a crosscutting retrograde assemblage. An analysis of the hand specimen gave values of 1.6 percent Cu, 105 ppm Ag, 0.2 percent Zn and 0.07 percent Pb. The prospect is in an area mapped by Dillon and others (1996) as principally Devonian Skajit Limestone, Ordovician black phyllite and marble, and Ordovician to Cambrian(?) calcareous-chlorite-quartz schist and quartzite. These units are intruded by Devonian aplite, a component of the Horace Mountain plutonic assemblage, and their contact-related tactite and calcareous hornfels presumably host the skarn mineralization.
  • Age = Devonian based on reported Early Devonian Pb/Pb zircon ages from the associated Baby Creek batholith and Horace Mountain plutons (Dillon and others, 1996).

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Koyukuk

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Claims staked from 1967 to 1973 lapsed in 1977, and the land was acquired by Doyon, Limited via its Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act selections. Surface exploration only.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS A012142
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF CH062

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Grybeck, D.J., 1977, Known mineral deposits of the Brooks Range, Alaska: US Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-166C, 41 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    DeYoung, J.H., Jr., 1978, Mineral resources map of the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-878-B, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., and Cruz, E.L., 1983, Summaries of data and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-278, 91 p.

  • Deposit

    Adams, D.D., and Dillon, J.T., 1985, Geochemical investigations in the Chandalar C-5 and C-6 quadrangles, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Public-Data File 85-26, 37 p., 3 sheets, scale 1:63,360. (Superseded by RI 88-15.)

  • Deposit

    Newberry, R.J., Dillon, J.T., and Adams, D.D., 1986, Regionally metamorphosed calc-silicate-hosted deposits of the Brooks Range, northern Alaska: Economic Geology, v. 81, p. 1728-1752

  • Deposit

    Adams, D.D., and Dillon, J.T., 1985, Geochemical investigations in the Chandalar C-5 and C-6 quadrangles, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Public-Data File 85-26, 37 p., 3 sheets, scale 1:63,360. (Superseded by RI 88-15.)

  • Deposit

    Ventures Resource Corporation, 1998, 1997 Annual Report and Website (Worldwide Web URL http://www.venturesresource.com/).

  • Deposit

    Newberry, R.J., Allegro, G.L., Cutler, S.E., Hagen-Levelle, D.D., Adams, D.D., Nicholson, L.C., Weglarz, T.B., Bakke, A.A., Clautice, K.H., Coulter, G.A., Ford, M.J., Myers, G.L., and Szumigala, D.J., 1997, Skarn deposits of Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J., and Miller, L.D., eds., Mineral Deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, p. 355-395.

  • Deposit

    Maas, K.M., 1987, Maps summarizing land availability for mineral exploration and development in northern Alaska, 1986: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 10-87, 33 quadrangle overlays.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Newberry and others, 1986

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Cu skarn deposits (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 18b)
Deposit Other Comments = This prospect is approximately 3 miles south-southwest of the Luna prospect (CH0101). See also: Luna (CH101), Gayle (CH091), Ginger (CH060), and Evelyn Lee (CH059). Alaska Kardex No. 00-31-53B (Kardex is a card file mining claim information system located at the State of Alaska DNR Public Information Center in Fairbanks).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 17-NOV-1999 J.M. Britton U.S. Geological Survey