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Unnamed (east shore of Port Moller)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper, Lead
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Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10002292
MRDS ID A013196
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed (east shore of Port Moller)
Related records 10209582

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -160.26855, 55.7823 (WGS84)
Relative position The map site of this occurrence is located on the Alaska Peninsula on the east shore of Right Head on Port Moller (Berg and Cobb, 1967, locality 4; Cobb, 1972 [MF 433], locality 1; MacKevett and Holloway, 1977, locality 1; Wilson and others, 1988, locality 1). It is in the NW1/4 of sec. 3, T. 51 S., R. 71 W., of the Seward Meridian. The location is accurate to 1,200 feet.
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Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Primary
Lead Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Pyrite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) The brillant yellow color described by Atwood (1911) is probably due to the weathering of pyrite, producing iron oxides and clay.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Mafic Volcanic Rock > Basalt

Nearby scientific data

(1) -160.26855, 55.7823
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Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Rocks at this site consist of undivided Tertiary volcanic strata (Wilson and others, 1995). Atwood (1911) first described this occurrence as a series of basaltic lava flows that are altered to a brillant yellow color. His samples contained no gold. Trujillo and others (1982) mention intrusive plugs or stocks. They describe the rocks as heavily pyritized and they found gold in pan concentrates in six drainages. The rock samples they collected contained no gold. Mapping in the 1980s by the U.S. Geological Survey indicated a series of andesite flows and lahars whose basal units are hydrothermally altered (Wilson and others, 1988). Their rock geochemical samples locally contained anomalous amounts of lead and copper.
  • Age = Tertiary.

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Alaska Peninsula

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Some staking was carried out here in the early 1900's, but no development work was ever reported. Atwood took some samples in 1911. Resource Associates of Alaska sampled here in 1982, and the U.S. Geological Survey mapped and sampled the area in the mid-1980's.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS A013196
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF PM038

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Atwood, W.W., 1911, Geology and mineral resources of parts of the Alaska Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 467, 137 p.

  • Deposit

    Berg, H.C., and Cobb, E.H., 1967, Metalliferous Lode Deposits of Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1246, 254 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resource map of the Port Moller quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-443, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Trujillo, R.S., Tapper, C.J., Alvarez, T.J., Porterfield, Ben, and Toupe, W.M., 1982, Exploration and evaluation of precious metal potential of portions of Aleut Corporation lands, southwest Alaska 1982: Unpublished Resource Associates of Alaska report, 91 p, 33 mpas, various scales. (Report held by the Aleut Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska.)

  • Deposit

    Wilson, F.H., Harris, E.E., and Bailey, E.A., 1987, Preliminary analytical results and sample locality map for rock samples collected in 1985 and 1986, Port Moller and Stepovak Bay quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 87-497, 44 p., 1 plate, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Wilson, F.H., White, W.H., and DuBois, G.D., 1988, Brief descriptions of mines, prospects, and mineral occurrences in the Port Moller and Stepovak Bay quadrangles, Alaska Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 88-666, 128 p., scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Wilson, F.H., Detterman, R.L., Miller, J. W., and Case, J.E., 1995, Geologic map of the Port Moller, Stepovak Bay, and Simeonof Island quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigation Series Map I-2272, 1 map sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous mineral deposits in the western part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-F, 38 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Wilson and others, 1988

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Other Comments = This site is located near the boundary between land selected by the Aleut Corporation and State-selected wildlife, park, forest, or other multiple-use areas.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 22-DEC-2000 S.H. Pilcher U.S. Geological Survey