Silver

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Tungsten

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10309010
MRDS ID A012590
Record type Site
Current site name Silver
Alternate or previous names Flynn
Related records 10001786

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.29727, 64.65531 (WGS84)
Relative position The Silver prospect is located on the nose of a low ridge between lower Big Hurrah Creek and Solomon River. It is at an elevation of about 260 feet, on the north side of Big Hurrah Creek, about 0.5 miles northeast of its mouth. It is locality 16 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).
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Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Tungsten Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Gold Ore
Scheelite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • Silicification.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) -164.29727, 64.65531

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = At least two quartz veins with ribbon rock in graphitic schist are present; these contain free gold and locally arsenopyrite (Cathcart, 1922). Vein widths vary from 0.5 to 3 feet, they strike northwest up to several hundred feet and dip south (Asher, 1969, DGGS R33). Eighteen samples of various mineralized rocks contained 0.01 to 1.53 ounces of gold per ton and a trace to 0.70 ounces of silver per ton (Asher, 1969, DGGS R33, p. 17); a grab sample of dump material contained 2.2 ounces of gold per ton. Anderson (1947) reports that a small amount of scheelite is present in the quartz veins. The country rock is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage that includes a distinctive black, very fine-grained, graphitic schist (Sainsbury and others, 1972; Till and others, 1986). These veins may be same age as some other gold-quartz veins of southern Seward Peninsula. The southern Seward Peninsula lode gold deposits formed as a result of mid-Cretaceous metamorphism (Apodoca, 1994; Ford, 1993, Ford and Snee, 1996; Goldfarb and others, 1997) that accompanied regional extension (Miller and Hudson, 1991) and crustal melting (Hudson, 1994). This higher temperature metamorphism was superimposed on high pressure/low temperature metamorphic rocks of the region.
  • Age = Cretaceous

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active?

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = There are 5 shafts and numerous surface pits and trenches. The 40- to 60- foot-deep Goode shaft was inclined 26 degrees at S 60 W and had 800 feet of workings; the 45-foot-deep Shamrock shaft was inclined 71 W; the 11-foot-deep Hot Air shaft was 8 by 10 feet in cross-section in 1934; no data are available for the other two shafts located near the Goode shaft. The longest surface trench was 50 feet long and 3 to 8 feet deep. A small mill was erected on the property some time after 1938.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF SO020
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS A012590
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS D002600

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Cathcart, S.H., 1922, Metalliferous lodes in southern Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 722, p. 163-261.

  • Deposit

    Anderson, Eskil, 1947, Mineral occurrences other than gold deposits in northwestern Alaska: Alaska Territorial Division of Mines Pamphlet 5-R, 48 p.

  • Deposit

    Asher, R.R., 1969, Geologic and geochemical study, Solomon C-5 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Geology Geologic Report 33, 64 p.

  • Deposit

    Sainsbury, C.L., Hudson, T.L., Ewing, R., and Marsh, W.R., 1972, Reconnaissance geologic maps of the Solomon D-5 and C-5 quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 511, 12 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic resources map of the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-445, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-181, 185 p.

  • Deposit

    Till, A.B., Dumoulin, J.A., Gamble, B. ., Kaufman, D.S., and Carroll, P.I., 1986, Preliminary geologic map and fossil data, Soloman, Bendeleben, and southern Kotzebue quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-276, 10 p., 3 plates, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Miller, E.L., and Hudson, T.L., 1991, Mid-Cretaceous extensional fragmentation of a Jurassic-Early Cretaceous compressional orogen, Alaska: Tectonics, v. 10, p. 781-796.

  • Deposit

    Apodoca, L. E., 1994, Genesis of lode gold deposits of the Rock Creek area, Nome mining district, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Boulder, Colorado, University of Colorado, Ph.D. dissertation, 208 p.

  • Deposit

    Hudson, T.L. 1994, Crustal melting events in Alaska, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H. C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, v. G-1, p. 657-670.

  • Deposit

    Ford, R.C., and Snee, L.W., 1996, 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of white mica from the Nome district, Alaska: The first ages of lode sources to placer gold deposits in the Seward Peninsula: Economic Geology, v. 91, p. 213-220.

  • Deposit

    Goldfarb, R.J., Miller, L.D., Leach, D.L., and Snee, L.W, 1997, Gold deposits in metamorphic rocks in Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J., and Miller, L.D., eds., Mineral deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, 482 p.

  • Deposit

    Ford, R.C., 1993, Geology, geochemistry, and age of gold lodes at Bluff and Mt. Distin, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Golden, Colorado School of Mines, Ph.D. dissertation, 302 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Asher, 1969a

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Gold-quartz vein in metamorphic rocks; low sulfide-Au quartz vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 19-AUG-1999 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology