Alaska Garnet; Wrangell Garnet Mine, Petersburg Mining District, Wrangell City and Bourough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Alaska Garnet; Wrangell Garnet Mine	Mine
Petersburg Mining District	Mining District
Wrangell City and Bourough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: A famous Alaska mineral locality known since the early 1900's that has long been mined for garnet specimens. Mine site is at an elevation of from about 50 to 200 feet and about 1000 feet from the shoreline in the north-central portion of section 19, T 61 S, R 83 E.; it can be reached by a well marked trail along Garnet Creek from a landing on the Stikine River. Currently (1998) the property is owned by the Boy Scouts in Wrangell and permission to enter it should be obtained from them. Location of mine is known to within 100 m.
Geology: The country rocks in the area of this deposit are Cretaceous pelitic schist and hornfels intruded by Eocene tonalite and granodiorite (Brew and others, 1984). The deposit consists of dark red, euhedral to subhedral almandine garnet crystals up to 3 cm in diameter disseminated in several layers of quartz-biotite schist up to 10 or more feet thick.
Workings: Currently (1998) being mined from small surface pits as it has been for decades.
Age: Almandine garnet formed during Cretaceous metamorphism.
Production: This site is a classic Alaska mineral locality that is known worldwide. The garnet is unsuitable for faceting as a gemstone, but it has been mined on a modest scale for decades for mineralogical specimens and will probably continue to be indefinitely. Wrangell garnets are a staple of tourist and rock shops throughout Alaska and have been widely exported as well. The garnet has been considered for use as an industrial abrasive and there may have been some minor production or at least test shipments as an abrasive and for foundry powder prior to WW II. The deposit's relatively low grade, limited extent, and lack of a nearby market, however, suggest that production of this garnet as a high-volume industrial mineral is unlikely in the foreseeable future.
Reserves: Large as a source of mineralogical specimens. Bressler (1950) indicates the resources as abrasive to be about 11,900 tons of garnet in about 238,340 tons (1,125,000 cubic yards) of rock .

Commodities (Major) - Garnet
Development Status: Yes
Deposit Model: Metamorphic garnet

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	PE036

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References