Banner; Christopher Prospect, Prince William Sound Mining District, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Banner; Christopher Prospect	Prospect
Prince William Sound Mining District	Mining District
Valdez-Cordova Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: This prospect is at an elevation of about 150 feet on the west side Bettles Bay. It consists of a single 400-foot adit located in the NE1/4 section 25, T. 10 N., R. 6 E., of the Seward Meridian. This is location 125a of Condon and Cass (1958), location 64 of Cobb and Richter (1972), location 83 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), location 131 of Cobb and Tysdal (1980) and location 158 of Jansons and others (1984). This location is accurate to within a quarter of a mile.
Geology: The host rock at this prospect is slate and graywacke of the Valdez Group of Late Cretaceous age intruded by an Oligocene felsic dike (Tysdal, 1978 [MF-880-A]). The dike, which ranges from 1 to 8 feet wide and averages 3 feet wide, is cemented with numerous quartz stringers that contain arsenopyrite, sphalerite, galena, and gold. The dike is traceable across the ridge from Bettles Bay to Hummer Bay, where it crops out about 2,000 feet above the head of the bay. A 400-foot-long adit was driven between 1914 and 1919 along the mineralized dike, but, except for a test shipment, there is no reported production (Johnson, 1919 [B 692-C, p. 143-151]). Jansons and others (1984) visited the site around 1979 but did not find the adit. Samples collected near this location assayed traces of gold and silver (Jansons and others, 1984).
Workings: A single adit was driven from 1914 to 1919 (Johnson, 1919 [B 692-C, p. 143-151]). A test shipment of selected ore was shipped in 1916, but no results are known (Johnson, 1918 [B 662-C, p. 183-192]).
Age: Oligocene or younger; veins cut an Oligocene dike.
Production: Test shipment of ore was made in 1916. No further information is reported.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au; (Minor) - Pb, Zn
Development Status: Undetermined.
Deposit Model: Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	SR081

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References