Carson Creek Prospect, Council Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Carson Creek Prospect	Prospect
Council Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: This prospect is on the east coast of Darby Peninsula, about 3 miles northeast of Carson Creek (Smith and Eakin, 1911). It is apparently near a faulted (?) contact between schist and marble. This is location 24 of Cobb (1972, MF442; 1978, OF 78-181). It is probably located within 0.5 mile.
Geology: A short, open-cut exploration trench exposes copper carbonates and some chalcocite disseminated in schist and along joint surfaces (Smith and Eakin, 1911, p. 134-135). Miller and Grybeck (1973) report a 10 feet by 10 feet area of copper staining in quartz-biotite-feldspar schist; a grab sample of the copper-stained schist contained 20,000 ppm Cu, 15 ppm Ag, 0.15 ppm Au, and 200 ppm Mo. Slickensides in schist are well developed and the prospect is a short distance north of massive, light gray limestone (marble). Till and others (1986) identify the marble as lower Paleozoic in age. The metasedimentary rocks are on the east flank of the mid-Cretaceous Darby pluton (Miller and others, 1972; Miller and Bunker, 1976; Berry and others, 1976; Johnson and others, 1979).
Workings: A small surface trench was excavated prior to 1909.
Age: Unknown; emplacement of the Darby pluton (K/Ar ages for the Darby pluton are 88.3 +/- 1.5 and 92.8 +/- 2.6 Ma, Berry and others, 1976) and ampihibolite facies metamorphism of metasedimentary rocks are mid-Cretaceous but the mineralization here could be older or younger than these important regional events.
Alteration: Oxidation; secondary copper minerals are present.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Disseminations or replacements of metasedimentary rocks and joint fillings by co

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	SO002

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References