Cathedral Prospect, Hyder Mining District, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Cathedral Prospect	Prospect
Hyder Mining District	Mining District
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Four claims staked in 1930 probably covered this prospect. Site is in Misty Fiords National Monument.
Location: The Cathedral prospect is in Section 25 at an elevation of about 3100-3400 feet on the south end of the bold ridge between Chickamin and West Texas glaciers, just above west-facing cliffs (Berg and others, 1977, p. 90; Elliott and Koch, 1981, p. 11, loc. 25). The location is accurate to within about a quarter of a mile.
Geology: The country rocks in the area of the Cathedral prospect include pelitic metasedimentary strata of the Jurassic or older Mesozic Hazelton Group; the Triassic Texas Creek Granodiorite, which underlies and locally intrudes the Hazelton; and the Eocene Hyder Quartz Monzonite, which intrudes the Hazelton and Texas Creek rocks (Berg and others, 1977, p. 15-18, 22-23; Smith, 1977; Koch, 1996). The deposit (Berg and others, 1977, p. 38-39, 90-91; Elliott and Koch, p. 11, loc. 25) consists of quartz fissure veins up to about 5 feet thick in graywacke hornfels. The veins contain shoots of nearly massive sphalerite and (or) galena, together with subordinate amounts of chalcopyrite, pyrite, and pyrrhotite. Channel samples collected in 1972 by the U. S. Bureau of Mines across the full width of the thickest (5-foot) vein and its 7-inch-thick footwall massive sulfide zone averaged 70 ppm Ag, 0.17% Cu, 0.75% Pb, and 7.5% Zn. A channel sample only of the massive sulfide contained 4.4 oz Ag per ton, 0.27% Cu, 0.9% Pb, and 35% Zn. One analysis showed 0.05 ppm Au. Samples of a smaller (2.5-inch-thick) sulfide-bearing vein assayed 20 oz Ag per ton, 19% Pb, and 9% Zn.
Workings: Early workings included an approximately 10-foot-long stripped area. Channel samples collected in 1972 by the U. S. Bureau of Mines across the full width of the thickest (5-foot) vein and its 7-inch-thick footwall massive sulfide zone averaged 70 ppm Ag, 0.17% Cu, 0.75% Pb, and 7.5% Zn. A channel sample only of the massive sulfide contained 4.4 oz Ag per ton, 0.27% Cu, 0.9% Pb, and 35% Zn. One analysis showed 0.05 ppm Au. Samples of a smaller (2.5-inch-thick) sulfide-bearing vein assayed 20 oz Ag per ton, 19% Pb, and 9% Zn.
Alteration: Locally intense iron staining.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, Zn
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Polymetallic veins

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BC025

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References