Copper King; Swazie Prospect, Chistochina Mining District, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Copper King; Swazie Prospect	Prospect
Chistochina Mining District	Mining District
Valdez-Cordova Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

This prospect is within the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
Location: This prospect is near Queens Creek on the north side of the valley of upper Elliott Creek (Moffit and Mertie, 1923, locality 23, plate 3). The map site is at an elevation of 4,500 in the NE1/4 section 1, T. 3 S., R. 7 E., of the Copper River Meridian. These prospects are approximately located, perhaps to within one-half mile. They are included in locality 69 of Cobb and Matson (1972) and locality 56 of Winkler and others (1981 [OFR 80-892-B]). Cobb (1979 [OFR 79-1241]) incuded these prospects under the name 'Elliot Cr.'.
Geology: Mineralized shear zones, as much as 10 feet thick, that contain thin veins, films, and disseminations of bornite, chalcocite, and pyrite cut Triassic Nikolai Greenstone (Moffit and Maddren, 1909; Moffit and Mertie, 1923) . Locally present gangue minerals are commonly quartz, calcite, and epidote associated with the secondary copper minerals malachite, azurite, and some chalcanthite (Berg and Cobb, 1967, p. 43). Some mineralization occurs as irregular pods in greenstone. Similar copper-bearing mineralization is present in Triassic Chitistone Limestone at the Swazi prospect. The Nikolai Greenstone and overlying Chitistone Limestone are deformed into a large, asymmetric anticline with its axis approximately parallel to Elliot Creek. The mineralized shear zone at the Copper King prospect trends parallel to the deformed greenstone-limestone contact. The copper mineralization is believed to be related to the regional mineralizing event that produced the rich Kennecott copper deposits in the McCarthy quadrangle (MacKevett and others, 1997).
Workings: Prospects in the Elliot Creek area were mostly explored with small open cuts.
Age: The copper mineralization is believed to be related to the mineralizing event that produced the rich Kennecott copper deposits in the McCarthy quadrangle to the east (MacKevett and others, 1997). This event is interpreted to have accompanied Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous deformation and metamorphism (MacKevett and others, 1997, p. 88).

Commodities (Major) - Cu; (Minor) - Ag, Au
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Thin veins, impregnations, and fracture fillings in sheared limestone and green

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	VA027

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References