Foggy Day; Read; Paigite; Cameron Prospects, Port Clarence Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Foggy Day; Read; Paigite; Cameron Prospects	Group of Prospects
Port Clarence Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Several mineral occurrences are located on west-facing slopes peripheral to the Brooks Mountain granite stock in the headwaters of a southeast tributary to the Mint River. Mint River flows northward from its headwaters along the continental divide in the York Mountains. This prospect area is downslope to the west of the continental divide at an approximate elevation of 1,750 feet. Prospects included in this area are Foggy Day, Cameron, Read, and Paigite (West and White, 1952, plate 1). This area was shown as locality 11 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972) and Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Brooks Mtn.'.
Geology: Brooks Mountain granite stock is a 1 by 2 mile composite intrusion just south and east of Brooks Mountain (elevation 2,898 feet), the highest part of the York Mountains. The country rocks to the Late Cretaceous (77.0 +/- 3.0 my; Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 769) Brooks Mountain granite are Ordovician limestone and locally fine-grained, carbonaceous metaclastic rock of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. Tactite is common in marble nearby to the granite contact on the northwest and southwest sides of the stock (Sainsbury, 1969, plate 1). Hornfels is developed in the nearby metaclastic rocks. The granite is dominately seriate and prophyritic types (Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 770) that are not known to be directly linked with significant tin metallization in the western Seward Peninsula tin belt; they are instead precusor-type granites (Hudson and Reed, 1997, figure 3). The mineralization in this area is associated with contact metamorphic rocks developed in Ordovician limestone peripheral to the southwest contact of the Brooks Mountain granite stock. Complex mineralogy characterizes the occurrences here. Tactite forms seams and irregular masses in crystalline marble; idocrase, garnet, diopside, augite, hedenbergite, phlogopite, and fluorite are present in the tactite. Sulfide minerals, dominately galena, include pyrrhotite, stannite, sphalerite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, and bornite. Other minerals include scapolite, chrondrodite, siderophyllite, tourmaline, scheelite, ludwigite, magnetite, hematite, limonite, cerussite, azurite, malachite, paigite, and hulsite. Zuenerite is locally present in association with hematite in oxidized granite adjacent to marble. This is primarily an area of interesting mineral occurrences although selected samples of galena-rich material assayed 34% lead and 11 opt silver (Knopf, 1908, p. 42-43) and zuenerite-rich material contained up to 2.14% eU (West and White, 1952, p. 4).
Workings: Several surface pits and some dozer trenches have been completed here.
Age: The age of the mineralization is assumed to be similar to the age of the Brooks Mountain granite (77.0 +/- 3.0 my; Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 769).
Alteration: Primarily calc-silicate tactite development but with significant associated boron metasomatism.
Reserves: Not defined

Commodities (Major) - None; (Minor) - Ag, Pb, U
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: This is an approximate 1,500 by 3,000 foot area of variable contact metamorphis

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	TE055

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References