Galena Bay Mining Co. Prospects (Vesuvius Valley), Copper River Mining District, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Galena Bay Mining Co. Prospects (Vesuvius Valley)	Group of Prospects
Copper River Mining District	Mining District
Valdez-Cordova Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Nelson and others (1985) interpret the country rocks as accreted ocean crust. Crowe and others (1992; 1993) and Sainsbury (1993) discuss the genesis of the volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in this area. Chugach Alaska Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska has control of these lands.
Location: This site represents several prospects in a roughly circular, half-mile-square, area at about 2000 feet elevation on the northeast face of Bells Butte. The area is in the N1/2 secs. 26 and 35, T. 11 S., R. 8 W., of the Copper River Meridian. The location is accurate to within 1000 ft. This area of prospects is shown in Cobb (1972: MF-392) as sites #9 and #10; in Jansons and others it is shown as site C-83.
Geology: The country rocks at these prospects are mafic volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks of the Tertiary Orca Group (Nelson and others, 1985). The deposit consists of shear-zone-hosted masses of calcite, quartz, chalcopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and sphalerite. Capps and Johnson (1915) reported that most of the ore was found in numerous 1- to 20-ft.-wide shear zones in pillow basalt (greenstone). The shear zone containing most of the early workings is 1000 ft. long. Jansons and others (1984) collected chip samples that contained 58 ppm to 13% Cu, 46 ppm to 2% Zn, and <0.1 ppm to 32.8 ppm Ag; their grab samples contained 80 ppm to 6.1% Cu, 790 ppm to 20.1% Zn, and 1.1 ppm to 20 ppm Ag. Small amounts of gold were reported in earlier assays (Capps and Johnson, 1915).
Workings: Capps and Johnson (1915) reported nine adits with a total of about 3000 ft. of underground workings, and some open cuts and buildings. The longest (2200 ft) adit was caved by the early 1980s (Jansons and others, 1984). Jansons and others (1984) collected chip samples that contained 58 ppm to 13% Cu, 46 ppm to 2% Zn, and <0.1 ppm to 32.8 ppm Ag; their grab samples contained 80 ppm to 6.1% Cu, 790 ppm to 20.1% Zn, and 1.1 ppm to 20 ppm Ag. Small amounts of gold were reported in earlier assays (Capps and Johnson, 1915).
Age: Probably Tertiary based on the age of the host rocks.
Reserves: Inferred reserves of 5,800 tons @ 7.9% Cu, 1.3% Zn, and 5 ppm Ag (Jansons and others, 1984).

Commodities (Major) - Cu, Zn; (Minor) - Ag, Au
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Cyprus massive sulfide (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 24a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CV011

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References