Gnat Prospect, Misty Fjords National Monument, Ketchikan Mining District, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Gnat Prospect	Prospect
Misty Fjords National Monument	National Monument
Ketchikan Mining District	Mining District
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

The site is in Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness.
Location: The Gnat prospect is at an elevation of about 150 feet in a narrow gorge in the north wall of Chickamin River canyon, about 1250 feet N22W of Wolf cabin at the mouth of the Chickamin River. The site is in section 6, T. 70 S., R. 95 E., of the Copper River Meridian. It corresponds to loc. P-20 in Berg and others (1977, p. 121), and loc. 21 in Elliott and others (1978). The location is accurate within about 300 feet.
Geology: The country rocks in the area of the Gnat prospect is Tertiary or Cretaceous gneissic quartz diorite of the Coast Range batholith that locally contains inclusions of metasedimentary rocks (Berg and others, 1988). The quartz diorite near the prospect is cut by at least one two-foot-thick dike of altered felsic rock (Berg and others, 1977, p. 121). The Gnat prospect consists of a glassy quartz-albite fissure vein 5.5 feet to 9.5 feet thick that strikes N20W and dips 59-80NE (Berg and Cobb, 1967, p. 182-183; Berg and others, 1977, p. 121). The vein is in gneissic quartz diorite and contains chalcopyrite, molybdenite, galena, and pyrite. The sulfides are relatively abundant for about 1.5 feet below the hanging wall; the rest of the vein is low in visible sulfides. Several channel and composite samples of the vein and of float probably derived from the vein assayed up to 1400 ppm Cu, 1500 ppm Pb, and 4700 ppm Mo (Berg and others, 1977, table 12). The Gnat deposit was staked about 1900, when the vein probably was prospected chiefly for gold (Buddington, 1929, p. 120 [B 807]; Berg and Cobb, 1967, p. 182-183). There is no record of any workings, or of any recovery of gold from the vein, but there probably was some small early production.
Workings: The Gnat deposit was staked about 1900, when the vein probably was prospected chiefly for gold (Buddington, 1929, p. 120; Berg and Cobb, 1967, p. 182-183). Several channel and composite samples of the vein and of float probably derived from the vein assayed up to 1400 ppm Cu, 1500 ppm Pb, and 4700 ppm Mo (Berg and others, 1977, table 12).
Production: There is no record of any workings, or of any recovery of gold from the vein, but there probably was some small early production.

Commodities (Major) - Cu, Mo, Pb; (Minor) - Au?
Development Status: Undetermined.
Deposit Model: Polymetallic vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c)

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	KC021

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References