Tripp Prospect, Chistochina Mining District, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Tripp Prospect	Prospect
Chistochina Mining District	Mining District
Valdez-Cordova Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: This prospect is at an elevation of 3,600 feet at the north flank of Paxson Mountain about 0.1 mile south of mile 7 on the Denali Highway. It is in the SE1/4SE1/4 section 16, T. 21 S., R. 11 E., Fairbanks Meridian. The prospect corresponds to locality 10 in Rose and Saunders (1965) and to locality S89 in table 2 of Nokleberg and others (1991).
Geology: At this prospect Nikolai Greenstone of Late Triassic age contains copper minerals that occur in and adjacent to veins, pods, and amygdules of quartz and epidote (Rose and Saunders, 1965). The veins and pods are generally less than 1 inch wide and can be traced only for a few feet. Bornite, digenite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, chrysocolla, and pyrite are present in a few places but generally are very sparse.
Workings: The prospect was discovered in 1962 by Jack Tripp of Fairbanks, who dug by hand trenches and pits. A grab sample of quartz veins containing chalcopyrite and bornite assayed 1.38 percent copper, trace gold, and 0.30 ounce of silver per ton (Saunders, 1962 [PE 68-09]). A sample collected by the U.S. Geological Survey contained 2 percent copper and 20 parts per million silver (Nokleberg and others, 1991).
Age: Late Triassic and Cretaceous.
Alteration: The vesicular basalt host rock is altered to chlorite, prehnite, and epidote.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Cu; (Minor) - Au
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Basaltic Cu (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 23).

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	MH196

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References