Unnamed Occurrence (ARDF - MM004; on Chitsia Mountain), Kantishna Mining District, Denali Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Unnamed Occurrence (ARDF - MM004; on Chitsia Mountain)	- not defined -
Kantishna Mining District	Mining District
Denali Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

The occurrence exemplifies stratiform, volcanogenic deposits in metarhyolite schist of the Upper Devonian to Mississippian Totatlanika Formation. It is in Denali National Park and Preserve.
Location: This 300-foot-long mineral occurrence (Cobb, 1980 [OFR 80-363]) is on a ridge crest about 2500 feet west-southwest of the top of Chitisia Mountain. The location is at the approximate midpoint of the occurrence and is accurate within 250 feet. The occurrence correponds to number 77 of Bundtzen, Smith, and Tosdal (1976), 58 of Hawley and Associates (1978), and 84 of Bundtzen (1981).
Geology: This occurrence is a stratiform deposit in schistose metarhyolite porphyry in the Upper Devonian to Mississippian Totatlanika Formation (Bundtzen, 1981, p. 82). The outcrop of the deposit is about 300 feet long and about 10 feet wide; it strikes ENE and dips about 30 NW (Hawley and Associates, 1978; fig. 4.1-A(3)). The deposit consists of barite-rich layers 1 to 6 inches thick in silicified(?) schist containing pyrite, galena, and sphalerite. Selected barite-rich samples contain 36-52 percent barium. Pyrite is fairly abundant; galena and sphalerite less so. Some grab samples assayed up to 3.1 percent lead and 0.8 ounce of silver per ton, but most contained 1 percent or less each of lead and zinc (Buntzen, Smith, and Tosdal (1976); Hawley and Associates, 1978; Bundtzen, 1981). The deposit is probably volcanogenic in origin, and formed in Late Devonian or Mississippian time.
Workings: The deposit was discovered during reconnaissance geologic mapping of the Kantishna district (Bundtzen, Smith, and Tosdal, 1976). There are no significant workings.
Age: The deposit is probably Late Devonian or Mississippian, the depositional age of the Totatlanika metarhyolite hostrock (Bundtzen, 1981).
Alteration: Silification of Totatlanika schistose metarhyolite.

Commodities (Major) - Ba; (Minor) - Ag, Pb, Zn
Development Status: No
Deposit Model: Distal, barite-rich, kuroko massive sulfide deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; mode

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	MM004

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References