Unnamed Prospect (ARDF - CA013; upper Peace River), Fairhaven Mining District, Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Unnamed Prospect (ARDF - CA013; upper Peace River)	- not defined -
Fairhaven Mining District	Mining District
Northwest Arctic Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: This prospect is at an elevation of about 750 feet in the headwaters of Peace River; it is in the SW1/4 of section 25, T. 1 N., R. 12 W., of the Kateel River Meridian. It is location 3, figure 7 of Miller and Elliot (1969), and locations 16 and 34 of Cobb, 1972 (MF-389).
Geology: The upper Peace River area is underlain by a small satellitic stock of the Late Cretaceous Granite Mountain pluton. The stock is composed of several varieties of syenite. Locally, the syenite is cut by quartz veins and contains abundant disseminated pyrite cubes, some fine-grained molybdenite, and abundant magnetite and purple fluorite. A canary-yellow alteration product found both in the veins and in the syenites was identified as ferromolybdenite. The syenite is bleached, oxidized and contains disseminated pyrite, and where it is cut by quartz-pyrite veins, occasional molybdenite. The syenite and associated quartz veins locally contain anomalous amounts of molybdenum, bismuth, silver, copper and lead. Numerous rock and soil samples were collected from this area by Miller and Elliott (1969). One rock sample contained: 150 parts per million (ppm) silver, 30 ppm molybdenum, 3,000 ppm lead, 700 ppm copper, and 0.04 ppm gold. Another rock sample contained: 1.5 ppm silver, greater than 2,000 ppm molybdenum, 500 ppm copper, and 300 ppm lead. Both were grab samples of oxidized syenite. Gault and others (1953) collected pan-concentrate stream-sediment samples from this area in their search for uranium. Their samples contained anomalously high concentrations of uranothorianite and other metallic minerals, including galena, chalcopyrite, bornite, tetradymite, sphalerite, pyrite, and pyrrhotite. Intergrowths of galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and gummite were observed in some mineral grains. The mineral associations suggest that the uranium minerals are derived from a sulfide-bearing lode (or vein), rather than occurring as accessory minerals in in granitic rocks. Linux Gold Corp. (2007) located 16 mining claims on this prospect in March 2005. They initiated surface geology studies and sampling in August, 2005. Rock grab samples contained up to 0.20 ppm gold, 83.5 grams of silver per ton, 0.12 percent molybdenum, 6.327 ppm copper, 1,232 ppm antimony, and high lead, bismuth, and tungsten. Surface and geochemical work continued in 2006 (Linux Gold Corporation 2007) Samples from silicified syenite contained 587 to 632 ppm molybdenum, 65.8 to 132 ppm uranium, and up to 4.0 ppm silver.
Workings: The area has been mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey and examined by various exploration companies. Linux Gold Corp. located 16 mining claims on this prospect in March 2005 and initiated surface geology studies and sampling in August, 2005. Surface and geochemical work continued in 2006.
Age: Late Cretaceous.
Alteration: Syenite is oxidized where cut by pyrite-quartz veins.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu, Mo, Pb, W; (Minor) - Bi, Cr, radioactive minerals, Zn
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Polymetallic sulfides associated with small syenite stocks.

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CA013

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References