Unnamed Prospect (ARDF - NM063; lode near Fred Creek), Nome Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Unnamed Prospect (ARDF - NM063; lode near Fred Creek)	- not defined -
Nome Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Basal contact zone of massive marble is a favorable horizon in the Fred Creek area; also a major fault, probably related to the Penny River fault traverses the area.
Location: Mineralized schist occurs about 600 feet southwest of upper Fred Creek (Gulch) in the approximate center of the SW1/4NE1/4 section 19, T. 8 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian. The location is accurate to within 250 feet of the coordinates.
Geology: The basal contact zone of massive marble with schist is mineralized at this locality. The mineralized rock is hematized schist that is anomalous in gold and arsenic; arsenic is inferred to be present in a secondary mineral oxidized from arsenopyrite. This mineralization was found as a result of a soil geochemistry survey, but similar mineralization could exist widely at this stratigraphic and structural contact. The deposit could be the source of most of the gold in the Fred Creek placer (NM064). About 2,400 feet southwest of this prospect are numerous boulders of angular vein quartz float on muskeg soil. The quartz is about on trend with the Penny River fault (branch or main splay) that goes through the California prospect (NM062; C.C. Hawley, written communication, 1995). The metasedimentary schist and overlying massive marble unit (Bundtzen and others, 1994) are part of the Nome Group derived from Proterozoic to early Paleozoic protoliths (Till and Dumoulin, 1994). The Nome Group underwent regional blueschist facies metamorphism in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous (Sainsbury, Coleman, and Kachadoorian, 1970; Forbes and others, 1984; Thurston, 1985; Armstrong and others, 1986; Hannula and McWilliams, 1995). The blueschist facies rocks were recrystallized to greenschist facies or higher metamorphic grades in conjunction with regional extension, crustal melting, and magmatism in the mid-Cretaceous (Hudson and Arth, 1983; Miller and Hudson, 1991; Miller and others, 1992; Dumitru and others, 1995; Hannula and others, 1995; Hudson, 1994; Amato and others, 1994; Amato and Wright, 1997, 1998). Lode gold mineralization on Seward Peninsula is mostly related to the higher temperature metamorphism in the mid-Cretaceous (Apodoca, 1994; Ford, 1993 [thesis]; Ford and Snee, 1996; Goldfarb and others, 1997).
Workings: The area was explored by Kennecott Exploration Company in 1994. Kennecott extended an earlier soil geochemistry survey that was confined to the immediate area of the California mine (NM062). The extended survey found soils anomalous in gold and arsenic near the basal contact of massive marble in Fred Creek. Quartz boulders were found and mapped along the survey lines. Reconnaissance along the apparent northeast-trend of mineralization led to discovery of old hand placer workings in Boulder Creek, the next (northeast) tributary to Stewart (Ben Porterfield, oral communication, 1995). A trench cut by Kennecott in 1996 found a 200-foot-wide fault zone in the Fred Creek lode prospect area. The area has been further explored by Consolidated Aston.
Age: Mid-Cretaceous?; structures controlling deposits post-date regional metamorphism - mineralization could be similar in age to other lode gold deposits of Seward Peninsula.
Alteration: Oxidation; possible development of secondary layered silicates; sulfidation of contact zone.

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - As
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Possible low sulfide, Au-quartz vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	NM063

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References