Konechney Prospect Prospect (Mission Creek), Aniak District, Bethel Borough, Alaska, USA

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Location: This prospect is in the Russian Mountains on the ridge at the head of Mission Creek, 1,000 feet northeast of peak 2710. The map site is in the NW1/4 sec. 17, T. 18 N., R. 54 W., of the Seward Meridian. This is locality 5 of Hoare and Cobb (1972, 1977) and sample locality 15 of Bundtzen and Laird (1991).
Geology: This prospect, discovered and first staked in 1921, is named after one of its discovers, Joseph Konechney. Konechney persistently explored the prospect with trenches and two levels of underground workings for many years (Hoare and Coonrad, 1977). The deposits are quartz-sulfide-tourmaline greisen veins developed near the contact between syenite and an axinite-bearing andesite porphyry dike. The mineralized zone, which has been traced northwest for at least 470 feet, contains quartz tourmaline, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, metazeunerite, gold, scheelite, and cassiterite. Late-forming minerals include chalcocite, bornite, stibnite (?), stephanite, covellite, cuprite, azurite, malachite, goethite, and chrysocolla (Bundtzen and Laird, 1991). Twelve channel samples collected by Bundtzen and Laird (1991) combined with five collected by Holzheimer (1926) average 4.44 ppm gold, 1.64 percent copper, 1.14 percent arsenic, and 0.24 percent antimony. The samples also contain anomalous levels of tin (to 200 ppm), silver (to 317 ppm), and uranium (to 106 ppm). The only sample analyzed for bismuth by Bundtzen and Laird (1991) contained 112 ppm of this element. Wedow and others (1953) and West (1954) examined the prospect for radioactive minerals; the highest eU content they observed was 0.006 percent. Assuming dimensions, in feet, of 3.4 x 400 x 470, Bundtzen and Laird (1991) estimated a resource of 37,600 tons of material with the stated average grades. The country rocks are part of the Upper Cretaceous intrusive complex of the Russian Mountains.
Workings: Surface trenches and two adits (now caved) with a total of 900 feet of underground workings have been completed. The main adit was 800 feet long. Maps of the underground workings were made by Holzheimer (1926) and are described in Bundtzen and Laird (1991).
Age: Late Cretaceous or Tertiary. Veins crosscut part of the intrusive complex of the Russian Mountains. Quartz monzonite from this complex has yielded a K/Ar age of 70.3 +/- 2.1 Ma (Bundtzen and Laird, 1991).
Alteration: Silicification and tourmalinization.
Reserves: Assuming dimensions, in feet, of 3.4 x 400 x 470, Bundtzen and Laird (1991) estimate a resource of 37,600 tons of material averaging 4.44 ppm gold, 1.64 percent copper, 1.14 percent aresenic, and 0.24 percent antimony, along with as much as 200 ppm tin, 317 ppm silver, and 106 ppm uranium.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu; (Minor) - Pb, Sb?, Sn, U?, W
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Polymetallic veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 22c)

References

Bundzten, T. K., and Laird, G.M., 1991, Geology and mineral resources of the Russian Mission C-1 Quadrangle, southwest Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Professional Report 109, 24 p. Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p. Holzheimer, F.W., 1926, Lode prospects in the Russian Mountains, Kuskokwim River region: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 81-1, 15 p. Wedow, Helmuth, Jr., 1953, Preliminary summary of reconnaissance for uranium and thorium in Alaska, 1952: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 248, 15 p. West, W.S., 1954, Reconnaissance for radioactive deposits in the lower Yukon-Kuskokwim region, Alaska, 1952: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 328, 10 p.

Mineral List

Arsenopyrite Azurite Bornite Cassiterite Chalcocite

Chalcopyrite Chrysocolla Covellite Cuprite Galena

Goethite Gold Malachite Metazeunerite Pyrite

Quartz Scheelite Stephanite Stibnite 'Tourmaline'

20 entries listed. 19 valid minerals.