Lindsey Prospect, Niblack Anchorage, Moira Sound, Prince of Wales Island, Ketchikan District, Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Borough, Alaska, USA
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Geology: Beginning in the mid-70's, a succession of companies, including Cominco-Alaska, Inc., Anaconda Minerals, Noranda Exploration, Houston Oil and Minerals, Long Lac Minerals, and, beginning in 1995, Abacus Minerals, have carried out extensive exploration on several deposits in the Niblack Mine area (CR217-223), testing the now widely accepted theory that they are volcanogenic, stratabound, massive-sulfide deposits. Those deposits are commonly grouped with the old Niblack Mine under the name 'Niblack' or 'Niblack Project'. The exact location of most of the recent exploration in the Niblack area, including several generations of drilling, is not well documented in the public literature. Anaconda Minerals drilled at least two holes in 1978. Green and others (1989) note that Noranda and Lac Minerals drilled 24,000 feet on the deposits in the Niblack area through 1988, and Abacus Minerals drilled 39,000 feet in 1996 (1997?) (Swainbank and others, 1998). The exploration has been mentioned frequently in the annual reports of the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys since the early 80's. In their most recent annual report (Swainbank, and others, 2002), the deposits are grouped under the name 'Niblack'. The area currently is being explored by Abacus Minerals, and information about their work can be found on their web site (www.amemining.com/properties/niblack_project/ ; Jan. 26. 2004). As described by Lac Minerals USA Inc.(1989) and Maas and others (1995), and from a cross-section by Abacus Minerals (www.abacusminerals.com/niblackxsec.htm; April 18, 2000), the area features several large folds that trend west-northwest. The folds consist of a layered sequence of rhyolitic flows and volcaniclastic rocks that host the ore deposits, a hanging wall of mafic flows and sedimentary rocks, and a foot wall of amygdaloidal mafic flows. All of the rocks are regionally metamorphosed to greenschist grade. Maas and others (1991) describe three types of deposits at the Lookout prospect (CR221). It is the best- known deposit and probably typifies the other deposits in the area, including the one at the Niblack Mine. The three types are: 1) volcanogenic massive-sulfide bodies up to 20 feet thick with values of up to 4.9 percent copper, 8.0 percent zinc, 0.265 ounce of gold per ton, and 4.6 ounces of silver per ton; 2) stringer-type sphalerite mineralization in lithic tuffs in the footwalls of the massive sulfide bodies; and 3) auriferous, pyrite-bearing volcaniclastic rocks and polylithic breccias that typically contain about 0.05 ounce of gold per ton, 0.5 to 1.0 ounce of silver per ton, and 1 percent combined copper-zinc across widths of more than 50 feet. The Lindsey prospect as described by Maas was found in 1992. It is in coarse-grained felsic volcaniclastic rocks that contain up to 20 percent sulfides in fragments up to 3 feet across. The deposit is in a northwest-trending, induced-polarization geophysical anomaly that extends to the Niblack Mine (CR216). Recent geochemical and isotopic work by Slack and others (2002) confirm that this deposit is of Silurian or Ordovician age. Abacus Minerals mentions the Lindsey prospect on their web site (www.amemining.com/properties/niblack_project/ ; Jan. 26. 2004), as one of their promising prospects in the area. The age of the rocks in the area has been variously interpreted. Eberlein and others (1983) mapped the strata as locally metamorphosed graywacke of Silurian or Ordovician age, near a large Paleozoic or Mesozoic granitic intrusion. Gehrels (1992) and Maas and others (1995) mapped them as pre-Ordovician metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks near a Silurian or Ordovician granitic intrusion. Brew (1996) called them Late Proterozoic and Cambrian Wales Group schist, phyllite, and marble, near a Tertiary granitic intrusion of intermediate composition. Most recently, Slack and others (2002) and S.M. Karl (oral communication, 2003) mapped the strata as Silurian and Ordovician, low-grade, regionally metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Slack and others (2002) also demonstrate that the volcanogenic massive-sulfide deposits in the Niblack area are of Silurian or Ordovician age.
Workings: Not cited in the literature, but as of 2004, mentioned as one of the promising prospects in the area. It has almost certainly been sampled and may have been drilled.
Age: Silurian or Ordovician.
Alteration: Not specifically noted, but probably typical of volcanogenic massive-sulfide deposits.
Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu, Zn
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Besshi-type volcanogenic Ag-Au-Cu massive-sulfide deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986
Mineral List
3 entries listed. 3 valid minerals.
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References
Berg, H.C., and Cobb, E.H., 1967, Metalliferous lode deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1246, 254 p. Brew, D.A., 1996, Geologic map of the Craig, Dixon Entrance, and parts of the Ketchikan and Prince Rupert quadrangles, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2319, 53 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Brewer, N.H., 1989, Geology of the Niblack massive sulfide property, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska (abs.): Alaska Miners Association, Juneau Branch, Conference Juneau, Abstracts of Professional Papers, p. 34-35. Brooks, A.H., 1902, Preliminary report on the Ketchikan mining district, Alaska, with an introductory sketch of the geology of southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1, 120 p. Chapin, Theodore, 1916, Mining developments in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 642-B, p. 73-104. Eberlein, G.D., Churkin, Michael, Jr., Carter, Claire, Berg, H.C., and Ovenshine, A. T., 1983, Geology of the Craig quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-91, 52 p. Gehrels, G. E., 1992, Geologic map of southern Prince of Wales Island, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-2169, 23 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360. Green, C.B., Bundtzen, T.K., Peterson, R.J., Seward, A.F., Deagan, J.R., and Burton, J.E., 1989, Alaska's mineral industry, 1988: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 43, 79 p. Herreid, Gordon, 1964, Geology of the Niblack Anchorage area, southeastern Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 5, 10 p. Knopf, Adolph, 1910, Mining in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 442-C, p. 133-143. LAC Minerals (USA) Incorporated, 1989, Niblack Project prospectus, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska: LAC Minerals (USA) Incorporated, 16 p. (Unpublished report held by the Bureau of Land Management, Mineral Information Center, Juneau, Alaska). Maas, K.M., Bittenbender, P E., and Still, J.C., 1995, Mineral investigations in the Ketchikan mining district, southeastern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 11-95, 606 p. Maas, K.M., Still, J. C., and Bittenbender, P. E., 1992, Mineral investigations in the Ketchikan mining district, Alaska, 1991 - Prince of Wales Island and vicinity: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 81-92, 69 p. Maas, K.M., Still, J. C., Clough, A. H., and Oliver, L. K., 1991, Mineral investigations in the Ketchikan mining district, Alaska, 1990: Southern Prince of Wales Island and vicinity--Preliminary sample location maps and descriptions: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 33-91, 139 p. Peek, B.C., 1975, Geology and mineral deposits of the Niblack Anchorage area, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska: Fairbanks, University of Alaska, M.Sc. thesis, 50 p. Roppel, Patricia, 1991, Fortunes from the earth: Manhattan, Kansas, Sunflower University Press, 139 p. Slack, J.F., Shanks, W.C. III, Karl, S.M., Ridley, W.I., and Bittenbender, P.E., 2002, Geochemical and sulfur isotope compositions of Late Proterezoic and early Paleozoic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, Prince of Wales Island and vicinity, southeastern Alaska (abs.): Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 34 (6), p. 113. Smith, P.S., 1914, Lode mining in the Ketchikan region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592-B, p. 75-94. Swainbank, R.C., Clautice, K.C., and Nauman, J.L., 1998, Alaska's mineral industry, 1997: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 52, 65 p. Swainbank, R.C., Szumigala, D.J., Henning, M.W., and Pillifant, F.M., 2002; Alaska's mineral industry, 2001: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 56, 65 p. Wright, C.W., 1907, Lode mining in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 314, p. 47-72. Wright, C.W., 1908, Lode mining in southeastern Alaska, 1907: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 345-B, p. 78-97. Wright, C.W., 1909, Mining in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 379-B, p. 67-86. Wright, F.E., and Wright, C.W., 1905, Economic developments in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 259, p. 47-68. Wright, F.E., and Wright, C.W., 1906, Lode mining in southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 284, p. 30-54. Wright, F.E., and Wright, C.W., 1908, The Ketchikan and Wrangell mining districts, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 347, 210 p.