Beaver Prospect, McGrath District, Yukon-Koyukuk Borough, Alaska, USA
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Location: The Beaver prospect is located on a south-facing slope at 1,950 feet (595 m) in elevation, upslope from the West Fork of Beaver Creek in Section 6, T. 24 S., R. 25 E., of the Kateel River Meridian. Location is known within 100 feet (30 m).
Geology: At the Beaver prospect, mineralized rubble covers a 400 feet by 100 feet (122 m by 30 m) area in a sheet of gray dolomite of the Paradise Fork Formation of Dutro and Patton (1982). Smithsonite-rich, cerrusite-galena zones occur in well developed solution breccias, especially in recrystallized white, vuggy dolomite. Host unit trends N 45 E and dips 45 degrees South. Beaver is considered the best of a series of Mississippi Valley Type deposits exposed on the north limb of the Beaver Creek syncline. Other related deposits include Big Gate (MD050), Hillside (MD049), and Bermuda (MD045) showings. Host rock is Ordovician-Silurian, based on fossils in host unit (Blodgett, 1982); however, the age of the mineralization is unknown. Grab samples from cerussite-rich gossan contain up to 32.7 percent zinc and 34.5 percent lead. A continuous trench sample that was composed of about 80 percent gossan contained 19.25 percent zinc and 0.90 percent lead over a 40 feet (12 m) interval (Schmidt, 1997).
Workings: The Beaver prospect was discovered by WGM Inc. and Patino Ltd. during exploration for base metals on lands in the 'Reef Ridge district.' Sporadic surface investigations were continued by Pasminco Ltd. until about 1989. Grab samples from cerussite-rich gossan contain up to 32.7 percent zinc and 34.5 percent lead. A continuous trench sample that was composed of about 80 percent gossan contained 19.25 percent zinc and 0.90 percent lead over a 40 feet (12 m) channel interval (Schmidt, 1997).
Age: Host rock is Ordovician-Silurian, based on fossils in host unit (Blodgett, 1982); however, the age of the mineralization is unknown.
Alteration: White vuggy dolomite; galena to oxidized cerrusite.
Reserves: None.
Commodities (Major) - Zn; (Minor) - Pb
Development Status: No
Deposit Model: Southeast Missouri Pb-Zn (Cox and singer, 1986; model no. 32a) or Mississippi V
Mineral List
5 entries listed. 4 valid minerals.
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References
Anderson, G.M., and Macqueen, R.W., 1988, Mississippi Valley Type lead-zinc deposits, in Roberts, R.G., and Sheahan, P.A., eds., Ore deposit models: Geoscience Canada Reprint Series 3, Ottawa, Canada, p. 79-90. Blodgett, R.B., 1982, Stratigraphy of Reef Ridge project area; WGM Inc., Anchorage, Alaska, Reef Ridge Project area, Block 10, Doyon region: WGM Inc., 34 pages. Dutro, J.T. Jr., and Patton,W.W. Jr., 1982, New Paleozoic formations in the northern Kuskokwim Mountains, west-central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1529-H, p. H13-H22. Schmidt, J.M., 1997, Shale-hosted Zn-Pb-Ag and barite deposits of Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J., and Miller, L.D., eds., Mineral deposits of Alaska, 1997: Economic Geology Monograph 9, p. 35-65.
