Copper Creek Prospect (lode); Wolverine Copper, Circle Mining District, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, USAi
Regional Level Types | |
---|---|
Copper Creek Prospect (lode); Wolverine Copper | - not defined - |
Circle Mining District | Mining District |
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area | Census Area |
Alaska | State |
USA | Country |
This page is currently not sponsored. Click here to sponsor this page.
Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
64° 51' 25'' North , 143° 20' 20'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
KΓΆppen climate type:
Mindat Locality ID:
197031
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:197031:2
GUID (UUID V4):
e1c57df4-bb8a-4c03-9f05-29882566712f
Location: The Copper Creek prospect is on the north bank of Copper Creek about 47 miles east of its mouth on the Charley River. The coordinates are the location of the adit, in section 4, T. 1 S., R. 22 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate within 1,000 feet. Anderson (1946) referred to the Copper Creek prospect as the Wolverine Copper prospect. The Copper Creek prospect is located within Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. The Copper Creek prospect is locality 1 of Cobb (1972 [MF-393]) and locality 18 of Eberlein and others (1977).
Geology: The Copper Creek prospect is a skarn in limestone that is surrounded by fine-grained sedimentary rocks (Anderson, 1946). The prospect is in limestone and amphibolite that are interpreted to be a roof pendant several square miles in area on the margin of the Charley River batholith of Tertiary to Mesozoic age (Wedow and others, 1954; Foster, 1976). The Copper Creek prospect is a 4- to 5-foot-wide, vertically dipping mineralized zone exposed in the face of a steep cliff (Saunders, 1955). The gangue and ore minerals in the Copper Creek prospect consists of garnet, calcite, bornite, chalcopyrite, quartz, pyrrhotite, amphibole or pyroxene, galena, and scheelite, as well as secondary minerals that include covellite, malachite, and azurite (Anderson, 1946; Wedow and others, 1954). Trace gold, silver, and tungsten are reported in assays. Most of the sulfides are in calc-silicate rocks near the contact with the amphibolite (Wedow and others, 1954). Two samples from the Copper Creek prospect contain 0.80 to 1.16 ounces of silver per ton, 2.5 to 5.26 percent copper, 0.3 percent zinc; one sample contains trace gold,and the other sample contains as much as 5 percent bismuth (Saunders, 1955). The portal of the adit is located 10 to 15 feet above Copper Creek; it extends 114 feet. Mineralization is present only in the first 40 feet (Wedow and others, 1954). Minor radioactivity is associated with the copper mineralization; the uranium? may occur in bornite and malachite inclusions in wollastonite skarn (Wedow and others, 1954). Placer concentrates taken about 100 feet upstream of the Copper Creek prospect are slightly radioactive and contain thorium and trace monazite. The Copper Creek prospect was staked and an adit was driven in about 1903 (Anderson, 1946). The Copper Creek prospect was examined by the Alaska Territorial Department of Mines in 1946 (Anderson, 1946) and 1955 (Saunders, 1955) and by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1949 during a regional reconnaissance for radioactive deposits (Wedow and others, 1954). The portal of the adit was caved in 1955 (Saunders, 1955).
Workings: The Copper Creek prospect was staked and an adit was driven in about 1903 (Anderson, 1946). The Copper Creek prospect was examined by the Alaska Territorial Department of Mines in 1946 (Anderson, 1946) and 1955 (Saunders, 1955) and by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1949 during a regional reconnaissance for radioactive deposits (Wedow and others, 1954). The portal of the adit was caved in 1955 (Saunders, 1955).
Age: The prospect is in skarn associated with Tertiary or Mesozoic intrusive rocks.
Commodities (Major) - Cu; (Minor) - Ag, Au, Bi, Pb, U?, W
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Cu skarn? (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 18b).
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
11 valid minerals.
Detailed Mineral List:
β 'Amphibole Supergroup' Formula: AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
β Azurite Formula: Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 |
β Bornite Formula: Cu5FeS4 |
β Calcite Formula: CaCO3 |
β Chalcopyrite Formula: CuFeS2 |
β Covellite Formula: CuS |
β Galena Formula: PbS |
β 'Garnet Group' Formula: X3Z2(SiO4)3 |
β Malachite Formula: Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
β 'Pyroxene Group' Formula: ADSi2O6 |
β Pyrrhotite Formula: Fe1-xS |
β Quartz Formula: SiO2 |
β Scheelite Formula: Ca(WO4) |
β Wollastonite Formula: Ca3(Si3O9) |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
---|---|---|---|
β | Bornite | 2.BA.15 | Cu5FeS4 |
β | Covellite | 2.CA.05a | CuS |
β | Chalcopyrite | 2.CB.10a | CuFeS2 |
β | Pyrrhotite | 2.CC.10 | Fe1-xS |
β | Galena | 2.CD.10 | PbS |
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
β | Quartz | 4.DA.05 | SiO2 |
Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates | |||
β | Calcite | 5.AB.05 | CaCO3 |
β | Azurite | 5.BA.05 | Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 |
β | Malachite | 5.BA.10 | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates | |||
β | Scheelite | 7.GA.05 | Ca(WO4) |
Group 9 - Silicates | |||
β | Wollastonite | 9.DG.05 | Ca3(Si3O9) |
Unclassified | |||
β | 'Amphibole Supergroup' | - | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
β | 'Pyroxene Group' | - | ADSi2O6 |
β | 'Garnet Group' | - | X3Z2(SiO4)3 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
Other Databases
Link to USGS - Alaska: | EA002 |
---|
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North America PlateTectonic Plate
This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to
visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders
for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.