Miners River; Miners River Nickel; Miners Bay Prospect, Prince William Sound Mining District, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Miners River; Miners River Nickel; Miners Bay Prospect	Prospect
Prince William Sound Mining District	Mining District
Valdez-Cordova Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Cobb (1972) located this site north of Miners Lake, however Grant (1906) whom serves as Cobb primary references, indicate that it is where Miners River enters into Miners Bay.
Location: Located near the mouth of Miners River, on the east side of Unakwik Bay. It should be noted that the Cobb (1972) locality is plotted too far upstream on MF 409. Accurate within 1 mile. Locality 65 of Cobb (1972), locality 53 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), locality 73 of Hoekzema (1984) and locality A-14 of Jansons and others (1984).
Geology: A 'vein' or zone that has no sharply defined walls in the diorite country rock has been pyrrhotitized in a zone 10-20 ft wide. This sulfide-bearing rock is iron-stained and contains pegmatitic veins which also carry pyrrhotite. These veins are 0.25 to 2 inches in width and are not sharply defined (Grant, 1906). The pyrrhotite disseminated in the pegmatitic veins carry nickel, cobalt, and copper (Hoekzema and Fechner, 1986). Chip samples contained from 400 ppm to 2,000 ppm Ni, 93 ppm to 2,000 ppm Co, and 100 ppm to 2,000 ppm Cu. Grab samples contained from 20 ppm to 2,000 ppm Ni, 36 to 800 ppm Co, and 20 ppm to 1,000 ppm Cu. A 260 lb bulk sample contained 2,500 ppm Ni, 200 ppm Co, and 3,100 ppm Cu (Hoekzema, 1984).
Workings: Exploration consists of an 8 ft and an 218 ft adit. Chip samples contained from 400 ppm to 2,000 ppm Ni, 93 ppm to 2,000 ppm Co, and 100 ppm to 2,000 ppm Cu. Grab samples contained from 20 ppm to 2,000 ppm Ni, 36 to 800 ppm Co, and 20 ppm to 1,000 ppm Cu. A 260 lb bulk sample contained 2,500 ppm Ni, 200 ppm Co, and 3,100 ppm Cu. These results indicate low mineral potential (Hoekzema, 1984).
Age: Tertiary or younger.
Alteration: Pyritization of diorite country rock.
Reserves: Webber and Rutledge (1944) stated that inferred reserves are 11,000 tons at 0.2 percent Ni and 0.2 percent Cu.

Commodities (Major) - Co, Cu, Ni
Development Status: Undetermined

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	AN144

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References