Spirit Mountain Prospect, Nizina Mining District, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Spirit Mountain Prospect	Prospect
Nizina Mining District	Mining District
Valdez-Cordova Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

This prospect is in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
Location: This prospect is on the west side of upper Canyon Creek valley about 1.8 miles southwest of the west end of summit Lake and nine-tenths of a mile southeast of elevation 5,990. It is at an elevation of 4,000 feet near center of the east boundary of section 35, T. 6 S., R. 6 E., of the Copper River Meridian. This prospect is probably located to within one-quarter mile. It is locality 61 of Cobb and Matson (1972) and locality 52 of Winkler and others (1981 [OFR 80-892-B]).
Geology: Mafic and ultramafic sill-like bodies that intrude metasedimentary rocks of the Haley Creek terrane contain disseminations and segregations of bravoite, chalcopyrite, pentlandite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and sphalerite (Kingston and Miller, 1945; Herried, 1970; Winkler and others, 1981 [OFR 80-892-B]; Winkler and others, 1981
Workings: This prospect was explored by a large open cut, numerous test pits, and a 50-foot long adit (Moffit, 1914; Pierce, 1946).
Age: Not known; the protolith ages of metasedimentary and metaplutonic rocks in the Haley Creek terrane are not known but much deformation and recrystallization probably occurred in the mid-Cretaceous or younger (Winkler and others, 1981 [OFR 80-892-A]).
Alteration: The ultramafic host rocks are extensively altered to various assemblages of antigorite, chlorite, epidote, hornblende, limonite, magnetite, serpentine, tremolite, and talc.
Reserves: One mineralized body is 200 feet long, 1 inch to 22 feet thick, and exposed over 150 feet vertically. Another mineralized body is 45 feet long; it is 3 feet thick at the surface, but it pinches down to a 6-inch thickness within 10 feet of the surface (Kingston and Miller, 1945). The resource in these two bodies is 6,500 tons of material that contains 0.22 to 7.61 percent nickel and 0.12 to 1.56 percent copper (Kingston and Miller, 1945, p. 56).

Commodities (Major) - Cu, Ni; (Minor) - Ag, Co, PGE, Zn
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Duluth Cu-Ni-PGE? (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 5a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	VA080

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References