Tanana quadrangle Alaska Resource Data File

309 Pages·2005·1.35 MB·English

Tanana quadrangle

e

Descriptions of the mineral occurrences shown on the accompanying figure follow.
l
See U.S. Geological Survey (1996) for a description of the information content of each field
i in the records. The data presented here are maintained as part of a statewide database
F on mines, prospects and mineral occurrences throughout Alaska.
o o oo
a
t
a
D

e
c
r
u
o
s
e o o oo
R Distribution of mineral occurrences in the Tanana
1:250,000-scale quadrangle, Alaska

This and related reports are accessible through the USGS World Wide Web site
a http://ardf.wr.usgs.gov. Comments or information regarding corrections or missing
data, or requests for digital retrievals should be directed to: Frederic Wilson, USGS, 4200
k
University Dr., Anchorage, AK 99508-4667, e-mail [email protected], telephone (907)
786-7448. This compilation is authored by:
s

a
David J. Szumigala, Garth E. Graham,
l and Jennifer E. Athey
A Fairbanks, AK
This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geologi-
cal Survey editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic code. Any use
of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply
endorsement by the U.S. Government.
OPEN-FILE REPORT 2004-1386
Alaska Resource Data File TN001
Site name(s): Unnamed (upper Slokhenjikh Creek)

Site type: Occurrences

ARDF no.: TN001

Latitude: 65.8716 Quadrangle: TN D-5

Longitude: 152.4210

Location description and accuracy:
This record represents anomalous rock samples of a ten-mile-long ultramafic body on the northwest slopes
of the Ray Mountains, stretching from Holonada Creek on the east to the upper reaches of the northeast
tributaries of Slokhenjikh Creek on the west. The samples are in T. 12 N., R. 23 W. and T. 13N, R. 22 W.,
of the Fairbanks Meridian. For this record, the site is Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Sur-
veys (ADGGS) sample station 92Ha232 (Solie and others, 1993), the westernmost of the sample localities.
It is at an elevation of about 1,950 feet 0.55 mile west of hill 2358, in the northeast quarter of section 18, T.
12 N., R. 23 W. The location is accurate within 500 feet.
This site corresponds with the site for Holonada Creek, U.S. Bureau of Land Management MAS number
0020480134.

Commodities:

Main: Cr

Other: Ni, Pd, Pt, Zn

Ore minerals: Chromite (magnesiochromite)

Gangue minerals:

Geologic description:
The Kanuti River region straddles the southeastern boundary of the Yukon-Koyukuk Basin and includes
sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the basin sequence as well as metamorphic and plutonic rocks of the ad-
joining Kokrines-Hodzana Highlands (Patton and Miller, 1970). The Sithylemenkat Pluton, a 170-square
mile body of mid-Cretaceous granitic rocks, intrudes metasedimentary rocks on the south side of the Kanuti
River. Dikes of pegmatite are locally abundant on the perimeter of the predominantly porphyritic, biotite
quartz monzonite pluton.
Overlying and intruding the metasedimentary rocks along the northwest flank of the Kokrines-Hodzana
Highlands is an ophiolitelike assemblage of Permian to Jurassic, altered pillow basalt, diabase, and gabbro;
serpentinized peridotite and dunite; and bedded chert (Patton and Miller, 1970). Six of the ultramafic bodies
extend for 65 miles, from Caribou Mountain in the northeast to the upper Melozitna River in the southwest.
Numerous smaller bodies also occur in this belt. The ultramafic rocks are crudely layered, tabular bodies
dipping gently to steeply northwest. The Holonada body is about 2,500 feet thick. Layering in the Kilolitna
body is less well defined, but the width of its outcrops suggests that it is at least as thick. The lower contact
of the ultramafic bodies is sharply defined, possibly by a fault, with little evidence of thermal alteration of
the underlying rocks. The ultramafic rocks are composed almost entirely of serpentinized peridotite, chiefly
harzburgite, and serpentinized dunite. They are cut by veinlets and irregular masses of chalcedony and
drusy quartz. Patton and Miller (1970) found one small mass of colloform magnesite in the northern part of
the Kilolitna body (in the Bettles quadrangle).
Chromite in serpentinized dunite in the Holonada Complex forms roughly parallel, planar bands up to
about 0.5 inch thick that alternate with layers of serpentinite containing abundant disseminated chromite (U.
S. Bureau of Mines memo from Albany Research Center to Jim Barker, 1986). The chromite grains are
subhedral to euhedral and generally sand size. Polished section examinations show that the individual chro-
mite grains are extensively fractured.
Page 2
Alaska Resource Data File TN001
The Bureau of Mines Alaska Field Operation Center investigated chromite deposits in Alaska between
1979 and 1984 as part of the Bureau's critical and strategic mineral program (Foley and others, 1985). The
Holonada area contained 10 occurrences of disseminated and massive chromite in dunite bedrock and rub-
ble. One occurrence, about 400 feet long and 5 to 15 feet wide in outcrop, contains more than 20 percent
chromite (13,000-26,000 tons Cr2O3)). Four other occurrences contain 4 to 8 percent chromite (less than
1,000 tons Cr2O3 each) (Foley and others, 1985). The Bureau collected 12 hand-sorted, chromite-rich,
rock samples of the Holonada ultramafic body that contained an average of 33.2% Cr2O3 (Foley and others,
1985). None of the concentrates examined during beneficiation studies contained detectable precious met-
als (1986 U.S. Bureau of Mines memo from Albany Research Center to Jim Barker).
In 1992, the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS) collected 7 samples of
chromite, or of chromite in dunite and/or lherzolite, in the Slokhenjikh Creek area as part of a mineral re-
source evaluation of State-selected lands (Solie and others, 1993). The samples contained maximum values
of 30,000 parts per million (ppm) chromium, 2,313 ppm nickel, 38 parts per billion (ppb) palladium, 23 ppb
platinum, 295 ppm zinc, and 23 ppm bismuth. At one site (station 92Ha232), chromite covered a 25 by 300
foot area. Two samples of chalcedony in the ultramafic rocks contained detectable platinum and palladium
(respective maximums of 33 ppb and 14 ppb (Solie and others, 1993).

Alteration:

Age of mineralization:
Permian to Jurassic, based on age of host rocks and deposit model.

Deposit model:
Podiform chromite (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 8a).

Deposit model number (After Cox and Singer, 1986 or Bliss, 1992):
8a

Production Status: None

Site Status: Inactive

Workings/exploration:
The Bureau of Mines Alaska Field Operation Center investigated chromite deposits in Alaska between
1979 and 1984 as part of the Bureau's critical and strategic mineral program (Foley and others, 1985). The
Holonada area contained 10 occurrences of disseminated and massive chromite in dunite bedrock and rub-
ble. One occurrence, about 400 feet long and 5 to 15 feet wide in outcrop, contains more than 20 percent
chromite (13,000-26,000 tons Cr2O3)). Four other occurrences contain 4 to 8 percent chromite (less than
1,000 tons Cr2O3 each) (Foley and others, 1985). The Bureau collected 12 hand-sorted, chromite-rich,
rock samples of the Holonada ultramafic body that contained an average of 33.2% Cr2O3 (Foley and others,
1985). None of the concentrates examined during beneficiation studies contained detectable precious met-
als (1986 U.S. Bureau of Mines memo from Albany Research Center to Jim Barker).
In 1992, ADGGS collected 7 samples of chromite, or of chromite in dunite and/or lherzolite, in the Slok-
henjikh Creek area as part of a mineral resource evaluation of State-selected lands (Solie and others, 1993).
The samples contained maximum values of 30,000 parts per million (ppm) chromium, 2,313 ppm nickel, 38
parts per billion (ppb) palladium, 23 ppb platinum, 295 ppm zinc, and 23 ppm bismuth. At one site (station
92Ha232), chromite covered a 25 by 300 foot area. Two samples of chalcedony in the ultramafic rocks con-
tained detectable platinum and palladium (respective maximums of 33 ppb and 14 ppb (Solie and others,
1993).

Production notes:

Reserves:

Additional comments:
Page 3
Alaska Resource Data File TN001

References:
Patton and Miller, 1970; Foley and others, 1985; Solie and others, 1993.

Primary reference: Foley and others, 1985; Solie and others, 1993

Reporter(s): D.J. Szumigala (ADGGS)

Last report date: 4/14/2004
Page 4
Alaska Resource Data File TN002
Site name(s): Unnamed (Holonada Creek)

Site type: Occurrences

ARDF no.: TN002

Latitude: 65.8860 Quadrangle: TN D-5

Longitude: 152.2393

Location description and accuracy:
This record represents occurrences of anomalous rock samples in a two mile long area on the west side of
Holonada Creek. For this record, the site is ADGGS sample station 92Ha242 (Solie and others, 1993), in
the northwest corner of section 7, T. 12 N., R. 22 W. of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate
within 500 feet.

Commodities:

Main: Pt

Other: Au, Ba, Bi, Sn, V

Ore minerals:

Gangue minerals:

Geologic description:
The Kanuti River region straddles the southeastern boundary of the Yukon-Koyukuk Basin and includes
sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the basin sequence as well as metamorphic and plutonic rocks of the ad-
joining Kokrines-Hodzana Highlands (Patton and Miller, 1970). The Sithylemenkat Pluton, a 170-square
mile body of mid-Cretaceous granitic rocks, intrudes metasedimentary rocks on the south side of the Kanuti
River. Dikes of pegmatite are locally abundant on the perimeter of the predominantly porphyritic, biotite
quartz monzonite pluton.
Overlying and intruding the metasedimentary rocks along the northwest flank of the Kokrines-Hodzana
Highlands is an ophiolitelike assemblage of Permian to Jurassic, altered pillow basalt, diabase, and gabbro;
serpentinized peridotite and dunite; and bedded chert (Patton and Miller, 1970). Six of the ultramafic bodies
extend for 65 miles, from Caribou Mountain in the northeast to the upper Melozitna River in the southwest.
Numerous smaller bodies also occur in this belt. The ultramafic rocks are crudely layered, tabular bodies
dipping gently to steeply northwest. The Holonada body is about 2,500 feet thick. Layering in the Kilolitna
body is less well defined, but the width of its outcrops suggests that it is at least as thick. The lower contact
of the ultramafic bodies is sharply defined, possibly by a fault, with little evidence of thermal alteration of
the underlying rocks. The ultramafic rocks are composed almost entirely of serpentinized peridotite, chiefly
harzburgite, and serpentinized dunite. They are cut by veinlets and irregular masses of chalcedony and
drusy quartz. Patton and Miller (1970) found one small mass of colloform magnesite in the northern part of
the Kilolitna body (in the Bettles quadrangle).
In 1992, the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS) collected rock samples
for geochemical analysis in the Holonada Creek area as part of a mineral resource evaluation of State-
selected lands (Solie and others, 1993). The samples are of volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Jurassic
to Mississippian Rampart Group south of the Holonada ultramafic body (Chapman and others, 1982). Sam-
ples having anomalous values included silicic mudstone or waterlaid tuff (sample 92Ha242), with 30 parts
per billion (ppb) gold and 20,000 parts per million (ppm) barium; diabase (sample 92MW434), with 291
ppm vanadium, 74 ppm bismuth, 24 ppb platinum, and 64 ppm tin; and chert (sample 92MW43) with 10
ppb platinum (Solie and others, 1993).

Alteration:
Page 5
Alaska Resource Data File TN002

Age of mineralization:

Deposit model:
Alaskan PGE(Cox and Singer, 1986; model 9) and epithermal veins.

Deposit model number (After Cox and Singer, 1986 or Bliss, 1992):
9

Production Status: None

Site Status: Inactive

Workings/exploration:
In 1992, the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS) collected rock samples
for geochemical analysis in the Holonada Creek area as part of a mineral resource evaluation of State-
selected lands (Solie and others, 1993). The samples are of volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Jurassic
to Mississippian Rampart Group south of the Holonada ultramafic body (Chapman and others, 1982). Sam-
ples having anomalous values included silicic mudstone or waterlaid tuff (sample 92Ha242), with 30 parts
per billion (ppb) gold and 20,000 parts per million (ppm) barium; diabase (sample 92MW434), with 291
ppm vanadium, 74 ppm bismuth, 24 ppb platinum, and 64 ppm tin; and chert (sample 92MW43) with 10
ppb platinum (Solie and others, 1993).

Production notes:

Reserves:

Additional comments:

References:
Patton and Miller, 1970; Chapman and others, 1982; Solie and others, 1993.

Primary reference: Solie and others, 1993

Reporter(s): D.J. Szumigala (ADGGS)

Last report date: 4/14/2004
Page 6
Alaska Resource Data File TN003
Site name(s): Unnamed (west of Kanuti Kilolitna River)

Site type: Occurrences

ARDF no.: TN003

Latitude: 65.9650 Quadrangle: TN D-4

Longitude: 151.8796

Location description and accuracy:
This record represents occurrences of anomalous rock samples in a half-mile-long area on hill 1458 on the
west side of the Kanuti Kilolitna River. The site is at the top of the hill, in the southeast quarter of section
12, T. 13 N., R. 21 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate within 1,000 feet. This site
roughly corresponds with the site for Kilolitna River, U.S. Bureau of Land Management MAS number
0020480133.

Commodities:

Main: Cr, Ni

Other: Au, Pd

Ore minerals: Chromite

Gangue minerals:

Geologic description:
The Kanuti River region straddles the southeastern boundary of the Yukon-Koyukuk Basin and includes
sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the basin sequence as well as metamorphic and plutonic rocks of the ad-
joining Kokrines-Hodzana Highlands (Patton and Miller, 1970). The Sithylemenkat Pluton, a 170-square
mile body of mid-Cretaceous granitic rocks, intrudes metasedimentary rocks on the south side of the Kanuti
River. Dikes of pegmatite are locally abundant on the perimeter of the predominantly porphyritic, biotite
quartz monzonite pluton.
Overlying and intruding the metasedimentary rocks along the northwest flank of the Kokrines-Hodzana
Highlands is an ophiolitelike assemblage of Permian to Jurassic, altered pillow basalt, diabase, and gabbro;
serpentinized peridotite and dunite; and bedded chert (Patton and Miller, 1970). Six of the ultramafic bodies
extend for 65 miles, from Caribou Mountain in the northeast to the upper Melozitna River in the southwest.
Numerous smaller bodies also occur in this belt. The ultramafic rocks are crudely layered, tabular bodies
dipping gently to steeply northwest. The Holonada body is about 2,500 feet thick. Layering in the Kilolitna
body is less well defined, but the width of its outcrops suggests that it is at least as thick. The lower contact
of the ultramafic bodies is sharply defined, possibly by a fault, with little evidence of thermal alteration of
the underlying rocks. The ultramafic rocks are composed almost entirely of serpentinized peridotite, chiefly
harzburgite, and serpentinized dunite. They are cut by veinlets and irregular masses of chalcedony and
drusy quartz. Patton and Miller (1970) found one small mass of colloform magnesite in the northern part of
the Kilolitna body (in the Bettles quadrangle).
In the late 1960s, the U.S. Geological Survey collected composite rock samples at several locations across
the Kilolitna and lower Kanuti ultramafic bodies (Patton and Miller, 1970). Nine samples, each weighing
approximately 3 pounds, were analyzed. The range of analytical values for these samples was: 2,400 to
3,000 parts per million (ppm) chromium, 1,900 to 2,400 ppm nickel, les than 0.010 ppm platinum, less than
0.005 ppm rhenium, and less than 0.004 ppm to 0.008 ppm palladium. Chromium content ranged as high as
9 percent in selected grab samples of dunite streaked with grains of chrome spinel.
The U.S. Bureau of Mines Alaska Field Operation Center investigated chromite deposits and occurrences
in Alaska between 1979 and 1984 as part of the Bureau's critical and strategic minerals program (Foley and
others, 1985). Several hand-sorted, chromite-rich samples collected in the Kilolitna River area contained an
Page 7
Alaska Resource Data File TN003
average of 46.7 percent Cr2O3 (Foley and others, 1985).
Several samples of chromite-rich dunite were collected by U.S. Bureau of Mines geologists and submitted
for mineralogical and beneficiation tests at the Bureau's Albany Research Center (J.Y. Foley, written com-
mun., 2004). Sample PB19670 is iron-stained, highly fractured and partly altered, tan dunite containing
light green pyroxene crystals and veins and lenses of serpentine along fractures and replacing olivine. Eu-
hedral to subhedral chromite crystals are densely to sparsely disseminated in the dunite. Sample PB19671 is
similar, but the serpentine is accompanied by chlorite and the dunite also contains nearly massive aggregates
of disseminated chromite crystals (Foley, written commun., 2004). Chromite analyzed by the Albany Re-
search Center was classified as high-iron, high-aluminum chromite and high-chromium chromite, respec-
tively, for the 2 samples. Neither sample contained detectable platinum or palladium, but the minus- 65
mesh concentrate of sample PB19670 contained 0.160 ounce of gold per ton, and the minus-65 mesh con-
centrate contained 0.002 ounce of gold per ton (Foley, written commun., 2004).

Alteration:

Age of mineralization:
Permian to Jurassic, coeval with the presumed age range of the mafic and ultramafic hostrocks.

Deposit model:
Podiform chromite (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 8a).

Deposit model number (After Cox and Singer, 1986 or Bliss, 1992):
8a

Production Status: None

Site Status: Inactive

Workings/exploration:
In the late 1960s, the U.S. Geological Survey collected composite rock samples at several locations across
the Kilolitna and lower Kanuti ultramafic bodies (Patton and Miller, 1970). Nine samples, each weighing
approximately 3 pounds, were analyzed. The range of analytical values for these samples was: 2,400 to
3,000 parts per million (ppm) chromium, 1,900 to 2,400 ppm nickel, les than 0.010 ppm platinum, less than
0.005 ppm rhenium, and less than 0.004 ppm to 0.008 ppm palladium. Chromium content ranged as high as
9 percent in selected grab samples of dunite streaked with grains of chrome spinel.
The U.S. Bureau of Mines Alaska Field Operation Center investigated chromite deposits and occurrences
in Alaska between 1979 and 1984 as part of the Bureau's critical and strategic minerals program (Foley and
others, 1985). Several hand-sorted, chromite-rich samples collected in the Kilolitna River area contained an
average of 46.7 percent Cr2O3 (Foley and others, 1985).
Several samples of chromite-rich dunite were collected by U.S. Bureau of Mines geologists and submitted
for mineralogical and beneficiation tests at the Bureau's Albany Research Center (Foley, written commun.,
2004). Sample PB19670 is iron-stained, highly fractured and partly altered, tan dunite containing light
green pyroxene crystals and veins and lenses of serpentine along fractures and replacing olivine. Euhedral
to subhedral chromite crystals are densely to sparsely disseminated in the dunite. Sample PB19671 is simi-
lar, but the serpentine is accompanied by chlorite and the dunite also contains nearly massive aggregates of
disseminated chromite crystals (Foley, written commun., 2004). Chromite analyzed by the Albany Research
Center was classified as high-iron, high-aluminum chromite and high-chromium chromite, respectively, for
the 2 samples. Neither sample contained detectable platinum or palladium, but the minus- 65 mesh concen-
trate of sample PB19670 contained 0.160 ounce of gold per ton, and the minus-65 mesh concentrate con-
tained 0.002 ounce of gold per ton (Foley, written commun., 2004).

Production notes:

Reserves:

Page 8
Alaska Resource Data File TN003
Additional comments:

References:
Patton and Miller, 1970; Foley and others, 1985.

Primary reference: Foley and others, 1985; this record

Reporter(s): D.J. Szumigala (ADGGS)

Last report date: 4/20/2004
Page 9
Alaska Resource Data File TN004
Site name(s): Unnamed (north of Kanuti Kilolitna River)

Site type: Occurrences

ARDF no.: TN004

Latitude: 65.9688 Quadrangle: TN D-4

Longitude: 151.8458

Location description and accuracy:
This record represents occurrences of anomalous rock samples in a thousand-foot-long area along the
south slope of hill 2360, north of the Kanuti Kilolitna River. The site is at an elevation of 1,200 feet, 0.45
mile east-northeast of the center of section 7, T. 13 N., R. 20 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is
accurate within a thousand feet.

Commodities:

Main: Cr, Pt

Other: Ni, Pd, Rh, Zn

Ore minerals: Chromite

Gangue minerals:

Geologic description:
The Kanuti River region straddles the southeastern boundary of the Yukon-Koyukuk Basin and includes
sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the basin sequence as well as metamorphic and plutonic rocks of the ad-
joining Kokrines-Hodzana Highlands (Patton and Miller, 1970). The Sithylemenkat Pluton, a 170-square
mile body of mid-Cretaceous granitic rocks, intrudes metasedimentary rocks on the south side of the Kanuti
River. Dikes of pegmatite are locally abundant on the perimeter of the predominantly porphyritic, biotite
quartz monzonite pluton.
Overlying and intruding the metasedimentary rocks along the northwest flank of the Kokrines-Hodzana
Highlands is an ophiolitelike assemblage of Permian to Jurassic, altered pillow basalt, diabase, and gabbro;
serpentinized peridotite and dunite; and bedded chert (Patton and Miller, 1970). Six of the ultramafic bodies
extend for 65 miles, from Caribou Mountain in the northeast to the upper Melozitna River in the southwest.
Numerous smaller bodies also occur in this belt. The ultramafic rocks are crudely layered, tabular bodies
dipping gently to steeply northwest. The Holonada body is about 2,500 feet thick. Layering in the Kilolitna
body is less well defined, but the width of its outcrops suggests that it is at least as thick. The lower contact
of the ultramafic bodies is sharply defined, possibly by a fault, with little evidence of thermal alteration of
the underlying rocks. The ultramafic rocks are composed almost entirely of serpentinized peridotite, chiefly
harzburgite, and serpentinized dunite. They are cut by veinlets and irregular masses of chalcedony and
drusy quartz. Patton and Miller (1970) found one small mass of colloform magnesite in the northern part of
the Kilolitna body (in the Bettles quadrangle).
In the late 1960s, the U.S. Geological Survey collected composite rock samples at several locations across
the Kilolitna and lower Kanuti ultramafic bodies (Patton and Miller, 1970). Nine samples, each weighing
approximately 3 pounds, were analyzed. The range of analytical values for these samples was: 2,400 to
3,000 parts per million (ppm) chromium, 1,900 to 2,400 ppm nickel, les than 0.010 ppm platinum, less than
0.005 ppm rhenium, and less than 0.004 ppm to 0.008 ppm palladium. Chromium content ranged as high as
9 percent in selected grab samples of dunite streaked with grains of chrome spinel.
The U.S. Bureau of Mines Alaska Field Operation Center investigated chromite deposits and occurrences
in Alaska between 1979 and 1984 as part of the Bureau's critical and strategic minerals program (Foley and
others, 1985). Several hand-sorted, chromite-rich samples collected in the Kilolitna River area contained an
average of 46.7 percent Cr2O3 (Foley and others, 1985).
Page 10