Mary Margaret Mercury Prospect
Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska
62.1633°N 154.8759°W
Mine Overview
The Mary Margaret Mercury Prospect is in Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska. Historically the site has been part of the Mcrath Mining District. Preliminary development has taken place such as surface trenching, adits, shafts, drill holes, geophysics, geochemistry, or geological mapping. Enough data has been gathered to estimate grade and tonnage. The ore mined is composed of cinnabar, stibnite and stibiconite with waste material consisting primarily of quartz and calcite. The host rock in this area is limestone from the Upper Ordovician epoch 458.40 to 443.80 million years ago.
Site identification and general characteristics. Learn about USGS mines.
Commodities
Additional textual information about a site or mine.
- Commodity Type Importance
- Mercury Metallic Primary
- Antimony Metallic Secondary
Location Info
- Yukon-Koyukuk , Alaska County / State
- Continent Country State County
- North America The United States Alaska n/a
Workings
ONLY SURFACE SAMPLING HAS BEEN CONDUCTED AT THE PROSPECT. SELECTED SAMPLES CONTAIN FROM 2 TO 13 PERCENT MERCURY AND UP TO 0. 5 PERCENT ANTIMONY, BUT NO PRECIOUS METALS.
Geology
THE MARY MARGARET PROSPECT CONSISTS OF CINNABAR, QUARTZ, CARBONATE AND MINOR STIBNITE IN BRECCIATED LIMESTONE OF THE EARLY DEVONIAN CHEENEETNUK LIMESTONE (BLODGETT AND GILBERT, 1983 ). THE UNIT OVERLIES THE DILLINGER SUBTERRANE, A LOWER PALEOZOIC CONTINENTAL MARGIN ASSEMBLAGE (BUNDTZEN AND OTHERS, 1997 ). ON THE BLUFF SOUTH OF THE CHEENEETNUK RIVER, TWO MINERALIZED FRACTURE ORIENTATIONS WERE MEASURED: (1) A STRIKE OF N50E, WITH A DIP OF 70SE; AND (2) A STRIKE OF N65E WITH A DIP OF 30SE. THE FRACTURE SYSTEM CAN BE TRACED FOR A STRIKE LENGTH OF ABOUT 20 METERS BEFORE DISAPPEARING UNDER VEGETATION. THE CINNABAR VEINLETS AVERAGE ABOUT 5 CM THICK AND EXHIBIT AN EXCEPTIONAL BRIGHT RED COLOR SIMILAR TO CINNABAR AT THE MOUNTAIN TOP MINE DESCRIBED BY MILLER AND OTHERS (1989) IN THE SLEETMUTE QUADRANGLE. AT THE CREEK LEVEL, A COLD WATER SULFUR SPRING THAT FLOWS FROM FRACTURED LIMESTONE IN THE AREA IS DEPOSITING BLACK, FOUL-SMELLING MUD THAT CONTAINS HG. SELECTED SAMPLES OF ORE CONTAIN FROM 2 TO 13 PERCENT MERCURY AND UP TO 0. 5 PERCENT ANTIMONY, BUT WITH NO PRECIOUS METAL VALUES. THE CINNABAR TO STIBNITE RATIO AVERAGES ABOUT 10 TO 1 (T. K. BUNDTZEN, WRITTEN COMMUNICATION, 1989).
Alteration
Mineralogical and chemical alteration at or near the site, which may help to indicate the geographic extent of the geological processes producing the mine.
- Type? Alterations
- Local Oxidation Of Stibnite Mineralization To Stibiconite
Exploration
STATUS IS INACTIVE
Reference
SAINSBURY AND MACKEVETT, 1965
Nearby Deposits
Other deposits in the same region.
-
Peggy Barbara Mercury Prospect
- Mercury commodity Site type Prospect status
- Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska
- 0.68 miles
-
White Mountain Mercury Mine
- Mercury commodity Site type Mine status
- Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska
- Surface
- 1.60 miles
-
Copper Occurrence Near Summit Of White Mountain
- Copper commodity Site type Occurrence status
- Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska
- 1.62 miles
-
Zinc Occurrence Near Tributary Of Cheeneetnuk River
- Lead commodity Site type Occurrence status
- Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska
- 1.88 miles
-
Zinc Occurrence Near Tributary Of Cheeneetnuk River
- Zinc commodity Site type Occurrence status
- Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska
- 4.90 miles
Nearby Places
There are no places nearby
Nearby Mining Districts
- Mcrath Mining District (0 miles away)
Footnotes
* Mine bounds on map indicate the general area that a mine occupies. For an detailed map, refer to the overseeing BLM field office.
** The mine central point is based on an average of the mine's bounding box(es) and does not necessarily fall on the claim itself.
1 World-class significance is determined by total endowment of the contained commodity. This includes all past production and remaining reserves. Each commodity is considered separately and commodities cannot be combined to arrive at a significant size. The tonnage thresholds are from the mine model grade-tonnage studies. As of June 2008, many entries were classified as significant under less strict rules.
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Deposit
MODEL NAME = HOT SPRINGS MERCURY (COX AND SINGER, 1986; MODEL 27A).
THE MARY MARGARET PROSPECT FORMED NEAR OR IN AN UNNAMED STRAND OF THE FAREWELL-DENALI FAULT SYSTEM (GILBERT, 1981).