Camp Six; Huff's Prospect; Nelson Glacier; Whistlepig Prospects, Petersburg Mining District, Wrangell City and Bourough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Camp Six; Huff's Prospect; Nelson Glacier; Whistlepig Prospects	Group of Prospects
Petersburg Mining District	Mining District
Wrangell City and Bourough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

'Camp Six' was the name used for the exploration camp that was active in the late 1970's on the ridge about a mile southwest of Peak 4362 ; in descriptions of the exploration drilling, the property was often referred to as the Nelson Glacier prospect. The name 'Whistlepig' is a name commonly given to this prospect in 1998. Huff's Prospect is the name of the prospect and adit high on the wall of the prominent cirque at the northeast end of Groundhog Basin creek. The prospect is at an elevation of about 3600 feet in about the center of the west half of sec. 7, T. 62 S., R. 85 E.; it was found by Bill Huff, a prospector, probably in the 1970's.
Location: The coordinates are for the approximate center of a two-square-mile area of molybdenum prospects and drill sites that extends from near the junction of Groundhog Basin with Porterfield Creek, to the vicinity of Peak 4362, and then continues some uncertain distance under Nelson Glacier.
Geology: The country rocks in the area of the prospects include Tertiary to Cretaceous biotite schist, biotite-garnet-quartz schist, quartzofeldspathic gneiss, and minor marble and calcsilicate gneiss (Brew, 1997 [OF 97-156-H]). The schist and paragneiss are intruded by a swarm of variously oriented rhyolite sills and dikes up to several hundred feet thick. Unpublished K-Ar radiometric dates on samples collected by an exploration company in the 1980's indicate that the rhyolite is no older than 20 m.y. Locally, the rhyolite displays prominent igneous brecciation. A few quartz veins are also present. and a large Cretaceous tonalite pluton that intrudes the metamorphic section to the east. The deposits may also be genetically related to a 15-17 Ma zinnwaldite 'tin' granite plug at the north end of the site (Newberry and Brew, 1989). The area also is transected by the Coast Range megalineament, a prominent northwest-trending topographic depression that has been traced for the length of southeastern Alaska. Almost no information has been published on the Mo exploration in this area and this description is largely pieced together from informal discussions with a number of involved parties. At least two major companies and a number of individual prospectors have explored the area. A mineral subsidiary of a large oil company established a large camp in the late 70's on the ridge about a mile southwest of Peak 4362 and drilled a number of holes in the vicinity, some through the ice of Nelson Glacier. AMAX Exploration had a camp for several years in the mid-80's near the mouth of Groundhog Basin creek and drilled a number of deep diamond drill holes stretching from the vicinity of that camp (in about the center of section 1, T. 62 S, R. 86 E.) to at least the prominent cirque at the head of Groundhog Basin Creek (in section 7); this included several holes on the east side of Groundhog Basin creek among the base-metal 'ore beds' of the Groundhog Basin deposit (see PE040). A block of 295 claims was staked in 1963 (U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1980) and much or all of the area was probably covered by claims well into the 1980's . There has been little or no drilling in the area since the mid-80's. Some claims are probably still active in 1998 and there has been occasional prospecting by various companies and individual prospectors to the present (1998). Despite extensive exploration for molybdenite, and the widespread felsic dikes and sills, apparently little molybdenite has been found at the surface in the prospect area. An exception is at 'Huff's Adit,' at an elevation of about 3,500 feet on the wall of the cirque at the head of Groundhog Basin creek, where molybdenite can be found on the dump. Fluorite and topaz are not uncommon throughout the area, but rarely are present in quantity. Apparently the model for the exploration programs was to test for a deep molybdenum orebody; many of the drill holes reportedly were very deep.
Workings: Almost no information has been published on the Mo exploration in this area and this description is largely pieced together from informal discussions with a number of involved parties. At least two major companies and a number of individual prospectors have explored the area. A mineral subsidiary of a large oil company established a large camp in the late 70's on the ridge about a mile southwest of Peak 4362 and drilled a number of holes in the vicinity, some through the ice of Nelson Glacier. AMAX Exploration had a camp for several years in the mid-80's near the mouth of Groundhog Basin creek and drilled a number of deep diamond drill holes stretching from the vicinity of that camp (in about the center of section 1, T. 62 S, R. 86 E.) to at least the prominent cirque at the head of Groundhog Basin Creek (in section 7); this included several holes on the east side of Groundhog Basin creek among the base-metal 'ore beds' of the Groundhog Basin deposit (see PE040). A block of 295 claims was staked in 1963 (U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1980). There has been little or no drilling in the area since the mid-80's. Some claims are probably still held in 1998 and there has been occasional prospecting by various companies and individual prospectors to the present (1998).
Age: 15-20 Ma (see geologic description).
Production: None

Commodities (Major) - Mo
Development Status: No
Deposit Model: Climax Mo? (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 16)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	PE043

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References