Ready Cash Prospect, Valdez Creek Mining District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Ready Cash Prospect	Prospect
Valdez Creek Mining District	Mining District
Matanuska-Susitna Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The Ready Cash prospect is at an elevation of about 2,700 feet on Canyon Creek, a northern tributary to Ohio Creek. The map site is in the SW1/4 of sec. 28, T. 20 S., R. 12 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. This is locality 21 of Cobb (1978: OFR 78-1062).
Geology: The country rocks in the area of the Ready Cash prospect consist of several hundred meters of Upper Triassic interbedded limestone, marble, basalt, metachert, and argillite. The strata are intruded by quartz diorite porphyry dikes of probable Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary age, and by Tertiary tourmaline-bearing granite. The Ready Cash prospect consists of quartz-calcite-sulfide veins, and pods of skarn. The ore minerals consist chiefly of arsenopyrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite, accompanied by minor amounts of tetrahedrite, tennantite, argentite, and cassiterite. The skarn consists of pyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite in a matrix of calc-silicate minerals and sparse quartz. The deposit can be subdivided into: a) copper-rich pods of skarn having grades of 0.5 to 0.9% copper (Hawley and Clark, 1974); b) arsenopyrite-quartz veins, containing 0.08 ounce of gold per ton, 1.06 ounce of silver per ton, and 0.33% copper; and c) high silver-lead-tin veins containing up to 20.8 ounces of silver per ton, 4.0% lead, and 0.5% tin (Hawley and others, 1978). The several types of deposits may be related to two or more magmatic events in the area. The deposit at the Ready Cash prospect is more or less continuous with the deposit at the Canyon Creek prospect (HE055), encompassing an area about 2.5 miles long and 1 mile wide.
Workings: Both surface and underground workings. Two tunnels, 170 feet and 75 long feet have been driven and there are several prospect pits. The deposit can be subdivided into: a) copper-rich pods of skarn having grades of 0.5 to 0.9% copper (Hawley and Clark, 1974); b) arsenopyrite-quartz veins, containing 0.08 ounce of gold per ton, 1.06 ounce of silver per ton, and 0.33% copper; and c) high silver-lead-tin veins containing up to 20.8 ounces of silver per ton, 4.0% lead, and 0.5% tin (Hawley and others, 1978).
Age: Probably Late Cretaceous and (or) younger.
Alteration: There probably have been multiple alteration events; including skarn formation and silicification.
Reserves: The two principal silver-rich veins on the prospect contain approximately 200,000 tons of ore carrying 10 to 20 ounces of silver per ton and 0.5% tin (C. Hawley, personal communication, 1999). This estimate does not include the skarn deposits.

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, Sn, Zn; (Minor) - Sb
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Cu skarn and younger Ag-Pb-Sn veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; models 18b, 15b)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	HE057

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References