Description
In 2012, the State of Alaska established its Strategic and Critical Minerals (SCM) Assessment project, a State-funded Capital Improvement Project (CIP), to evaluate Alaska's statewide potential for SCM resources. The project is being implemented by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), and involves obtaining new airborne-geophysical, geological, and geochemical data. For decades, the Ray Mountains area of west-central Alaska has been explored for its potential mineral resources. To further assess the rare-earth-element (REE) potential of the State-selected and top-filed lands in the Ray Mountains area, mineral-resource geologists at DGGS carried out a helicopter-supported geological and geochemical resource assessment spanning the Beaver, Bettles, Livengood, and Tanana quadrangles. The results of this work highlighted anomalously high heavy-REE concentrations in panned concentrate samples from No Name Creek gravels, as well as variability of REE concentrations in the source plutons, specifically the Fort Hamlin Hills pluton. Consequently, the mineral-resource staff at DGGS undertook an additional resource assessment in the northern Fort Hamlin Hills area, part of the Bettles A-1 and A-6 quadrangles, from August 20 through 23, 2013, to augment the current geochemical data for the northern part of the Fort Hamlin Hills pluton (now designated the No Name pluton) and to better understand the petrogenesis of the granites and their contribution to the potential alluvial REE resource. The geochemistry dataset generated by this project is being released in digital format as .PDF and .CSV files. These files are available from the DGGS website at no charge.
Resources
| Name | Format | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Resource | Unknown | Open resource | |
| Web Resource | Unknown | Open resource | |
| ASCII tabular files | Unknown | CSDGM IMPORT ERROR: No digtinfo/formcont | Open resource |
| Web Resource | Unknown | Open resource |
Tags
- angayucham terrane
- base metals
- batholith
- bedrock
- bettles quadrangle
- cerium
- chlorite
- cretaceous
- critical minerals
- dalton highway
- dysprosium
- economic geology
- erbium
- europium
- exploration
- felsic
- fluorine
- fort hamlin hills
- fort hamlin hills pluton
- gadolinium
- geochemical data
- geochemical surveys
- geochemistry
- geology
- gneiss
- greisen
- heavy metals
- holmium
- hornfels
- igneous rocks
- iron
- lanthanide elements
- lanthanum
- lode
- lutetium
- major oxides
- mesozoic
- metals
- metamorphic rocks
- metavolcanic rocks
- mineral assessment
- mineral deposit
- mineral localities
- mineral resources
- minor oxides
- monazite
- neodymium
- no name creek
- no name creek pluton
- phanerozoic
- phosphorus
- placer
- praseodymium
- promethium
- quaternary
- rare earth elements
- ray mountains
- ray river
- ree
- resource assessment
- resources
- rhyolite
- rubidium
- ruby terrane
- samarium
- sample location
- scheelite
- schist
- silica
- silver
- strategic and critical minerals assessment project
- strategic minerals
- tertiary
- thallium
- thorium
- tin
- titanium
- tourmaline
- tozitna terrane
- trace elements
- trace geochemical
- trace metals