Uranium-, thorium-, and rare-earth bearing rocks were found by a U.S. Geological Survey field party 15 miles northeast of Golovin, Alaska, in the southeastern Seward Peninsula (fig. 1) in June 1976. The mineralized areas occur in syenite and appear to be concentrated along the margins of alkaline dikes, with allanite tentatively identified as the principal mineral containing the uranium-, thorium-, and rare-earths. Samples contain as much as 0.15 percent U 3 0 8 and 1.05 percent Th0 2 , and over 2 percent rare-earth elements. These mineralized rocks are closely associated with alkaline dikes which are part of a dike swarm that crops out over at least 250 km 2 (100 mi 2 ). This large dike swarm is thus of considerable economic interest. These uranium-, thorium-, and rare-earth-rich rocks occur near the west end of the western Alaska uranium-thorium province (West, 1953; Clark and others, 1975; Miller, 3976) and were found during a regional investigation of this province by the Geological Survey. The alkaline dikes were known from previous mapping by the two senior authors (Miller and others, 1972) to be anomalously radioactive. The mineralized areas described in this report were found while making a brief study of (1) alteration and/or mineralization associated with these dikes and (2) their relation to similar dikes and rocks which occur elsewhere in the province (Miller, 1972).

Alaska↗

USGS1970

Reconnaissance geologic map, analyses of bedrock and stream sediment samples, and an aeromagnetic map of parts of the southern Alaska Range

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Open-File Report↗

USGS1969

Metalliferous deposits near Granite Mountain, eastern Seward Peninsula, Alaska

New deposits of lead, zinc, and silver were found in a large altered zone 18 miles long and 2 to 5 miles wide near Quartz Creek west of Granite Mountain in the eastern Seward Peninsula, Alaska. New deposits of molybdenum, bismuth, and silver were found associated with a previously reported occurrence of uranium, copper, lead, and zinc minerals in the upper Peace River drainage northeast of Granite Mountain. Both groups of deposits are associated spatially with felsic plutonic rocks and occur near the western edge of a late Mesozoic province of volcanic plutonic rocks. Both groups of deposits warrant further investigation as possible exploration target areas.

Circular↗

USGS1969