Snettisham
Snettisham
The Snettisham iron deposits were known before the turn of the century
when the Crystal and Friday mines were in operation. In 1918, four or five
tons of solid titaniferous magnetite were taken from near the old Snettisham
post office, shipped to Douglas for analysis, and found to contain 4-5%
titanium. Robert Coughlin and W. Pekovich staked the Michele and Suzanne
claim groups on the deposit in 1950. In 1953, the Bureau of Mines drilled
6,543 ft of diamond drill holes in the property and defined a mineralized zone
9,500-ft long, 2,300-ft wide and 475-ft thick (Thorne and Wells, 1956) with
reserves of 400 to 500 million tons of 18-20% Fe, 2% TiO2, 0.7% V2 05,
and 0.0027 oz/st Pt group metals (Cobb, 1978b). The Marcona Corp. conducted
extensive exploration of the deposit in 1969 (Carnes, 1981).
The Snettisham deposit is in a pyroxenite pluton that has intruded
phyllite. The northwestern portion of the pluton is composed of pyroxenite
and hosts the magnetite deposits. Magnetite is generally disseminated but
also occurs in local concentrations. Small amounts of pyrrhotite,
chalcopyrite and ilmenite are found with the magnetite and traces of silver
have been noted (Thorne and Wells, 1956).
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