Epithermal vein and porphyry-related gold-silver deposits in the Mount Nansen area are mainly hosted in Paleozoic Yukon-Tanana Terrane metasedimentary rocks and Early Jurassic Big Creek Batholith intrusive rocks. Mineralization is spatially, and probably temporally, related to a northwest-trending belt of mid-Cretaceous hypabyssal felsic intrusions and dykes along the Mount Nansen Trend. The proximal relationship between the veins and mid-Cretaceous intrusive rocks suggests that mineralization may be genetically related to felsic magmatism. The Dickson stock yields a U-Pb zircon age of 108.3 ± 0.7 Ma, and proximal dykes in the Flex, Dickson, Brown-McDade and Weber zones give ages of 107.9 ± 0.9 Ma to 109.0 ± 0.7 Ma, similar to the age of the Mount Nansen Group volcanic rocks. Granodiorite that hosts the Dickson deposit gives a U-Pb titanite age of 191.5 ± 2.9 Ma, and is likely part of the Big Creek Batholith. Previous studies indicated two periods of mineralization in the Dawson Range: mid-Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous. Dating indicates that Mount Nansen mineralization is associated with the mid-Cretaceous emplacement of the high-level felsic intrusions.

Quantitative mineralogy, U-Pb geochronology of zircon and monazite, 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of muscovite and sericite, and Pb isotopes from galena in veins and feldspar in plutons provide insight into the age of metamorphism, mineralization, intrusion emplacement and the sources of metals at the Plateau South (MINFILE 105N 034, 035, 036) occurrences in central Yukon. Orogenic mineralization and metamorphism is ca. 110 Ma to 100 Ma, and possibly as old as ca. 130 Ma. Following deformation and regional metamorphism, two biotite-muscovite plutons, the Russell stock and Armstrong pluton, were emplaced at 95.39 ± 0.03 Ma and 95.51 ± 0.03 Ma, respectively. These plutons are here reassigned to the Tungsten suite based on mineralogy, chemistry and age. Coeval with these plutons are contact metamorphism and possibly intrusion-related mineralization. Lead isotopic data from galena cluster into two groups: Group 1 is enriched in thorogenic Pb with 206Pb/204Pb values between 18.31 and 18.14, 207Pb/204Pb between 15.62 and 15.55 and 208Pb/204Pb between 38.77 and 38.30. Group 2 is isotopically evolved with 206Pb/204Pb values between 19.13 nd 18.91, 207Pb/204Pb between 15.78 and 15.63 and 208Pb/204Pb between 39.24 and 39.07. We suggest that late Early Cretaceous mineralization is related to large-scale orogenic fluids that tapped primitive (deep?) metal sources and early Late Cretaceous mineralization, coeval with local intrusions, sourced isotopically distinct metals from the intrusions. Alternatively, all mineralization could relate to Early Cretaceous orogenic fluids but with heterogeneous, locally derived metal sources and thermal resetting of Ar ages near the intrusions.

We present new field and U-Pb analytical data from the Sonora Gulch Project that demonstrate a protracted history of polymetallic mineralization (Au-Ag-Cu-Zn ± Mo) associated with several pulses of Cretaceous magmatism. Recent exploration on the Sonora Gulch Project has highlighted the presence of two important mineralized zones: the Nightmusic zone, a mesothermal Au-enriched base metal skarn, and the Amadeus zone, an epithermal Au-Ag system. Four U-Pb age dates determined from each of two feldspar porphyry dykes (ca. 74 Ma), a weakly mineralized quartz porphyry stock (ca. 75 Ma) within the Nightmusic zone and the Au-Ag mineralized Amadeus stock (ca. 75 Ma), demonstrate the widespread occurrence of Late Cretaceous magmatism. The age determinations indicate that mineralization occurring within the Sonora Gulch project area are temporally equivalent to the Casino Cu-Au-Mo deposit, located roughly 40 km to the west-northwest. These new data extend the currently known eastern limit of Late Cretaceous magmatism and associated mineralization.

We report U-Pb zircon geochronology results for one metavolcanic and one metaplutonic rock sample from the Mount Hayes A-6 Quadrangle of central Alaska. These samples are representative of rock units assigned to the Clearwater terrane of Jones and others (1987), a sequence of greenschist-grade metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of poorly constrained age and tectonic origin. Our results indicate a crystallization age of 277.33 +/- 11.84 Ma for a felsic metavolcanic rock, and a 268.05 +/- 11.64 Ma crystallization age for a granitic metaplutonic unit intruding the former.

U-Pb analyses were performed on igneous rocks from the Ray Mountains area of west-central Alaska. These new age analyses will allow us to better evaluate the geochronology of the granitic rocks that are the apparent source of the alluvial REE and tin resources. The plutonic samples have ages ranging from 98.0 +/- 0.9 Ma to 111.6 +/- 1.0 Ma. The sample location coordinates and analytical data tables associated with this report are available in digital format as comma-separated value (CSV) files.

The Reid Lakes batholith (RLB) in southwestern McQuesten map area (115P) has previously been tentatively assigned a mid-Cretaceous age, although two K-Ar ages from the northwestern part of the batholith indicated that at least part of the body must be late Paleozoic or older. U-Pb dating of two lithologically distinct samples from the southeastern part of the RLB yields Early Mississippian crystallization ages (341.5 ± 0.7 Ma and 355.7 ± 0.9 Ma). A sample of the Moose Creek pluton, which is on the northeast side of the Tintina fault zone, but was previously interpreted to be part of the RLB, yielded a U-Pb age of 92.0 ± 0.3 Ma. The Moose Creek pluton is therefore correlated with the mainly 95-93 Ma South Lansing plutonic suite which intrudes rock units of Ancestral North America, whereas the RLB is a multi-phase, Early Mississippian intrusion into metamorphic rocks of the Yukon-Tanana terrane.

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The Mount Freegold district is an ideal natural laboratory to evaluate the structural and magmatic framework for porphyry, skarn and epithermal mineralization in the Dawson Range. The district is located within a major extensional relay zone of the Big Creek fault system, a regionally significant dextral strike-slip structure in which localized extension facilitated the emplacement of mid to Late Cretaceous magmatic rocks. New mapping defines a previously unrecognized granite pluton at Mount Freegold, as well as the ca. 77 Ma Stoddart pluton, which represents the magmatic roots of hypabyssal intrusive rocks at the Revenue Cu-Mo-Au-Ag deposit and Nucleus Au-Ag-Cu deposit. The relay zone in the Big Creek fault system is partly plugged by the ca. 70 Ma Seymour Creek stock, which is cut by a southern strand of the fault system. Episodic fault movement took place over a minimum 35 m.y. interval during which at least three distinct epochs of magmatic-hydrothermal mineralization occurred.

Six dikes that are closely associated with the Klaza epithermal vein system in the Mt. Nansen district yield early Late Cretaceous U-Pb zircon ages (78.2-76.3 Ma); this age is similar to that obtained from the porphyry stock that hosts the Cyprus Cu-Mo-Au porphyry occurrence immediately to the southeast. These results support the interpretation that epithermal veins in the Mt. Nansen district are likely genetically related to subvolcanic magmatism. Granodiorite of the Dawson Range batholith that underlies most of the Klaza property gives a U-Pb zircon age of 107.9±0.3 Ma. These dates overlap with previously reported mid-Cretaceous U-Pb zircon ages for felsic dikes associated with the Brown-McDade and related vein and breccia deposits in the Mt. Nansen mine. The new results, together with regional dating and Pb isotopic data from western Yukon, emphasize the metallogenic importance of the “early Late Cretaceous” magmatic-hydrothermal event in this region.