Field Trips
Pre-conference Field Trips
Alaska Gold
Duration: 7 days
Leaders: Doug Kreiner and Erin Marsh
Dates Coming Soon
Beginning in Fairbanks and ending in Anchorage, this trip will include Fort Knox, Livengood, Shorty Creek, Pogo, Manh Choh, and the Valdez Creek placer. It will also highlight the critical minerals work that has been done in the upland and supported by the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative. Lastly, it would provide an overview of a number of different deposit types: 1) Paleocene porphyry Au(-Cu) (Shorty Creek), 2) Cretaceous intrusion related Au (Fort Knox, Livengood/Money Knob), 3) quartz-hosted Au (Pogo), 4) Late Cretaceous skarn Au related to a porphyry (Manh Choh), and 5) Placer Au related to orogenic Au veins at Valdez Creek.
Butte PORphyry SYstem
Duration: 5 days
Leaders: Eric Anderson, John Dilles, Kyle Eastman, Mark Reed, Chris Gammons, Karen Lund, Kaleb Scarberry
Dates Coming Soon
The world-class deposits of the Butte mining district, Montana have a long history of production leading to the area being referred to as the “Richest Hill on Earth.” The deep porphyry Cu-Mo deposits are overlain by shallow Cu-rich (Au-Ag-Pb-Mn-Zn bearing) zoned lode deposits
hosted in the Butte granite phase of the Boulder batholith. This 5-day field trip will explore the geology and mineral deposits that occur within and around the Boulder batholith. We will visit underground and open pit workings and observe mineralization and alteration in historic deep drill holes of the Butte district. This trip will compare the Butte mining district to other types of deposits associated with the batholith including skarn, carbonate replacement, stockwork, and lode vein deposits. In addition, we will discuss environmental issues associated with historical mining, and provide updates on current research and future directions for critical commodity production
Climax Porphyry Molybdenum
Duration: 1 day
Leaders: Mac Canby (Freeport McMoran)
*Note: High elevation (>3km above sea level)
Dates Coming Soon
The world-class molybdenum deposit at Climax has produced Mo concentrate intermittently for more than 100 years. The Climax deposit, which is genetically associated with Oligocene rhyolitic and granitic stocks, is a complex igneous hydrothermal system characterized by multiple intrusive and mineralizing events. The orebodies are composed of molybdenite stockwork veinlets that form dome-shaped masses centered on an intrusive stock. This trip will emphasize current knowledge of these deposits as well as mining history.
Post conference Field Trips
CripPle Creek Gold Mine, Colorado
Duration: 1 day
Leaders: Richard Pilco (Newmont Mining Co) and other Newmont Geologists
*Note: High elevation (>2.5km above sea level)
Dates Coming Soon
This trip will include an overview of the active mining area and deposit discussion with Newmont geologists at the core shed. Cripple Creek is a world class alkalic epithermal deposit and has produced more than 20 million ounces of gold (historical and modern production) from a diatreme complex. The Oligocene-aged volcanism hosts vein and disseminated-style mineralization extending to depths of more than 1,000 m from present-day surface.
San Juan Volcanic FIeld, Colorado
Duration: 5 days
Leaders: Mario Guzman, Doug Yager, Mary Doherty, Steve Enders
*Note: High elevation (>3km above sea level)
Dates Coming Soon
The San Juan Volcanic Field in Southwest CO provides an opportunity to compare several intermediate-sulfidation (IS) and high-sulfidation (HS) type epithermal mining districts, and porphyry, as well as various volcanic welded tuffs, lavas and caldera features. The trip will include visits to subeconomic Cu-Mo porphyry prospects, the world class Creede epithermal deposit, and the Summitville HS- epithermal deposit. The trip will focus on mineralization in a geologic context, but each site visited has legacy mining issues, and thus we will explore topics in volcanology, mining history and environmental stewardship.
Tops and Bottoms of Carlin-type hydrothermal systems
Duration: 5 day
Leaders: Mike Ressel and James Wise
Dates Coming Soon
This field trip focuses on three aspects of Eocene Carlin-type gold deposits in the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah, western United States: 1) recent discoveries of deep, high-grade deposits and overviews of some major deposits, 2) the shallow expressions of Carlin-type systems, and 3) the relationships of deposits to regional Eocene processes including arc magmatism and intrusion, sedimentary basin development, and extension. The links between these regional processes led to the unique metallogeny of this region.
Yellowstone Hydrothermal complex, Wyoming;
Duration: 5 days
Leaders: Jeff Hedenquist and Stuart Simmons
*Note: this is a combined SGA and SEG trip
*Note: HIgh elevation (>2km above sea level)
Dates Coming Soon
This tour will focus on the geology and geochemistry of the Yellowstone hot spot, volcanic and hydrothermal deposits. As the largest concentration of active geysers known globally, we will view active travertine deposits and about the dynamic geologic environment associated with one of the largest known calderas, 10,000 hydrothermal features including over 500 geysers, and highly active seismic zone.