Quadrangle map, 1:250,000-scale | MH |
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Quadrangle map, 1:63,360-scale | B-4 |
Latitude | 63.2915 |
Longitude | -145.8934 |
Nearby scientific data | Find additional scientific data near this location |
Location and accuracy | Surface placer workings extend for about 1.5 miles downstream from the junction of the North Fork and West Fork Rainy Creek (Rose, 1965). For this record the site is at their junction, in the SE1/4SE1/4 section 6, T. 19 S., R. 10 E., Fairbanks Meridian. This mine corresponds to locality S4 in table 3 of Nokleberg and others (1991). |
Geologic descriptionPlacer gold occurs in alluvial gravels probably derived in part from older glacial deposits (Rose, 1965; Cobb, 1973 [B 1374]). The bedrock in the drainage is part of the Slana Spur Formation of Pennsylvanian age and Upper Triassic ultramafic-mafic intrusions (Nokleberg and others, 1991). A U.S. Bureau of Mines placer concentrate sample assayed 7.324 ounces of gold per ton, 0.06 ounce of palladium per ton, and 0.207 ounce of platinum per ton (Foley and others, 1990). | |
Geologic map unit | (-145.895655578416, 63.2910826574616) |
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Mineral deposit model | Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a). |
Mineral deposit model number | 39a |
Age of mineralization | Holocene. |
Workings or exploration |
Surface placer workings extend for about 1.5 miles downstream from the junction of the North and West Forks Rainy Creek (Rose, 1965). A U.S. Bureau of Mines placer concentrate sample assayed 7.324 ounces of gold, 0.06 ounce of palladium per ton, and 0.207 ounce of platinum per ton (Foley and others, 1989). The occurrence is on active placer claims. |
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Indication of production | Yes; medium |
Production notes | Placers were worked sporadically from 1900 to at least 1930 and since the early 1990s. Placer mining was first reported in Wilder Creek (later known as Rainy Creek) by Mendenhall and Schrader (1903). In 1901, 20 to 30 miners began sluicing in the new district, but results were unsatisfactory and the field was abandoned (Mendenhall, 1905). Rose (1965) reported that at least some of the gold occurs in a sticky orange-brown (glacial) clay that would not break down easily and that large boulders also cause difficulties. |
MRDS Number | A011789 |
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References | |
Reporters | W.T. Ellis (Alaska Earth Science), C.C. Hawley (Hawley Resource Group), and W.J. Nokleberg (USGS) |
Last report date | 6/7/2002 |