1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF)

Slate Creek

Mine, Probably inactive

Map
KML
XML
GeoJSON

Commodities and mineralogy

Main commodities Au
Ore minerals arsenopyrite; gold; pyrite

Geographic location

Quadrangle map, 1:250,000-scale NM
Quadrangle map, 1:63,360-scale C-2
Latitude 64.7421
Longitude -165.6219
Nearby scientific data Find additional scientific data near this location
Location and accuracy Slate Creek is a west tributary to Cripple River near its head. The mouth of Slate Creek is about 6 miles upstream from where the Nome-Teller road crosses Cripple River. Slate Creek has been mined for placer gold on a small scale about one-half mile above its confluence with Cripple River. The location is accurate within about 500 feet.

Geologic setting

Geologic description

The lower part of Slate Creek has been placer mined for gold on a small scale. Pans taken near the head of Slate Creek and on Cripple River 2,000 feet below the mouth of Slate Creek contained more than 10,000 ppm of gold. A stream sediment sample collected in Slate Creek above the placer mine workings contained 1,600 ppm arsenic (C.C. Hawley, unpublished data).
The upper part of Slate Creek flows through calc- and chloritic-schist. Near its mouth, Slate Creek crosses a fault and is within a graphitic quartz schist unit (C.C. Hawley, Cindy Buxton, and D.L. Olson, written communication, 1992). The fault strikes northeast; it continues southwest to the Oregon Camp area and is called the Charlie Creek fault by Bundtzen and others (1994). This fault is known to be locally mineralized with stibnite and probably small amounts of gold.
Geologic map unit (-165.62452333263, 64.7413351820761)
Mineral deposit model Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Mineral deposit model number 39a
Age of mineralization The placer gold deposits are Quaternary. The mineralization along the Charlie Creek fault is probably Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary (post-mid-Cretaceous regional metamorphism).

Production and reserves

Workings or exploration Small-scale placer workings are present on Slate Creek.
Indication of production Yes; small

References

References

Bundtzen, T.K., Reger, R.D., Laird, G.M., Pinney, D.S., Clautice, K.H., Liss, S.A., and Cruse, G.R., 1994, Progress report on the geology and mineral resources of the Nome mining district: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Public Data-File 94-39, 21 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.
Reporters C.C. Hawley and Travis L. Hudson
Last report date 3/12/2000