Porcupine Creek

The Porcupine Creek is a gold mine located in Alaska.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

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Site Name

Primary: Porcupine Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tin
Secondary: Tungsten

Location

State: Alaska
District: Circle

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Cassiterite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Scheelite

Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Menzie and others, 1983.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was discovered in the 1890's but mining was intermittent and on a small scale until the 1930's. Hydraulic operations began in 1932 and a drag-line excavator was used to handle the tailings. Some mining occurred in the late 1950's and (or) early 1960's. Two operations were active in 1975 and activity was reported in 1980 and 1981 (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 50). Placer operations by Mack Rite and Harold Dunham were conducted in 1991 (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 32). Paul and Company conducted various actvities in 1992, including stripping, exploration, sluicing and reclamation (Swainbank and others, 1992). Paul and Company continued mining in 1993 and 1994. In 1994, they mined approximately 85,000 cubic yards (Swainbank and others, 1994, p. 28).

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Yields were from 0.01 to 0.0125 ounces per cubic yard (Yeend, 1991).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Bedrock underlying Porcupine Creek is the Lower Schist unit described by Wiltse and others (1995) as a slightly calcareous quartz-muscovite schist, porphyroblastic-albite-quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist, and lesser amounts of quartzose porphyroblastic-albite-chlorite schist and chlorite schist.? Placers mined in 1936 consisted of about 13 feet of gravel overlain by about 2 feet of muck. Gravel being mined in the 1980's was 3 to 8 meters thick with a paystreak 30 to 70 meters wide. The gravel is composed mostly of bedrock material. Most pebbles do not exceed a foot in diameter; however, some boulders as large as 3 feet in diameter have been recovered in mining operations. Gold is found mainly on and in bedrock and is coarse, ragged and shotty (Mertie, 1938). Numerous nuggets, some up to 2 to 3 ounces, have been found, but these had considerable amounts of attached quartz (Mertie, 1938). A four ounce nugget was recently recovered, and an 8 and one half ounce nugget was reported recently that is the largest nugget known from the area (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 50). Weighted mean of gold mined in 1934 and 1935 shows a fineness of 822 Au and 172 Ag (Mertie, 1938). Along with the gold, cassiterite and scheelite also can be found (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 50). ? Placer gold was discovered in the 1890's but mining was intermittent and on a small scale until the 1930's. Hydraulic operations began in 1932 and a drag-line excavator was used to handle the tailings. Some mining occurred in the late 1950's and (or) early 1960's. Two operations were active in 1975 and activity was reported in 1980 and 1981 (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 50). Placer operations by Mack Rite and Harold Dunham were conducted in 1991 (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 32). Paul and Company conducted various actvities in 1992, including stripping, exploration, sluicing and reclamation (Swainbank and others, 1992). Paul and Company continued mining in 1993 and 1994. In 1994, they mined approximately 85,000 cubic yards (Swainbank and others, 1994, p. 28).

References

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T. K., Swainbank, R. C., Wood, J. E., and Clough, A.H., 1991, Alaska's mineral industry 1991: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 46, 89 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S. 1939, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1937: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 910-A, p. 1-113.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1937, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1935: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 880-A, p. 1-95.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1938, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1936: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 897-A, p. 1-107.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1936, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1934: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 868-A, p. 1-91.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1938: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 917-A, p. 1-113.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Misc. Field Studies Map MF-391, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1973, Placer deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1374, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1933: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 864-A, p. 1-94.

Reference (Deposit): Spurr, J.E., 1898, Geology of the Yukon gold district, Alaska, with an introductory chapter on the history and conditions of the district to 1897 by H.B. Goodrich: U.S. Geological Survey 18th Annual Report, Part 3, p. 87-392.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1932: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 857-A, p. 1-91.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1937: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 910-A, p. 1-113.

Reference (Deposit): Swainbank, R.C., Bundtzen, T.K., Clough A.H., Henning, M.W., and Hansen E.W., 1994, Alaska's mineral industry 1994: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 49, 77 p.

Reference (Deposit): Yeend, W.E., 1991, Gold placers of the Circle district, Alaska - past, present, and future: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1943, 42 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1907, The Alaskan mining industry in 1906: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 314, p. 19-39.

Reference (Deposit): Swainbank, R.C., Robinson, M.S., and Clement, R.F., 1992, Map of selected mines, reserves, and resources in Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Public-Data File 92-16, 1 sheet, scale 1:2,500,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-633, 72 p.

Reference (Deposit): Menzie, W.D., Foster, H.L., Tripp, R.B., and Yeend, W.E., 1983, Mineral resource assessment of the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-170-B, 61 p., 1 sheet, 1:250,000.

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