The Sweetcake 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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Sweetcake Creek MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Sweetcake Creek
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Location
State: Alaska
District: Council
Land Status
Not available
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Not available
Ownership
Not available
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past 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: Gold
Comments
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.
Comment (Production): Production Notes = It is reported that gold worth $36,000 (about 1,800 ounces) was recovered in 1898 from one claim (Collier and others, 1908) and total production from the creek is probably a few thousand ounces (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181).
Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The first placer mining in the Ophir Creek area occurred on Sweetcake Creek soon after gold was discovered here in 1898 (Collier and others, 1908). A stratigraphic section near the mouth of Sweetcake Creek included, from top to bottom: 5 feet of fine micaceous sand, 2 feet of gravel and sand, and 1 foot of angular schist, pay gravel on bedrock (Collier and others, 1908). The gravels of Sweetcake Creek contained abundant mineralized quartz and calcite fragments. It is reported that gold worth $36,000 (about 1,800 ounces) was recovered in 1898 from one claim (Collier and others, 1908) and total production from the creek is probably a few thousand ounces (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181). The lower part of Sweetcake Creek crosses a low bench as it nears Ophir Creek but early mining was on a narrow paystreak along the active drainage. Bedrock in the area is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Till and others, 1986).
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Small-scale surface mining took place before WW I over the lower mile of the creek.
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Collier and others, 1908
References
Reference (Deposit): Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.
Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic resources map of the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-445, scale 1:250,000.
Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-181, 185 p.
Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., Dumoulin, J.A., Gamble, B. ., Kaufman, D.S., and Carroll, P.I., 1986, Preliminary geologic map and fossil data, Soloman, Bendeleben, and southern Kotzebue quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-276, 10 p., 3 plates, scale 1:250,000.
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