Clara Creek Platinum-Gold Placer Mine

Site Name

Primary: Clara Creek Platinum-Gold Placer Mine
Secondary: Claims: 4a-1a
Secondary: Discovery
Secondary: 1b
Secondary: 2b
Secondary: Susie Bench

---

Commodity

Primary: PGE
Secondary: Gold
Tertiary: Chromium

---

Location

State: Alaska

---

Land Status

Not available

---

Holdings

Not available

---

Workings

Type: Surface

---

Ownership

Not available

---

Production

Not available

---

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1928
Year Last Production: 1940
Discovery Year: 1928
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

---

Physiography

Not available

---

Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

---

Orebody

Not available

---

Structure

Not available

---

Alterations

Not available

---

Rocks

Name: Gravel
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Holocene

---

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: UP TO 0.08 OZ/CY PGM MINED DURING EARLY OPERATIONS, AVERAGE WAS 0.02 OZ/CY PGM. GRADE OF PGM IS 88.61% PT, 6.05% IR, 0.97 OS, 0.09% RU, 1.01% RH, 0.40% PD, 2.87% AU FROM USGS P 938, P. 27, TABLE 19.

---

Materials

Gangue: Ilmenite
Unknown: Chromite

---

Comments

Comment (Workings): PAYSTREAK MINED BY 100-150 FT. WIDE CUTS ON BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH SIDE, FOR A DISTANCE OF AT LEAST 1 MI. UPSTREAM FROM DISCOVERY CLAIM. MINED BY DRAGLINE EXCAVATOR AND SLUICING METHODS, WITH TWO SMALL DAMS DOWNSTREAM TO SUPPLY WATER FOR SLUICING.

Comment (Deposit): PLACER CONSISTS OF 10-12 FT. OF OVERBURDEN, WITH UPPER 2-3 FT. CONSISTING OF TURF, PEAT, MOSSY MATERIAL, AND SAND. UNDERLYING GRAVEL IS SUBANGULAR, 3-4 IN. IN DIAMETER, WITH LARGE COBBLES AND GLACIAL ERRATIC BOULDERS 3-4 FT. IN DIAMETER IN UPPER GRAVEL HORIZONS. MOST PLATINUM METALS FOUND IN GRAVELS CLOSE TO BEDROCK, BUT SOMETIMES 2-3 FT. OF FRACTURED BEDROCK AS WELL AS UPPER GRAVEL HORIZONS CONTAINED PLATINUM. PAYSTREAK EXTENDED FROM ULTRABASIC-SEDIMENTARY CONTACT NEAR HEAD OF CREEK DOWNSTREAM PROBABLY TO THE SALMON RIVER, A DISTANCE OF 1.5 MILES. MINING OPERATIONS COVERED AT LEAST 1 MI. ON DISCOVERY, 1A, 2A, AND 3A CLAIMS, POSSIBLY FURTHER DOWNSTREAM. WIDTH OF PAYSTREAK WAS 200-250 FT.

Comment (Location): USGS MF-362, LOC. 10. LOCATION IS AT MOUTH OF CLARA CREEK; PLACER EXTENDS 1.5 MI UPSTREAM TO HEAD OF CLARA CREEK, ALONG CLAIMS 2B, 1B, DISCOVERY, 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A LAND STATUS VALUE CALCULATED 6-94 USING GIS OVERLAY ANALYSIS WITH BLM 1:2,500,000 SCALE OWNERSHIP STATUS MAP (1991). 1:250000 QUADRANGLE IS A 1957 VERSION.

Comment (Development): 7 PLACER CLAIMS ESTABLISHED IN 1936 BY CLARA CREEK MINING CO., WITH MINING BY DRAGLINE EXCAVATOR AND SLUICE METHODS FROM 1936-1940, UNTIL PAYSTREAK WAS MINED OUT. PROPERTY ACQUIRED IN 1940 BY GOODNEWS BAY MINING CO.

Comment (Deposit): THIS SITE NAME WAS CREATED BY THE REPORTER OR OTHER USGS EMPLOYEE BASED ON PROXIMITY TO SOME MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC FEATURE.

Comment (Geology): GRAVEL OF LOCAL AND GLACIOFLUVIAL ORIGIN, SUBANGULAR, AVERAGING 3-4 IN. IN DIAMETER ; MAJOR.UNITS: BEDROCK CONSISTS OF UPPER PALEOZOIC (?) SHEARED CHERT, QUARTZITE, GRAYWACKE, TUFFACEOUS ROCKS, AND CHLORITIC SILICEOUS SCHIST. ; REG.COM: SOURCE OF PLATINUM METALS IS PROBABLY DUNITE OF GOODNEWS BAY ULTRAMAFIC COMPLEX AT HEAD OF CREEK.

Comment (Deposit): STREAM GRADIENT IS 200 FT./MI.; AREA OF DRAINAGE IS 1.5 SQ. MI.. PLACER HAS BEEN FAIRLY THROUGHLY MINED OUT. TRIBUTARY OF SALMON RIVER. PLACER GOLD IS AN ALIEN MINERAL INTRODUCED BY GLACIATION. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Comment (Commodity): CONSIDERABLE CHROMITE AND MAGNETITE, SOME INTERGROWN WITH PGM, IN CONCENTRATES

---

References

Reference (Deposit): USGS MF-362, LOC. 10 (1972)

Reference (Deposit): USGS OF 80-909, P. 16 (1980)

Reference (Deposit): USGS P 630, P. 77, 85-86 (1969)

Reference (Deposit): USGS P 938, P. 4, 5, 24, 25 (1976)

Reference (Deposit): USGS B 910-B, P. 118, 119, 128-131 (1939)

Reference (Deposit): USBM OFR 51-86, P. 2, 7 (1986)

Reference (Other Database): BAG-MF-362-10

---

The Top Ten Gold Producing States

These ten states contributed the most to the gold production that built the West from 1848 through the 1930s. The Top Ten Gold Producing States.