Cinnabar Creek placer

The Cinnabar Creek placer is a mercury 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: Cinnabar Creek placer

Commodity

Primary: Mercury
Secondary: Antimony

Location

State: Alaska
District: Aniak

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

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

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

Not available

Materials

Ore: Cinnabar
Ore: Stibnite
Gangue: Quartz

Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves = It is possible that much of this deposit is still in place. If the deposit is 4,000 feet long, 25 feet wide, 5 feet thick, and averages 0.4 pounds of Hg per cubic yard, then the contained resource is about 2,200 pouinds of mercury.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Rutledge, 1950

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Russell Schaeffer and Harvey Winchell found this placer cinnabar deposit in 1941, the year they staked placer claims on Cinnabar Creek, Cinnabar Run, and Cinnabar Gulch (Rutledge, 1950, p. 3). The deposit was subsequently explored by dozer cuts in its upper part and by many test pits. The alluvium in the drainage is only about 100 to 150 feet wide, and in places the paystreak is only about 25 feet wide. The paystreak is at least 3,100 feet long. It is covered by up to 18 feet of colluvium/alluvium in Cinnabar Gulch and by about 7 feet of alluvial gravel along Cinnabar Run and Cinnabar Creek. Although Cady and others (1955) reported that the paystreak was only about 2 to 6 inches thick, test pits indicate that the minable section commonly is 5 feet thick and in the upstream part of the deposit, up to 14 feet thick (Rutledge, 1950, fig. 7). The placer contains many coarse nuggets to fist size of finely crystalline cinnabar, and many nuggets of cinnabar intergrown with quartz, stibnite, and breccia fragments of siltstone. The nuggets are angular in Cinnabar Gulch and well-rounded downstream along Cinnabar Run. Data from 14 test pits, mostly along Cinnabar Run, show that the paystreak is continuous, although locally narrow, and contains 0.21 to 0.84 percent Hg over mining sections varying from 5 to 14 feet thick (Rutledge, 1950, fig. 7). A few nuggets were obtained from a remnant bench placer deposit 40 feet above the Cinnabar Run flood plain.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Many test pits and some dozer trenches, including one 390 feet long and up to 18 feet deep excavated by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, have explored this placer deposit.

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial placer cinnabar

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Production from this placer deposit has not been reported; it is not clear if mining has taken place (Sainsbury and MacKevett, 1965, p. 42).

References

Reference (Deposit): Cady, W.M., Wallace, R.E., Hoare, J.M., and Webber, E.J., 1955, The central Kuskokwim region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 268, 132 p.

Reference (Deposit): Rutledge, F.A., 1950, Investigation of mercury deposits, Cinnabar Creek area, Georgetown and Akiak districts, Kuskokwim region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4719, 9 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Dillingham, Sleetmute, and Taylor Mountains quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-606, 92 p.

Reference (Deposit): Sainsbury, C.L. and MacKevett, E.M., Jr., 1965, Quicksilver deposits of southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1187, 89 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Dillingham, Sleetmute, and Taylor Mountain quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-606, 92 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Taylor Mountains quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-384, scale 1:250,000.

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