Ptarmigan Creek

The Ptarmigan 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: Ptarmigan Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold

Location

State: Alaska
District: Bristol Bay

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

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Not applicable

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Cobb (1976) indicates that the location of the creek is not given, and because no other mention of the creek occurs, the report is suspect.

Comment (Geology): Age = The placer gold is Quaternary, the source of gold could come from a variety of rocks with diverse ages.

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

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Unknown

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Brooks (1913) reported encouraging placer gold results from benches along Ptarmingan Creek. Ptarmigan Creek drains a diverse group of rocks: sedimentary rocks (unit KJs), volcanic rocks (unit Tv), plutonic rocks (unit TKi6), and the Chilikadrotna Greenstone. The Chilikadrotna Greenstone is a Late Silurian unit of weakly metamorphosed basalt, andesite, chert, limestone, and tuffaceous sedimentary rocks. Fossils from a limestone lens in the Chilikadrotna Greenstone suggest an early Late Silurian age (Bundtzen and others, 1979). Nelson and others (1983) described the unit KJs as interbedded lithic graywacke, silty sandstone, black shale , and local conglomerate. Irregular quartz segregations and veinlets are locally present. Small diorite bodies (unit TKi6) intrude these sedimentary rocks. One diorite pluton yielded a potassium-argon age on hornblende of 69.4 +/- 2.1 m.y. (Eakins and others, 1978) Adjacent to some of the larger igneous bodies are narrow contact aureoles of pelitic hornfels. Unit Tv includes: rhyolitic breccia, ash-flow tuff, flows, and intrusive rocks and subordinate mafic to intermediate flows. Potassium-argon ages for unit Tv range from 56.2 to 62.7 m.y. indicating a Tertiary age for these rocks (Eakins and others, 1978).

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves = No reserves

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Brooks, 1913

Comment (Production): Production Notes = No production

References

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Reed, B.L., 1981, Summaries of data on and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral occurrences in the Iliamna, Lake Clark, Lime Hills, and McGrath quadrangles, Alaska - Supplement to Open-File Report 76-485: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 81-1343-A, 25 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1913, Mineral resources of Alaska, report on progress of investigations in 1912: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 542, 308 p.

Reference (Deposit): Eakins, G.R., Gilbert W.G., and Buntzen, T.K., 1978, Preliminary bedrock geology and mineral resource potential of west-central Lake Clark quadrangle, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Open-File Report 118, 15 p.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Gilbert, W.G., and Blodgett, R.B., 1979, The Chilikadrotna Greenstone, an Upper Silerian Metavolcanic sequence in the central Lake Clark quadrangle, Alaska, in Short notes on Alaskan geology - 1978: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Geological Report 61.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Iliamna, Lake Clark, Lime Hills, and McGrath quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-485, 101 p.

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