Monument Creek

Site Name

Primary: Monument Creek
Secondary: Poorman Bench

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tin
Secondary: Silver

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Nome

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Land Status

Not available

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

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

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Cassiterite
Ore: Gold

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Comments

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The placer deposit on Monument Creek was apparently discovered after the discovery of a rich, shallow bench, called the Poorman bench, on the north side of the creek. The pay streak on the bench was discovered in 1918 and mined immediately; it was about 40 feet wide, 4 feet thick, and below 6 feet of overburden. The pay gravels contained about 1.5 ounces of gold per cubic yard (Martin, 1920, p. 51; Cathcart, 1920, p. 188-190). The main period of mining in Monument Creek itself was from 1928 until 1940; a bucket line dredge mined in 1938-39 in the upper part of Monument Creek below the two upper forks. The upper north tributary to Monument Creek is auriferous; Kennecott Exploration Company (written communication, 1992) found 7 ppm of gold in a pan concentrate collected about one-half mile above the junction of the upper forks. Anderson (1947) reported cassiterite from Monument Creek. Anomalous amounts of tin are also present a few miles to the north in Sledge Creek (NM169). The proximity to the Nome coastal plain and the low elevation of the site (about 250 feet) suggest that Quaternary sea-level fluctuations could have influenced its development.? the source of placer gold in Monument Creek is unknown. Bedrock in the drainage includes metaturbidite schist inferred to be the oldest part of the Nome Group (Bundtzen and others, 1994). The Rodine fault, which is mineralized elsewhere (for example, at NM165), cuts across the head of Monument Creek.

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

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

Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive

Comment (Production): Production Notes = A few tens of thousands of ounces of gold may have been produced from Monument Creek.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Martin, 1920

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Gold was discovered in a shallow bench north of Monument Creek in about 1918 (Martin, 1920; Cathcart, 1920). The deposit was rich but small and quickly worked out. Monument Creek itself was worked continuously from 1928 to 1935 by mechanical methods and by a dredge in 1938-39. Production is unknown but is believed to be at least in the tens of thousands of ounces because of the long duration of moderate-scale mining. Activity was reported in 1928 (Smith, 1930, p. 39), 1929 (Smith, 1932, p. 44), 1930 (Smith, 1933 [B 836-A, p. 45-46]), 1931 (Smith, 1933 [B 844-A, p. 46]), 1932 (Smith, 1934 [B 857-A, p. 43]), 1933 (Smith, 1934 [B 869-A, p. 48]), 1934 (Smith, 1936, p. 49-50), and 1935 (Smith, 1937, p. 52). Mining activity is not reported for 1936-37, perhaps in anticipation of the dredge that was brought from the Casadepaga River in 1938. The dredged ground was worked out in 1939 (Smith, 1939, p. 63, 75-76, Smith, 1941, p. 59-60, 70).

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References

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1931: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 844-A, p. 1-82.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1930: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 836-A, p. 1-83.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1932, Mineral resources of Alaska in 1929: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 842-A, p. 1-81.

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

Reference (Deposit): Martin, G.C., 1920, The Alaska mining industry in 1918: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 712-A, p. 1-52.

Reference (Deposit): Cathcart, S.H., 1920, Mining in northwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 712, p. 185-198.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1930, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1928: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 813, p. 1-72.

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., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1932: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 857-A, p. 1-91.

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

Reference (Deposit): Anderson, Eskil, 1947, Mineral occurrences other than gold deposits in northwestern Alaska: Alaska Territorial Division of Mines Pamphlet 5-R, 48 p.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Reger, R.D., Laird, G.M., Pinney, D.S., Clautice, K.H., Liss, S.A., and Cruse, G.R., 1994, Progress report on the geology and mineral resources of the Nome mining district: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Public Data-File 94-39, 21 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1931: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 844-A, p. 1-82.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

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