Totatlanika River

The Totatlanika River 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: Totatlanika River

Commodity

Primary: Gold

Location

State: Alaska
District: Bonnifield

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 (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Comment (Production): Production Notes = There is no record of the amount of production from mining that took place intermittently from 1905 to 1940 or from the recent activity in the 1980's and 1990's.

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary placer.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Maddren, 1918

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The discovery of placer gold in the Totatlanika valley took place at the mouth of McCuen Gulch in 1905 (Maddren, 1918, p. 387-388). Productive mining in the early 1900's took place in the middle of the basin between the head of Murphy Canyon and a point about half a mile above the mouth of Homestake Creek (Maddren, 1918, p. 388). Gold colors could be obtained at almost any point in the stream gravels along upper Totatlanika River from its junction with California Creek to a point above McCuen Gulch, a distance of about 20 miles (Maddren, 1918, p. 388). Gold has been found in gravel, on bedrock, and in bedrock crevices (Prindle, 1907). The gold varies from 828 to 863 fine (Glover, 1950). In the late 1980's and early 1990's, fine-grained gold was recovered by a modern placer mine (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34). Above and at the mouth of Homestake Creek, the Totatlanika River is underlain by the Keevy Peak Formation, which consists of quartz-sericite schist, quartzite, purple and green schist and slate, arkosic gritlike schist, marble, and calcareous schist. The river then flows through the Moose Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist, which consists of yellow quartz-orthoclase gneiss and schist. The remainder of the river is predominantly underlain by gray quartz-orthoclase gneiss and augen gneiss of the California Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist (Wahrhaftig, 1970 [GQ-810]).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Mining began in 1905 and continued intermittently until 1940 (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-662, p. 149]). In the late 1980's and early 1990's, fine-grained gold was recovered by a modern placer mine (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34).

References

Reference (Deposit): Maddren, A.G., 1918, Gold placers near the Nenana coal field: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 662, p. 363-402.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1938: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 917-A, p. 1-113.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Swainbank, R.C., Deagen, J.R., and Moore, J.L., 1991, Alaska's mineral industry 1990: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report SR 45, 100 p.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T. K., Swainbank, R. C., Wood, J. E., and Clough, A. H., 1991, Alaska's mineral industry 1991: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 46, 89 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1941, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1939: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 926-A, p. 1-106.

Reference (Deposit): Capps, S.R., 1912, The Bonnifield region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 501, 64 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1942, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1940: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 933-A, p. 1-102.

Reference (Deposit): Capps, S.R., 1924, Geology and mineral resources of the region traversed by the Alaska Railroad: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 755-C, p. 73-150.

Reference (Deposit): Wahrhaftig, Clyde, 1970, Geologic map of the Fairbanks A-4 quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ-810, 1 sheet, scale 1:63:360.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-662, 174 p.

Reference (Deposit): Moffit, F.H., 1933, Mining developments in the Tatlanika and Totatlanika basins: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 836-D, p. 339-345.

Reference (Deposit): Glover, A.E., 1950, Placer gold fineness: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 195-1, 38 p.

Reference (Deposit): Capps, S.R., 1911, Mineral resources of the Bonnifield region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480-H, p. 218-235.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H. and Capps, S.R., 1924, Mineral industry in Alaska, 1922: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 755, p. 1-56.

Reference (Deposit): Prindle, L.M., 1907, The Bonnifield and Kantishna regions, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 314-L, p. 205-226.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1911, The Mount McKinley region, Alaska, with descriptions of the igneous rocks and of the Bonnifield and Kantishna districts by L.M. Prindle: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 70, 234 p.

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