The Rock Creek (bench placer) 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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Rock Creek (bench placer) MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Rock Creek (bench placer)
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tungsten
Secondary: Silver
Location
State: Alaska
District: Nome
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: Scheelite
Ore: Gold
Comments
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = An elevated alluvial (bench) placer is partly preserved west of Rock Creek on the south part of Arsenic Hill. The base of the channel is at an elevation of about 220 feet, or about 20 feet higher than the base of the alluvium in modern Rock Creek to the east. At the time of the formation of the elevated channel, an ancestral Rock Creek left the modern drainage and flowed southwest and then west-southwest. It can be traced for about 700 feet to a linear swale developed along the Brynteson fault; possibly the channel turned more southerly at that point. The channel ranges from about 100 to 120 feet across. Its southeast limit above Rock Creek was mined hydraulically in a pit that was about 120 feet long. The rest of the channel was developed from a series of at least six shallow shafts, which probably follow the deepest part of the channel. The channel is subparallel to the Arsenic Gulch fault, a strong fault that may have partly controlled the course of the old channel (Kennecott Exploration Company, unpublished data). The fault nearly coincides with the north limit of the channel where it leaves modern Rock Creek. Probably only a small amount of gold was recovered from the area of the shafts. This part of the channel may be the location of the small reserve suitable for dragline mining that was noted by Metcalfe and Tuck (1942).
Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The elevated channel was mined hydraulically and from shallow underground workings, probably before 1920.
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = This report
Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves = A small reserve is probably present.
Comment (Geology): Age = Pleistocene.
References
Reference (Deposit): Metcalfe, J.B., and Tuck, Ralph, 1942, Placer gold deposits of the Nome district, Alaska: Report for U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Co., 175 p.
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