Iron Creek

The Iron Creek is a tin 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: Iron Creek

Commodity

Primary: Tin

Location

State: Alaska
District: Port Clarence

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: Alluvial placer Sn

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Cassiterite

Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Heide and Rutledge, 1949; Mulligan, 1965 (USBM RI 6587)

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves = One small area (200 x 600 feet in area and 5 feet thick), averages about 0.6 pounds of tin per cubic yard (Heide and rutledge, 1949, p. 15; Mulligan, 1965, p. 24).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = About 1,500 feet of the headwater reach has been hand mined; the pay streak was 4 to 5 feet thick and 15 to 20 feet wide. The USBM completed 22 churn-drill holes along 7 lines spread out over 3,200 feet of the drainage (Heide and Rutledge, 1949) and detrital cassiterite mapping in the headwaters to help define lode occurrences (Mulligan, 1965).

Comment (Production): Production Notes = A small amount of the 1,124 short tons of tin that were produced from alluvial placers in the Potato Mountain area came from Iron Creek (Mulligan, 1965, p. 17).

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial tin placer (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39e)

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Bedrock in the headwaters of Iron Creek is thermally metamorposed thin- bedded metapelite, metasandstone, and minor impure metacarbonate rocks of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. These rocks makeup the relatively resistant upland of Potato Mountain that is interpreted to be underlain at depth by biotite granite (Hudson and Reed, 1997, p. 454). Its headwaters are adjacent to the most significant lode cassiterite mineralization in the area (Mulligan, 1965). This short headwater drainage has thin alluvial gravels, generally 4 to 5 feet thick, and a narrow pay streak that contained up to a few ponds of tin per cubic yard. Hand mining and sluicing took place along 1,500 feet of the creek channel starting about one half mile upstream from the confluence with Sutter Creek.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

References

Reference (Deposit): Heide, H.E. and Rutledge, F.A., 1949, Investigations of Potato Mountain tin placer deposits, Seward Peninsula, northwestern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4418, 21 p.

Reference (Deposit): Mulligan, J.J., 1965, Tin-lode investigations. Potato Mountain area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 6587, 85 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Sainsbury, C.L., 1972, Metallic mineral resource map of the Teller quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-426, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Hudson, T.L., and Reed, B.L., 1997, Tin deposits of Alaska, in Goldfarb, R.J., and Miller, L.D., eds., Mineral Deposits of Alaska: Economic Geology Monograph 9, p. 450-465.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Teller quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-587, 130 p.

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