The Cassiterite Creek (Lost River) is a tungsten and 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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Cassiterite Creek (Lost River) MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Cassiterite Creek (Lost River)
Commodity
Primary: Tungsten
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: Wolframite
Ore: Cassiterite
Comments
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Mulligan, 1959 (USBM RI 5520).
Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves = Not defined
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Hand mining and dozer/sluice operations have taken place on 2,000 feet of Cassiterite Creek below Lost River Mine. Residual placers on lode deposits at the Lost River Mine have also been worked. The status of exploration of this deposit is not known; a significant amount of tin , potentially eroded from the Lost River Mine exogreisen (Cassiterite dike) lode deposit, seems unaccounted for in the Cassiterite Creek placer.
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial tin placer (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39e)
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Bedrock in this drainage and its tributaries are various Ordovician limestone facies locally intruded by felsic and mafic dikes and granite stocks (Sainsbury, 1969). The principal lode sources of tin in the Lost River area (Lost River Mine; TE048, TE049, TE050, and TE051) are located at the head of this placer. A pre-erosion projection of the Lost River Mine exogreisen deposit (the Cassiterite dike, Hudson and Reed, 1997, p. 458), suggests that several thousand tons of tin could have been eroded into Cassiterite Creek and the Lost River drainage. Mulligan (1959, p. 13) states that production data indicate the grade of the mined material in the 2,000 foot-segment of Cassiterite Creek below the Lost River Mine was 3 to 4 pounds of tin per cubic yard. Heide (1946, p. 5) noted that about 20 tons of tin concentrate were produced between 1904 and 1911; production up to 1964 is reported to be 93.4 short tons of tin (Sainsbury, 1964, p. 4; previously reported as production between 1948 and 1951 by Lorain and others, 1958). Placer mining has included working of residual materials over lode deposits and some that took place in the 1960's using dozer and sluice box processed mine waste rock. The elevation of this placer deposit, about 275 feet, is below that of a prominent marine terrace developed on the south side of the York Mountains and well expressed at the mouth of Lost River. Therefore, some reworking of the placer materials by marine processes may have occurred in Cassiterite Creek although evidence of this has not been identified.
Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive
Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary
Comment (Production): Production Notes = Sainsbury (1964, p. 4) reports that 93.4 short tons have tin have been produced from the Cassiterite Creek placer.
References
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.
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): Sainsbury, C.L., 1964, Geology of the Lost River mine area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1129, 80 p.
Reference (Deposit): Heide, H.E., 1946, Investigation of the Lost River tin deposit, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 3902, 57 p.
Reference (Deposit): Lorain, S.H., Wells, R.R., Mihelich, Miro, Mulligan, J.J., Thorne, R.L., and Herdlick, J.A., 1958, Lode-tin mining at Lost River, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 7871, 76 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): Mulligan, J.J., 1959, Sampling stream gravels for tin, near York, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 5520, 25 p.
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