Cassiterite Creek (Lost River)

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

Satelite View

MRDS mine locations are often very general, and in some cases are incorrect. Some mine remains have been covered or removed by modern industrial activity or by development of things like housing. The satellite view offers a quick glimpse as to whether the MRDS location corresponds to visible mine remains.

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.

The Top Ten Gold Producing States

These ten states contributed the most to the gold production that built the West from 1848 through the 1930s. The Top Ten Gold Producing States.