Rainy Creek

The Rainy Creek is a mercury and 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: Rainy Creek

Commodity

Primary: Mercury
Primary: Gold

Location

State: Alaska
District: Bethel

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: Cinnabar
Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Production): Production Notes = About 2000 pounds of cinnabar were recovered from the placer operation (Malone, 1962). No figures are available on gold production.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Open-cut placer workings are present along about 0.7 mile of the creek. Mining occurred sometime between 1920 and 1946.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = About 0.7 mile of upper Rainy Creek has been placer mined (Rutledge, 1948, fig. 3). This includes operations both above and below the mouth of Arsenic Creek, a small south tributary to Rainy Creek with identified lode mercury mineralization (BH001). A small part of the placer deposit extends downstream into the Goodnews Bay quadrangle (GO012). The upper drainage does not appear to have been glaciated and the gravels are locally derived. The placer operations recovered both gold and cinnabar. About 2,000 pounds of cinnabar were recovered and shipped, mostly from Rainy Creek below the mouth of Arsenic Creek. Some cinnabar was recovered from above the mouth of Arsenic Creek; a possible bedrock source for this cinnabar was identified on the south side of Rainy Creek, 1.25 miles above the mouth of Arsenic Creek (Rutledge, 1948, p. 7). Bedrock in upper Rainy Creek and its tributaries is clastic sedimentary rocks of the mid-Cretaceous Kuskokwim Group locally cut by mafic dikes or sills (Rutledge, 1948; Box and others, 1993).

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Placer Au-PGE; with cinnabar (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Rutledge, 1948

References

Reference (Deposit): Box, S.E, Moll-Stalcup, E.J., Frost, T.P., and Murphy, J.M., 1993, Preliminary geologic map of the Bethel and southern Russian Mission quadrangles, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2226-A, 20 p., scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Malone, Kevin, 1962, Mercury occurrences in Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Circular 8131, 57 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Bethel quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-455, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

Reference (Deposit): Rutledge, F.A., 1948, Investigations of the Rainy Creek mercury prospect, Bethel district, Kuskokwim region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4361, 7 p.

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