Minnehaha Creek

The Minnehaha Creek 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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Site Name

Primary: Minnehaha Creek
Secondary: Mud Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold

Location

State: Alaska
District: Fairhaven

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: 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: Gold

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Small-scale underground drifting was done on the property when it was discovered in the early 1900s. Havenstrite completed a drilling program in 1941 and mined the property for a few years. Small-scale surface mining was done until 1982 when Noranda Exploration acquired the claims and drilled 72 holes totaling 4,200 feet. Noranda dropped the claims after a few years and small-scale mining and assessment work continued on the property to the present (1999). The gravel is frozen and ice lenses are present in the muck and gravel.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = This placer gold deposit reportedly is at the edge of a paleo-lagoon on a 100,000-year-old Sangamon shoreline (Robson and others, 1983). The entire area is blanketed by a thick cover of loess and muck. All ground is frozen. The depth to bedrock is highly variable. The muck section ranges from 6 to 38 feet and the pay or mining section varies from 2 to 63 feet. Bedrock is highly weathered schist often described as sand and clay with schist fragments. Minerals in the concentrate include goethite, magnetite, and galena. Cinnabar has been reported in the concentrate, but the mineral may be rutile. Small-scale underground drifting was done on the property when it was discovered in the early 1900s. A drilling program was done by Havenstrite in 1941 to identify reserves, which they mined for the next few years. Noranda explored the property in 1982-83 with a drilling program. The property has been mined on a small scale almost continuously to the present (1999).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Robson and others, 1983

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Stream gradient under 50 feet per mile.

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves = In 1941, a drill program by Havenstrite was completed which delineated indicated reserves of 48,000 ounces of gold in 1.8 million cubic yards of gravel. Reevaluation of the drill logs by C. Herbert in 1979 indicated existing reserves of 27,940 ounces of gold, or 1.12 million cubic yards of gravel that contained 0.025 ounces gold per cubic yard. In 1982, Noranda Exploration drilled 72 holes that totaled 4,200 feet. Noranda (1983) calculated reserves at Mud Creek as 73,000 ounces of gold in 2.8 million cubic yards of gravel. Estimated reserves as of October, 1996, were more than 50,000 ounces (Johnson, 1996).

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Production between 1947 and 1980 was probably about 10,000 ounces of gold from 277,890 cubic yards of gravel. The property has been actively mined since the mid-1980's. From 1992 through 1996, approximately 3,000 ounces were produced.

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

References

Reference (Deposit): Johnson, G.W., 1996, letter to NANA Regional Corp., Kotzebue, AK, October 16, 2 p. (Report held by NANA Regional Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska).

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Candle Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-389, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Herbert, C.F., 1979, Mud Creek, Candle Mining District, Alaska: unpublished report prepared for Noranda Exploration, Anchorage, Alaska, 37 p. (Report held by NANA Regional Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska).

Reference (Deposit): Robson, J.M., Baer, R.L. and Cobb, W.F., 1983, Mud Creek project summary: unpublished report, Noranda Exploration, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska, 32 p. (Report held by NANA Regional Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska).

Reference (Deposit): Anderson, Eskil, 1947, Mineral occurrences other than gold deposits in northwestern Alaska: Alaska Territorial Division of Mines Pamphlet 5-R, 48 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1973, Placer deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1374, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Mendenhall, W.C., 1902, Reconnaissance from Fort Hamlin to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, by way of Dall, Kanuti, Allen, and Kowak Rivers: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 10, 68 p.

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