Homestake Creek

The Homestake 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: Homestake Creek
Secondary: Platte Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold

Location

State: Alaska
District: Bonnifield

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: Gold

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Cobb, 1978 (OFR 78-1062)

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Surface only. The gravels in Platte Creek were reported to carry 0.14 ounce of gold per cubic yard. Gravels on bedrock downstream contained 0.14 to 0.43 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Capps, 1912).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Upper Platte Creek drains en Eocene to Miocene sequence of poorly consolidated pebbly sandstone, claystone, and subituminous coal (Wilson and others, 1998). Lower Platte Creek to its junction with Fox Creek drains schist of the Keevy Peak Formation, which is intruded by Tertiary hypabyssal granitic rocks. The workings at Platte Creek are in well-sorted and rounded gravels 3 to 6 feet thick. Most of the gold is in the lower 2 to 3 feet of the gravel and upper part of schist bedrock. Paystreaks 25 to 60 feet wide were reported (Cobb, 1973: B1374). In Homestake Creek, the gravels are coarse and poorly sorted, and contain abundant cobble and boulder-sized clasts that include large angular blocks of andesite. The gravels in Platte Creek were reported to carry 0.14 ounce of gold per cubic yard. Gravels on bedrock downstream contained 0.14 to 0.43 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Capps, 1912). The most probable sources of the placer gold are Tertiary paleoplacers formed during an earlier erosional cycle of the Alaska Range.

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = The stream gradient in Platte Creek is 100 feet per mile; in Homestake Creek it is 200 feet per mile.

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Most of the production occurred before 1912.

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

References

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

Reference (Deposit): Berg, H.C., and Cobb, E.H., 1967, Metalliferous Lode Deposits of Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1246, 254 p.

Reference (Deposit): Wilson, F.H., Dover, J.H., Bradley, D.C., Weber, F.R., Bundtzen, T.K., and Haeussler, P.J., 1998, Geologic map of central (interior) Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-133, 17 p., 2 sheetsm, scale 1:500,000.

Reference (Deposit): Capps, S.R., 1912, The Bonnifield region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 501, 64 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Healy quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-1062, 113 p.

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