Utopia Creek Placer

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Barium-Barite, Lead, Antimony, Zinc
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Ownership information
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10003049
MRDS ID A015573
Record type Site
Current site name Utopia Creek Placer
Related records 10257465

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -153.69768, 65.9954 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Melozitna D-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Tanana NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Melozitna(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

USAF(Federal land areas administered by USAF)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Comments on the location information

  • USGS MF-396, LOC. 3. PLACER MINE AND TAILINGS MARKED ON MELOZITNA (D-2). COORDINATES GIVEN FOR SETTLEMENT OF UTOPIA. LAND STATUS VALUE CALCULATED 6-94 USING GIS OVERLAY ANALYSIS WITH BLM 1:2,500,000 SCALE OWNERSHIP STATUS MAP (1991).

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Barium-Barite Critical Tertiary
Lead Tertiary
Antimony Critical Tertiary
Zinc Critical Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Barite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Stibnite Ore
Tetrahedrite Ore
Sphalerite Unknown

Analytical data

Result A TETRAHEDRITE-BEARING SAMPLE CONTAINED AS MUCH AS 21 OZ PER TON AG
Result AU: .07-1.3 OZ./TON
Result CU: 1,500 PPM
Result PB: 2,000 PPM
Result ZN: 3,000 PPM.

Nearby scientific data

(1) -153.69768, 65.9954

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • AN ENE TRENDING FAULT ZONE IS LOCATED 1-2 MILES SOUTH OF UTOPIA CREEK. CREEK DOES NOT DRAIN CONTACT ZONE OF INDIAN MTN. PLUTON. ; MAJOR.UNITS: BEDROCK IS SLIGHTLY METAMORPHOSED CRETACEOUS ANDESITE CUT BY FINE-GRAINED FELSIC INTRUSIVE BODIES. ; REG.COM: SOURCE OF METALS AND BARITE MAY HAVE BEEN TETRAHEDRITE-SPHALERITE-GALENA-BEARING VEINS IN ANDESITE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Year of first production 1915
Year of last production 1952

Mining district

District name Hughes

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner L. Mcgee

Comments on development

  • PLACER MINING FROM 1915 TO 1936 WAS SPORADIC AND SMALL SCALE. LARGE-SCALE NONFLOAT MINING BEGAN IN 1938 OR 1939 AND CEASED IN 1952.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit PAYSTREAK IN UPPER VALLEY SOUTH OF CENTER OF VALLEY. GROUND HANDLED SAID TO BE AS MUCH AS 25 FEET DEEP. PAY STREAK INFERED TO BE 3-4 MILES LONG BY LENGTH OF TAILINGS MARKED ON MELOZITNA (D-2).
Deposit STREAM GRADIENT ABOUT 200 FEET PER MILE AT HEAD AND APPROXIMATELY 75 FEET PER MILE AT THE MOUTH. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT
Deposit THIS SITE NAME WAS CREATED BY THE REPORTER OR OTHER USGS EMPLOYEE BASED ON PROXIMITY TO SOME MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC FEATURE.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1987 Powers, M.T. (Huber, D.F.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.