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Sutter Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Tin
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  10. Mining district
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308395
Record type Site
Current site name Sutter Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -167.51243, 65.63526 (WGS84)
Relative position Sutter Creek is the major east tributary to Buck Creek (TE020), the principal placer tin producer in the Potato Mountain (TE024) area. Iron Creek (TE022), with headwaters on Potato Mountain, is a headwater drainage of Sutter Creek. The mouth of Sutter Creek, almost on the eastern boundary of the Teller C-6 quadrangle, is at about 225 feet elevation on Buck Creek . This creek was included with locality 29 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Sutter Cr.'.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Teller C-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Teller NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Teller(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Shishmaref(hydrologic unit)

Northern Seward Peninsula(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Wales Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Tin Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 123
USGS model code 39e
Deposit model name Alluvial placer Sn

Nearby scientific data

(1) -167.51243, 65.63526
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Bedrock in the northern headwaters of Sutter Creek is thermally metamorposed thin-bedded metapelite, metasandstone, and minor impure metacarbonate rocks of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. These rocks makeup the relatively resistant upland of Potato Mountain that is interpreted to be underlain at depth by biotite granite (Hudson and Reed, 1997, p. 454). Significant lode tin deposits are present in the headwaters of Iron Creek, the northern headwater fork of Sutter Creek (Mulligan, 1965). The thin (1 to 10 feet thick) alluvial gravels of the active Sutter Creek drainage contain 0 to 1 pound of tin per cubic yard. Detrital cassiterite is present upstream from the previous workings to the fork with Iron Creek. The higher grades are present in the lower part of the drainage just upstream from areas of previous mining. Some of this tin is derived from the headwaters of Iron Creek but the higher grades in the lower part of the creek (including the area of previous mining) may be related to proximity to Buck Creek. .
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Port Clarence

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = A small amount of the 1,124 short tons of tin that have been produced from placers in the Potato Mountain area came from lower Sutter Creek.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Not defined; only a few small areas of higher tin grades were identified by USBM churn-drilling.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The lower 1,000 feet of Sutter Creek has been mined, probably by a combination of hand methods and dredging. Fifty USBM churn-drill holes on 12 lines were completed between the creek mouth and the fork with Iron Creek.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Heide, H.E. and Rutledge, F.A., 1949, Investigations of Potato Mountain tin placer deposits, Seward Peninsula, northwestern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4418, 21 p.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Deposit

    Mulligan, J.J., 1965, Tin-lode investigations. Potato Mountain area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 6587, 85 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Heide and Rutledge, 1949

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Alluvial tin placer (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39e)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-MAY-98 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

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