York Creek (West)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Tin, Tungsten
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 10308422
Record type Site
Current site name York Creek (West)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -167.11142, 65.56727 (WGS84)
Relative position York Creek is a north-flowing tributary to the Pinguk River. It heads on the continental divide and the north flank of Brooks Mountain, the highest part (2,898 feet elevation) of the York Mountains. Some of the headwater areas are in the contact zone of the Brooks Mountain granite stock. This location is on the west headwater fork of York Creek at an elevation of 510 feet. It is locality 47 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972) and Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'York 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-5(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

Diomede 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
Tungsten Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Powellite Ore
Scheelite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -167.11142, 65.56727

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The headwater area of York Creek, on the north flank of the Brooks Mountain area, includes the contact zone of the Brooks Mountain granite stock and a small granite plug in Ordovician limestone (Sainsbury, 1969, plate 1). Fine-grained, carbonaceous metapelitic rocks of uncertain but probable Paleozoic age are also present in this area and thermally metamophosed near granite intrusions. Three USBM churn-drill holes were completed at this locality (Mulligan, 1959, p. 6). The 7.5 to 12 feet of gravel overlying shale and limy shale bedrock contain a trace of tin per cubic yard. Minerals identified in the heavy mineral concentrate included pyrite, limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite, garnet, barite, tourmaline, scheelite, and powellite (Mulligan, 1959, p. 16).
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Port Clarence

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Three USBM churn-drill holes have been completed here (Mulligan, 1959, p. 6, 15, and 16).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Mulligan, J.J., 1959, Sampling stream gravels for tin, near York, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 5520, 25 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

    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

    Sainsbury, C.L., 1969, Geology and ore deposits of the central York Mountains, western Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1287, 101 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mulligan, 1959 (USBM RI 5520)

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.

Authoritative Alaska resources

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