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First Chance 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 10308726
Record type Site
Current site name First Chance Creek
Alternate or previous names American Tinfields, Inc.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -167.94343, 65.56825 (WGS84)
Relative position First Chance Creek is a west tributary to Cape Creek (TE006) located 0.75 miles upstream from the mouth of Cape Creek mouth at Tin City on the Bering Sea coast. This is a small, 0.5 mile long drainage whose headwaters do not extend to the uplands of Cape Mountain to the west. First Chance Creek was included as part of locality 25 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the names 'Cape Cr.' and 'American Tinfields, Inc.'.

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)

Imuruk Basin(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(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) -167.94343, 65.56825
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Thin overburden (1 - 6 feet) overlies a thin (3 - 5 feet) gravel section on Mississippian limestone bedrock (Sainsbury, 1972). Churn-drill holes and shafts indicated grades between 0.5 and 4 pounds of tin per cubic yard (Mulligan and Thorne, 1959, p. 44) and an average grade of one pound of tin per cubic yard in the lower 1,500 feet of the drainage and traces of tin above (Mulligan, 1966, p. 20). Mulligan and Thorne (1959, p. 21) noted that some of the detrital cassiterite was coarse and attached to gangue minerals (not described) suggesting to them a local lode source rather than transport from Cape Mountain uplands to the west or north. This led to detrital cassiterite mapping in the area of First Chance Creek and discovery of the First Chance Creek Valley lode tin occurrence (TE010) between First Chance Creek and Sarah Creek (Mulligan, 1966, p. 21-22).
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Port Clarence

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Production is a small part of the total 1,650 short tons of tin produced from placers in the Cape Mountain area (Hudson and Reed, 1997, p. 452).

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Not defined; the lower 1,500 feet of the drainage has been mined.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The lower 1,500 feet of the drainage has been mined by various surface, non-float methods.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Heide, H.E., and Sanford, R.S., 1948, Churn drilling at Cape Mountain tin placer deposits, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4345. 14 p.

  • Deposit

    Mulligan, J.J., and Thorne, R.L., 1959, Tin-placer sampling methods and results, Cape Mountain district, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 7878, 69 p.

  • Deposit

    Mulligan, J.J., 1966, Tin-lode investigations, Cape Mountain area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska; with a section on petrography by W. L. Gnagy: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 6737, 43 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

    Sainsbury, C.L., 1972, Geologic map of the Teller quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Map I-685, 4 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hudson, T.L., and Arth, J. G., 1983, Tin-granites of Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 94, p. 768-790.

  • 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

    Hudson, T.L., 1984, Tin systems of Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Anchorage, Anaconda Minerals Company internal report, 51 p. (Report held by Cook Inlet Region Inc., Anchorage, Alaska)

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mulligan and Thorne, 1959; Mulligan, 1966

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Alluvial tin placer (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39e)
Deposit Other Comments = Hudson and Reed (1997) have concluded that a marine transgression affected the Cape Creek area and contributed to higher grades in the pay streak on bedrock that is present there. This transgression would have also affected First Chance Creek although evidence of it in the form of marine deposits has not been noted in the previous work.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-MAY-1998 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.