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Grouse 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 10308730
Record type Site
Current site name Grouse Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -167.46743, 65.62826 (WGS84)
Relative position Grouse Creek is the major west tributary to the Mint River which drains northward about 20 miles to Lopp Lagoon from headwaters in the York Mountains. The 5,000 foot-long segment from the mouth of Buck Creek (TE020) downstream to the mouth of East Fork has produced placer cassiterite. This part of Grouse Creek was included with locality 29 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). The historical references for this locality were summarized under the name 'Grouse Cr.' by Cobb (1975).

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)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Tin Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
Magnetite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -167.46743, 65.62826
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Bedrock in the headwaters of Buck Creek (TE020), the major east tributary and the apparent source of placer cassiterite on Grouse 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 Buck Creek and its tributaries (Mulligan, 1965). Alluvial gravels of the active Grouse Creek drainage have been mined by a small bucket-line dredge over about 5,000 feet of the stream channel from the mouth of Buck Creek downstream to the mouth of East Fork. USBM churn-drilling showed Grouse Creek gravels to be thin (2 to 9 feet) and some local unmined portions to have as much as 6.7 pounds of tin per cubic yard (Heide and Rutledge, 1949, p. 9). Most of the remaining unmined gravels contain a few hundreths to a few tenths pound tin per cubic yard. The downstream limit of pay seems to be at an elevation of 150 to 200 feet and Mulligan (1965, p. 14-15) has considered the possibility that a high sea level stand may have influenced tin distribution in this area. All the gravels are frozen except for those in proximity to the active stream.
  • 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 = A portion of the 1,124 short tons of tin produced from the placers of the Potato Mountain area came from Grouse Creek.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Only local unmined areas containing tin grades greater than 1 pound per cubic yard were identified by USBM churn-drilling.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Alluvial gravels of the active Grouse Creek drainage have been mined by a small bucket-line dredge over about 5,000 feet of the stream channel from the mouth of Buck Creek downstream to the mouth of East Fork. The USBM completed 22 churn-drill holes along 8 lines spread out over 6,000 feet of the drainage, from the mouth of Buck Creek downstream to below the mouth of East Fork.

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

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

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-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.