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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Sourdough Creek

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Antimony, Tin, Tungsten
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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 10308818
MRDS ID A012222
Record type Site
Current site name Sourdough Creek
Related records 10001473, 10111573

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -146.47596, 65.3297 (WGS84)
Relative position The location is the approximate center of discontinuous placer workings that extend from Silver Creek to Polar Creek; from the mouth of Bear Creek upstream for about 1,500 ft; and for about a mile between Bear Creek and Ruby Creek. Sourdough Creek is a tributary of the Chatanika River. The creek can be accessed from the Steese Highway at mile marker 66.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Circle B-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Circle(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Antimony Critical Secondary
Tin Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
Gold Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Nearby scientific data

(1) PzPxyqs
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Bedrock in the area is schist,and, near the mouth of the creek a granitic pluton (Wedow and others, 1954, p. 8). A sample of granite talus contained stibnite and scheelite (Nelson and others, 1954). Joesting (1942) reported stibnite in placer concentrates and scarce cassiterite in placers. Placer gold was mined from 1932 to 1940 and intermittently from 1946 to 1959. Gravel is ten to eleven feet thick. Prospecting and maintenance work occurred in 1966. The creek has largely been mined out by surface workings (Eberlein and others, 1977, p. 24). Total production is not known, but about 2850 oz gold was reportedly produced from 1937 to 1941. A few blocks of unmined ground remain mid-valley but the creek has been largely mined. Two hundred ounces of gold was produced from one 300 ft by 150 ft cut on the Discovery Claim (Eberlein and others, 1977, p. 24).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairbanks

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Total production is not known, but about 2850 oz gold was reportedly produced from 1937 to 1941. A few blocks of unmined ground remain mid-valley but the creek has been largely mined. Two hundred ounces of gold was produced from one 300 ft by 150 ft cut on the Discovery Claim (Eberlein and others, 1977, p. 24).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was mined from 1932 to 1940 and intermittently from 1946 to 1959. Prospecting and maintenance work occurred in 1966. The creek has largely been mined out by surface workings (Eberlein and others, 1977, p. 24).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Eberlein and others, 1977.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 14-SEP-1998 C.J. Freeman, J.R. Guidetti Schaefer, A.S. Clements Avalon Development Corporation

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.