Happy Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Antimony, Mercury, 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 10308876
MRDS ID A015068
Record type Site
Current site name Happy Creek
Related records 10002630

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -158.01993, 62.38239 (WGS84)
Relative position USGS MF-363, Loc. 25. Tailings marked on Iditarod (B-4,5) topographic map.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

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

Iditarod SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Iditarod(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Doyon, Limited(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary
Mercury Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Gold Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite Ore
Monazite Gangue
Zircon Gangue

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) -158.01993, 62.38239

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Weathered monzonite constitutes a residual placer which grades into an alluvial placer and then into stream and bench placers. Concentrates contain zircon, chromite, ferberite, amalgam, monazite, & trace cassiterite in addition to ore minerals mentioned above (White & Killeen, 1953).
  • Age = Tertiary/Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Iditarod

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Mined intermittently 1910-84; produced >75,000 oz. Au

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Surface and underground (drifting was attempted in the early years, but failed due to thawed ground).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Bundtzen and others, 1992

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer: residual, eluvial, stream, bench
Deposit Other Comments = Stream gradient 3% at mouth, 7% at head.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 25-MAY-1994 Powers, M.T.; Huber, D.F.; Miller, M.L. U.S. Geological Survey

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.