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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Elephant Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, 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 10308994
MRDS ID A013409
Record type Site
Current site name Elephant Creek
Related records 10210085, 10002475

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.86194, 61.8603 (WGS84)
Relative position Elephant Creek flows north to Wilson Creek from headwaters 1.7 miles east of the summit of Mount Okumiak. Placer mining may have taken place at least locally along about 2 miles of its length. The map site is at an elevation of about 350 feet in the southeast corner of sec. 35, T. 21 N., R. 69 W., of the Seward Meridian. This is locality 9 of Hoare and Cobb (1972, 1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Russian Mission D-8(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Russian Mission NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Russian Mission(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Calista Corporation(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
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Scheelite 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) -161.86194, 61.8603
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The trail development along Elephant Creek suggests that placer gold mining may have taken place at least locally along about 2 miles of its length upstream from Wilson Creek (RM002). The placer gold was discovered in 1914, and hydraulic mining was under way by 1916. The gold is in modern stream deposits and is accompanied by minor scheelite (Joesting, 1942). Bedrock in the Elephant Creek drainage is sedimentary and igneous rocks of the Gemuk Group that are locally intruded by Mesozoic or Tertiary granitic rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1959). The sedimentary rocks include chert, siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate, and the intrusive rocks include biotite quartz monzonite, diorite, gabbro, hornblende porphyry, and felsic rocks (Bull and Schneider, 1997).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Marshall

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Underground mining methods were used before 1916; hydraulic methods were used from 1916 intermittently until at least 1940.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

  • Deposit

    Bull, Katharine, and Schneider, Craig, 1997, 1997 Summary report for Calista Corporation: Unpublished report prepared for Calista Corporation, Anchorage, 10 pages plus tables.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1959, Geology of the Russion Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-292, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Joesting, H.R., 1942, Strategic mineral occurences in interior Alaska: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Pamphlet 1, 46 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Hoare and Cobb, 1977

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-2001 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology
Reporter 10-JUN-2001 Madelyn A. Millholland Millholland & Associates

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.