1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Potato Creek

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity Tin
Map
XML
JSON
KML
C
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 10308393
Record type Site
Current site name Potato Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -167.64443, 65.66026 (WGS84)
Relative position Potato Creek extends northward 6 miles from headwaters on the south side of Potato Mountain (TE024) to its mouth on Lopp Lagoon. Although elevations on maps in older USBM reports do not appear to closely match modern topographic maps, the placer tin concentration is reasonably well located by the location of USBM churn-drill holes relative to topographic features along the drainage. Placer tin has been identified between about 150 feet and 250 feet elevation along the drainage. This is locality 26 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Potato Cr.'.

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)

Shishmaref(hydrologic unit)

Northern Seward Peninsula(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
Hematite Gangue
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) -167.64443, 65.66026
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Bedrock in the headwaters of Potato 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). The creek has 0 to 24 feet of overburden on top of 2 to 10 feet of gravel over bedrock. Tin concentrations of 0.05 to 0.54 pounds per cubic yard were identified in churn-drill holes from an elevation of 250 feet downstream to an elevation of about 150 feet. Tin was not found at higher elevations along the creek. The downstream limits of this placer concentration were not defined by the USBM churn-drilling. The 150 to 200 foot elevation area along this drainage is the approximate location of a Pleistocene strandline that is inferred from the general geomorphic character of the area (Hudson and Reed, 1997, p. 454).
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Port Clarence

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The USBM completed 30 churn-drill holes along 8 lines spread out over about 1.5 miles of the creek (Heide and Rutledge, 1949).

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

    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 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.

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-98 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.