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Iron 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 10308396
Record type Site
Current site name Iron Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -167.55643, 65.64426 (WGS84)
Relative position Iron Creek is the 1.3 mile-long north headwater tributary to Sutter Creek (TE021) that drains the east side of Potato Mountain (TE024) and the south side of the South Hill prospect (TE023). Its headwaters are against the highest part of Potato Mountain and separted by a small divide from the west fork of Buck Creek (TE020). This is locality 28 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Iron 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

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -167.55643, 65.64426
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Bedrock in the headwaters of Iron 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). Its headwaters are adjacent to the most significant lode cassiterite mineralization in the area (Mulligan, 1965). This short headwater drainage has thin alluvial gravels, generally 4 to 5 feet thick, and a narrow pay streak that contained up to a few ponds of tin per cubic yard. Hand mining and sluicing took place along 1,500 feet of the creek channel starting about one half mile upstream from the confluence with Sutter Creek.
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Port Clarence

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = A small amount of the 1,124 short tons of tin that were produced from alluvial placers in the Potato Mountain area came from Iron Creek (Mulligan, 1965, p. 17).

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = One small area (200 x 600 feet in area and 5 feet thick), averages about 0.6 pounds of tin per cubic yard (Heide and rutledge, 1949, p. 15; Mulligan, 1965, p. 24).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = About 1,500 feet of the headwater reach has been hand mined; the pay streak was 4 to 5 feet thick and 15 to 20 feet wide. The USBM completed 22 churn-drill holes along 7 lines spread out over 3,200 feet of the drainage (Heide and Rutledge, 1949) and detrital cassiterite mapping in the headwaters to help define lode occurrences (Mulligan, 1965).

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

    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; Mulligan, 1965 (USBM RI 6587)

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.