Eldorado Creek

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity Tin
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 10308738
Record type Site
Current site name Eldorado Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -166.11445, 65.9343 (WGS84)
Relative position Eldorado is a west tributary to upper Kreuger Creek (TE067) with headwaters in the northeast contact zone of the Ear Mountain granite stock (Sainsbury, 1972) including a part of North Hill where significant lode tin and related metallization has been identified (Ear Mountain prospect, TE060). Ear Mountain is an isolated upland reaching 2,329 feet elevation in the north-central Teller D-3 quadrangle. This is locality 60, 61, 62, and 63 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb summarized relevant references under the name 'Eldorado 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 D-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Teller NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Teller C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Shishmaref(hydrologic unit)

Northern Seward Peninsula(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

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) -166.11445, 65.9343

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Eldorado Creek has headwaters that cross the northeast contact zone of the Ear Mountain granite stock (Sainsbury, 1972). This stock is a Late Cretaceous (76.7 +/- 2.9 my; Hudson and Arth, 1983, p. 769) composite biotite granite that intrudes an impure and schistose carbonate sequence, with some metapelitic rocks, of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. The country rocks are variably converted to tactite and hornfels around the granite stock (Knopf, 1908, p. 28-29). Churn drill holes from Eldorado Creek, including three in its headwater tributaries at about 600 and 750 feet elevation (Mulligan, 1959, p. 20), contain a trace to 0.8 pounds of tin per cubic yard. The total gravel thickness in these holes varied from 1 to 14 feet and the pay thickness was 2 to 11.5 feet. Minerals identified in the headwater tributary holes include quartz, calcite, grossularite garnet, albite, orthoclase, zircon, epidote, hornblende, limonite, crossite, tourmaline, dioside, chlorite, chondrodite, idocrase, magnetite, and cassiterite (in all three tributaries; Mulligan, 1959, p. 29).
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Port Clarence

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Not defined

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = A total of 20 churn-drill holes were completed along three lines located along 2,600 feet of the lower part of the creek and three other churn-drill holes were completed in headwater tributaries (Mulligan, 1959).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mulligan, 1959 (USBM RI 5493)

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-1998 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

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.