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

War Baby

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308763
MRDS ID A011602
Record type Site
Current site name War Baby
Alternate or previous names Willow Creek Mines Inc.
Related records 10111307

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.40169, 61.78055 (WGS84)
Relative position Marked on map with adit symbol and labeled 'War Baby Mine', above northwest bank of Craigie Creek on the Anchorage D-7 1:63,360-scale topographic map. Nearly 5,000 ft east of VABM Box. Accurate within 100 ft. Locality 3 of Cobb (1972) and locality 3 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Matanuska-Susitna(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Anchorage D-7(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Anchorage NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Anchorage(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Susitna River(hydrologic unit)

Susitna River(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • Wall-rock alteration within a few inches of the veins is intense, but seldom extends more than 10 to 12 inches beyond the quartz filling. Sericitization and carbonate alteration predominate, but there is some pyritization and in the outer parts of the alteration zone chloritization is present (Ray, 1954).

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.40169, 61.78055
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Chapin (1920) reported that four or five parallal quartz veins cut the Late Cretaceous Willow Creek Pluton. The Willow Creek Pluton is a zoned pluton: the outer part consists of hornblende quartz diorite and lesser hornblende tonalite; the core consists of hornblende-biotite granodiorite, and lesser hornblende-biotite quartz monzodiorite and biotite quartz monzonite. Wall-rock alteration within a few inches of the veins is intense, but seldom extends more than 10 to 12 inches beyond the quartz filling. Sericitization and carbonate alteration predominate, but there is some pyritization and in the outer parts of the alteration zone chloritization is present (Ray, 1954). Veins generally strike N 80 E, and dip 17 to 62 NW, are found in a 33 ft wide zone, and range in thickness from 1 to 15 inches. Veins appear to belong to a single system that locally branches in the hanging wall. The footwall is marked by slickensides that separate the lode from fresh country rock. The lode is a continuation of the lode at Lucky Shot (ARDF number AN002) that is offset by 600 to 700 ft. The ore mined through 1927 averaged 2.18 oz/ton Au (Ray, 1933).
  • Age = Late Cretaceous or younger; veins cut the Late Cretaceous Willow Creek Pluton.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Willow Creek

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Production records were combined for the War Baby and the Lucky Shot mine (ARDF number AN002). Both mines were simultaneously operated by Willow Creek Mines. Stoll (1997) estimated the total amount of gold recovered from the Lucky Shot - War Baby vein on the northwest wall of Craigie Creek valley to be 252,000 ounces.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Located in 1918, development began almost immediately with the erection of a small mill. The first production from the mine occurred in 1919 after two short tunnels and a crosscut were driven. Willow Creek Mines took over the property in 1921. War Baby was mined, with interruptions, from 1919 until 1940. There were over 2,000 ft of underground workings on 3 levels. Ray (1933) reported that production from 1922 through 1927 was from a single stope measuring 175 by 250 ft with a maximum width of 10 to 12 ft. The ore mined through 1927 averaged 2.18 oz/ton Au (Ray, 1933). There may have been some copper production, however concentrates that were shipped may have come from War Baby or Lucky Shot (ARDF number AN002) (Smith, 1930). By 1950, the mine was long closed and workings were inaccessible (Ray, 1954).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Chapin, 1920

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 D.P. Bickerstaff; S.W. Huss U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

External references

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.