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Hope Creek

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper, Molybdenum, Lead, REE, Antimony, 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 10308810
MRDS ID A012221
Record type Site
Current site name Hope Creek
Related records 10257444, 10001472

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -146.35696, 65.39971 (WGS84)
Relative position The location is the approximate center of mining activity along Hope Creek. Mining activity occurred at several locations along the creek, specifically at 65.40 N, 146.32 W and 65.40 N , 146.36 W. Hope Creek is a tributary to Faith Creek.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Circle B-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Circle(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary
Molybdenum Secondary
Lead Secondary
REE Critical Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Allanite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Malachite Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Rutile Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite 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) -146.35696, 65.39971
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Bedrock exposure is rare in the Hope Creek area, except on ridgetops, and locally along creeks. Micaceous quartzite, typically weathering to massive slabs and blocks, is the most abundant rubble and forms most of the bedrock outcrops. White, sulfide-free, quartz lenses, segregations and veinlets are common in the quartzite. Quartz-mica schist and pelitic schist also form some outcrops. Nonfoliated hornblende quartz monzonite occurs as small bodies in Hope Creek drainage. The rock varies in composition between quartz monzonite and monzogranite. Hornblende quartz monzonite is commonly altered to chlorite-ankerite-sericite with or without pyrite. Fluorite and garnet are occasionally present. Alteration occurs both along plutonic contacts and along shear zones within the plutons. Numerous cobbles and boulders of sulfide-bearing hornfels occur in Hope Creek. Samples of sulfide-bearing hornfels and quartz-monzonite north of Hope Creek are strongly anomalous in As (up to 7,000 ppm) and Au (up to 550 ppb) and moderately anomalous in Sb (up to 120 ppb). Sulfide-bearing hornfels and quartz monzonite samples from south of Hope Creek are also anomalous in these elements with maximum values of 53 ppm As, 43 ppb Au, and 29 ppb Sb. Virtually no mineralization was observed in metamorphic rocks away from plutonic contacts. In summary, sulfide-bearing hornfels and altered quartz monzonite samples near hornblende quartz monzonite contacts are the most gold-rich rocks found in the Hope Creek drainage. (Swainbank and Burton, 1987, p. 6-19 to 6-22) Placer gold was found in stream gravel, apparently in subeconomic amounts. Stibnite deposits were reportedly found in 1926, but were apparently reburied by 1942 (Joesting, 1943, p. 12).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairbanks

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was discovered in the early 1900's but was never mined extensively (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 46).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Swainbank and Burton, 1987.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a); Gold-rich sulfide-bearing hornfels and quartz monzonite.
Deposit Other Comments = See also Faith Creek, ARDF no. CI018.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 09-SEP-1998 C.J. Freeman, J.R. Guidetti Schaefer, A.S. Clements Avalon Development Corporation

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.