Canyon Creek; Divide Creek; Long Creek Mine, Yentna Mining District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Canyon Creek; Divide Creek; Long Creek Mine	Mine
Yentna Mining District	Mining District
Matanuska-Susitna Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Cobb and Reed (1980) state that most, if not all, references to Long Creek are probably to Canyon Creek. Mining has also been reported on Ramsdyke Creek (Cobb, 1973), which runs along the northwest side of the ridge north of the headwater basin of Canyon Creek.
Location: C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc. (1978, Fig. 4.2-B(3)) show this placer in Canyon Creek, a tributary to Long Creek which flows into the Tokositna River. Unpatented placer claims cover the entirety of Canyon Creek from the northeast quarter of Section 21 to the northwest quarter of Section in T. 29 N., R. 8 W., of the Seward Meridian. Coordinates for this locality are given for the site in the northeast quarter of Section 21, T. 29 N., R. 8 W., of the Seward Meridian. This property is shown by Clark and Cobb (1972) as locality 31 and by Reed and others (1978) as locality 86.
Geology: Canyon, Divide and Long Creeks drain across the contact between Mesozoic slate and graywacke (KJs) and Tertiary strata of the Sterling (?) (Tcp) and Tyonek (?) (Tts) Formations of the Kenai Group (Reed and Nelson, 1980). Cobb and Reed (1980) report that the placer deposits in Canyon Creek are probably derived directly from local mineralized zones in bedrock, which is mainly Mesozoic slate (KJs), intruded by Tertiary and (or) Cretaceous (TKi) acidic dikes and cut by quartz stringers. The bedrock locally contains visible pyritized zones. According to Mertie (1919) stream gravels at this locale have a pay streak which ranges from 1 to 15 feet in width (average: 6 feet) and 2 to 8 feet in depth. Gold is found on or near bedrock. Gravel is mostly cobble-sized clasts 6 inches in diameter with some boulders up to 2 feet in diameter. Gold, platinum, magnetite, ilmenite, garnet, zircon, and cassiterite, some of which is crystalline with unworn edges, are noted in concentrates by Mertie (1919). This suggested to him that the gold and cassiterite were largely derived from mineralized rocks of the drainage area. Cobb and Reed (1980) report that most, if not all, references to Long Creek are probably to Canyon Creek. Mining has also been reported on Ramsdyke Creek (Cobb, 1973), which runs along the northwest side of the ridge north of the headwater basin of Canyon Creek.
Workings: The drainage has been prospected and mined by various small scale surface methods.
Age: Tertiary and Pleistocene.

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Pt, Sn
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	TL044

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References