Carrie Creek; Lynx Saddle; Missing Lynx; Tripper Ridge; West Carrie Creek Prospects, Goodpaster Mining District, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Carrie Creek; Lynx Saddle; Missing Lynx; Tripper Ridge; West Carrie Creek Prospects	Group of Prospects
Goodpaster Mining District	Mining District
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

The Carrie Creek Prospect is located on land selected by Doyon Limited. For additional information contact Doyon Limited, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Location: The Carrie Creek prospect is located in the headwaters of the West Fork of the South Fork of the Goodpaster River, approximately 54 miles east-northeast of Delta Junction. The prospect covers 5 to 6 square miles, and is divided into four areas: Lynx Saddle, Missing Lynx, Tripper Ridge, and West Carrie Creek. The approximate center of the prospect is in SW1/4SW1/4 section 19, T. 7 S., R. 18 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. A winter trail from the South Fork of the Goodpaster River provides access up Divide Creek. Carrie Creek and its tributaries are not labeled on current U.S.G.S. maps. It was not identified as a separate location by Cobb (1972) or by Cobb and Eberlein (1980). The Carrie Creek prospect is located on land selected by Doyon Limited. An occurrence was cited in Cobb and Eberlein (1980) for a sample assay reported in Menzie and Foster (1979). This sample was collected from somewhere on Tripper Ridge on Black Mountain in section 20, T. 7 S., R. 18 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian.
Geology: The Carrie Creek prospect is located in the headwaters of the West Fork of the South Fork of the Goodpaster River, southwest of Black Mountain. The exploration efforts have been concentrated in the north-trending Goodpaster River drainage and two tributaries: Tripper Creek and Missing Lynx Creek. Both creeks flow to the northwest. The area is characterized by rounded hills and flat-topped ridges (Thomas, 1970). The most prominent ridge is Black Mountain, which trends about 12 miles in a northerly direction and is underlain by Cretaceous granodiorite (Weber and others, 1978). Bordering the Black Mountain intrusive is a combination of augen gneiss, gneissic schist, and schist. There is intense shearing and faulting along the contact between the metamorphic and intrusive rocks. This shearing is observed in the underground workings to the north and at the surface as pronounced saddle-like depressions across the spurs extending westward from Black Mountain. This shear zone trends roughly N15E. The lode deposits in the area are gold-bearing quartz veins. Most of the veining and alteration occurs in the shear zone, although some alteration and veining favors the intrusive rocks (Doyon Limited, 1998). Silicic, sericitic, argillic, clay, and carbonate alteration are concentrated in the contact zones. The quartz veins contain various combinations of sulfides, including arsenopyrite, bismuthinite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, scheelite, sphalerite, and stibnite. Veins are commonly 1 to 2 feet in width; some are as wide as 8 feet (Doyon Limited, 1998). The Carrie Creek prospect has been divided into four areas: Lynx Saddle, Missing Lynx, Tripper Ridge, and West Carrie Creek. Further, these areas contain four mineralized shear zones: Gunsight Shear, Missing Lynx, Black Mountain, and Raincoat Ridge. These shear zones are typically north-northeast trending, subparallel, up to 2.5 miles long and 1000 feet wide. Soil anomalies are found on identified faults and contact zones. Soil samples contain up to 8,370 ppm As, 300 ppb Au, 6 ppm Bi, and 34 ppm Mo. Rock chip samples contain up to 5.62 ppm Au, 2,430 ppm As, 1,875 ppm Bi, 2,900 ppm Mo, greater than 10,000 ppm Sb, and 900 ppm W. Au often correlates with As and Sb. In intrusive rocks, Mo also correlates with gold, but is absent in metamorphic rocks (Doyon Limited, 1998). An occurrence was cited in Cobb and Eberlein (1980) for a sample assay reported by Menzie and Foster (1979) collected from the Carrie Creek area. This sample was collected from somewhere on Tripper Ridge on Black Mountain. The sample contained pyrite and molybdenite in quartz from a mineralized area in granitic rocks. The sample assayed 7 ppm Ag, greater than 10,000 ppm As, 0.3 ppm Au, 1.5 ppm Cu, and 20 ppm Pb (Menzie and Foster, 1979). The Goodpaster region was first explored for placer gold in 1915. In the early 1930's, gold-bearing quartz veins were discovered in the upper Tibbs Creek (BD040) area to the north. Underground work in the Tibbs Creek drainage continued from 1936 to 1941. From 1978 to 1979, exploration of the Carrie Creek prospect included reconnaissance mapping, along with stream-sediment and selective grab rock-chip sampling. Additional mapping and a soil and rock chip grid were completed in 1981. In 1984, some composite vein sampling and surface investigations were carried out. Further soil and rock chip sampling was done in 1989. Exploration efforts increased from 1996 to 1998. A soil and rock chip grid was extended over an area 3 miles wide and 5 miles long. Three drill holes (core), totaling 1,997 feet, were completed in 1998. Further drilling is planned (Doyon Limited, 1998).
Workings: The Goodpaster region was first explored for placer gold in 1915. In the early 1930's, gold-bearing quartz veins were discovered in the upper Tibbs Creek area to the north of the Carrie Creek prospect. Underground work in the Tibbs Creek drainage continued from 1936 to 1941. From 1978 to 1979, exploration efforts at the Carrie Creek prospect included reconnaissance mapping, along with stream-sediment and selective grab rock-chip sampling. Additional mapping and a soil and rock chip grid were completed in 1981. In 1984, some composite vein sampling and surface investigations were carried out. Further soil and rock chip sampling was done in 1989. Exploration efforts increased from 1996 to 1998. A soil and rock chip grid was extended over an area 3 miles wide and 5 miles long. Three drill holes (core), totaling 1,997 feet, were completed in 1998. Further drilling is planned (Doyon Limited, 1998).
Age: Veins cut Cretaceous intrusion
Alteration: Silicic, sericitic, argillic, clay, and carbonate alteration are concentrated in the contact zones (Doyon Limited, 1998).

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Ag, Bi, Cu, Hg, Mo, Pb, Sb, Sn, W, Zn
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Shear-hosted, magmatic-hydrothermal vein

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BD010

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References