Casadepaga River Mine (Fool Creek), Council Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Casadepaga River Mine (Fool Creek)	Mine
Council Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The Casadepaga River is a major west tributary to the Niukluk River. This locality is on the north side of the Casadepaga River, about 4 miles upstream from the confluence of the Casdepaga and Niukluk Rivers and across from Little Dixie Creek. It was referred to as the mouth of Fool Creek by Smith (1910). This is locality 57 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).
Geology: The only information specific to this locality along the Casadepaga River is that minor placer production occurred here early in the history of the area. The Casadepaga River is a major west tributary to the Niukluk River. The first 11 miles upstream from the mouth varies from 170 to 270 feet in elevation. The next 8 to 9 miles upstream gains another 150 feet of elevation. The lower 11 miles of the river has a pronouced floodplain over most of its length but in general the river is incised into benches and terraces that have surfaces 30 to 150 feet higher than the present drainage. Gold colors are commonly present throughout bench gravels and mining has commonly taken place where tributaries cross the benches and rework these gravels (Collier and others, 1908). Heavy mineral concentrates from various parts of the drainage commonly contain garnet and magnetite; pyrite accompanied gold at this locality (Smith, 1910). The minor gold production here was from a low schist bedrock bench and some of the gold was fairly coarse; a 0.6 ounce nugget was recovered from spotty concentrations on bedrock. The bench gravels are frozen. Bedrock in this area is Paleozoic marble (particularly on the north side of Casadepaga River) and a pelitic schist assemblage that may be Cambrian or Precambrian in age (Till and others, 1986). In general, bedrock was not exposed by early mining operations along the lower part of this river. As noted by Smith (1910), the depth to bedrock is known to vary from as much as 57 feet at the mouth of Penelope Creek (SO079) to 17 feet a half mile above the mouth of Big Four Creek (SO066).
Workings: The only information specific to this locality along the Casadepaga River is that minor placer production occurred here early in the history of the area.
Age: Quaternary; the numerous incised terraces along the Casadepaga River indicate that more than one cycle of erosion and deposition has developed placer deposits in the area. The low elevations of 170 to 270 feet along the first 11 miles of the river, suggest that Quaternary sea level fluctuations could have influenced placer development.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SO063

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References