Cooney Creek Mine, Hot Springs Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Cooney Creek Mine	Mine
Hot Springs Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Cooney Creek drains the southeastern side of Roughtop Mountain. The site of this placer mine is at an elevation of about 750 feet on Cooney Creek, in the southwest quarter of section 1, T. 3 N., R. 16 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate within about half a mile. The site corresponds to location 36 of Cobb (1972), and roughly to the site for Cooney Creek, U.S. Bureau of Land Management MAS number 0020480031.
Geology: The Cooney Creek placer deposit is in an area of low relief, most of which is covered with a blanket of Quaternary loess and alluvium. Reifenstuhl and others (1998) mapped the underlying bedrock as Triassic sedimentary rocks. The upper reaches of Cooney Creek flow across a carbonatite sill in the Triassic rocks, and its headwaters drain an area underlain by Mesozoic granitic and metamorphic rocks (Chapman and others, 1982). Gold was identified in Cooney Creek in 1912, when a large area of unevenly distributed, very low grade gold placer ground was reported (Ellsworth and Davenport, 1913). Small production was reported in 1938 (Smith, 1939 [B 917-A]). Stanley Dale and J. Neubauer were mining on Cooney Creek in 1967 (Heiner and others, 1968), and Rough Top Mining Company mined with a bulldozer and sluice operation in 1975 (Carnes, 1976; Cobb, 1981). Albert Hagen mined through Claim 1 above Discovery and on about half of the Discovery claim before and during 1988, in section 25, T. 4 N., R. 16 W. (Alaska Kardex files). In 1993, Thurman Oil and Mining mined on Cooney Creek at a placer cut started in 1988 and proceeded up the valley making 20-foot-long by 90-foot-wide cuts (Bundtzen and others, 1994; Alaska Kardex files).
Workings: Cooney Creek presumably was mined by surface workings. Gold was identified in Cooney Creek in 1912, when a large area of irregularly distributed, very low grade gold placer ground was reported (Ellsworth and Davenport, 1913). Small production was reported in 1938 (Smith, 1939 [B 917-A]). Stanley Dale and J. Neubauer were mining on Cooney Creek in 1967 (Heiner and others, 1968), and Rough Top Mining Company mined with a bulldozer and sluice operation in 1975 (Carnes, 1976; Cobb, 1981). Albert Hagen mined through Claim 1 above Discovery and on about half of the Discovery claim before and during 1988 (Alaska Kardex files). In 1993, Thurman Oil and Mining mined on Cooney Creek at a placer cut started in 1988 and proceeded up the valley making 20-foot-long by 90-foot-wide cuts (Bundtzen and others, 1994; Alaska Kardex files).
Age: Quaternary.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	TN107

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References