Crooked Creek Mine, Council Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Crooked Creek Mine	Mine
Council Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: This placer mine comprises 3,500 feet of the channel of Crooked Creek, between an elevation of 350 and 450 feet; it that begins about one mile upstream from its mouth. Crooked Creek is a short, 2.3 mile long west tributary to Ophir Creek. The mouth of Crooked Creek is 7,500 feet upstream on Ophir Creek from the southern boundary of the Bendeleben quadrangle. This is locality 80 of Cobb (1972; MF 417; 1975; OFR 75-429).
Geology: Stream gravels of Crooked Creek merge with floodplain deposits of Ophir Creek where the paystreak was 250 feet wide, 6 feet thick, and contained 0.22 ounces Au per cubic yard (Collier and others, 1908; Smith and Eakin, 1911). The paystreak narrowed to 6 feet wide 0.25 mile upstream of the mouth. About three quarters of a mile above the mouth of Crooked Creek, the paystreak consisted of 5 feet of auriferous sandy clay mixed with limestone (marble) fragments; it was 20 feet wide and overlain by 6 feet of barren clay. At 1.25 miles above the mouth, the paystreak widened to 150 to 200 feet and consisted of auriferous yellow clay mixed with limestone (marble) boulders. Much of the mining in the two decades before WW II, including dredging (Cobb, 1975, OFR 75-429), probably took place here. Bedrock in the area is metasedimentary schist and marble of a Lower Paleozoic assemblage (Till and others, 1986).
Workings: Surface open-cut placer workings and dredging have taken place along this part of Crooked Creek.
Age: Quaternary; two or more cycles of placer development have occurred in the area.
Production: Placer gold from lower Crooked Creek was both coarse and rounded as well as sharp and angular with quartz attached (Smith and Eakin, 1911). Collier and others (1908) also noted fragile and crystalline placer gold that suggests a local source.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BN102

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References