Crooked Creek Mines, Kantishna Mining District, Denali Borough, Alaska, USAi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Crooked Creek Mines | Group of Mines |
| Kantishna Mining District | Mining District |
| Denali Borough | Borough |
| Alaska | State |
| USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
63° 47' 58'' North , 150° 30' 0'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Group of Mines
Köppen climate type:
Crooked Creek is in Denali National Park and Preserve.
Location: Crooked Creek (Cobb, 1980 [OFR 80-853]) flows northeasterly on the east side of the Kantishna Hills for about 5 miles. The creek has been placer mined in two main segments. An upper segment is centered in section 18, T. 13 S., R. 15 W., Fairbanks Meridian. A lower segment is mainly in section 8 of the same township. For this record, the location is in the lower segment, at the boundary of the Mt. McKinley D-1 and D-2 quadrangles. Crooked Creek is number 55 of Cobb (1972 [MF 366]) and 58 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977).
Geology: Crooked Creek has a relatively narrow channel incised in bedrock walls. The valley walls are steep enough that landslide material or colluvium are probably mixed with alluvium in the creek. The creek mainly drains Birch Creek Schist. Crooked Creek has a long history of production, but there is little information about the placer deposit or the source(s) of the placer gold. Bundtzen, Smith, and Tosdal (1976) reported 0.06 to 0.15 ppm of gold in rock samples collected above the placer deposit. Bundtzen (1981, p. 164) reported that apparently barren garnet amphibolite in the Crooked Creek drainage contains free gold, and speculated that a source of the placer gold is a shear zone nearly parallel to the creek. The placer gold recovered from Crooked Creek was about 850 fine (Bundtzen, 1981, table 19). Its relatively high fineness suggests that its source is different from that of the silver-rich gold in the Little Moose Creek (MM140) and Stampede Creek (MM142) placers.
Workings: Crooked Creek was mined using relatively small mechanical equipment. The mine operated intermittently from about 1926 (Smith, 1929) until World War II (Cobb, 1980 [OFR 80-363]). The creek was also mined after 1960 (Cobb, 1973 [B 1374]).
Age: Holocene.
Production: Recorded production from Crooked Creek is less than 1000 fine ounces of gold (Cobb, 1980 [OFR 80-363]), but its long history of mining suggests that at least 1000 ounces was recovered.
Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Ag, Ti
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Au-PGE placer deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
1 valid mineral.
Detailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Native Gold Formula: Au |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Native Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| Au | Gold | |
|---|---|---|
| Au | ⓘ Native Gold | Au |
Other Databases
| Link to USGS - Alaska: | MM013 |
|---|
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North AmericaContinent
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- North America PlatformPassive Margin
- Yukon-Tanana lower DomainDomain
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