Cunningham Creek Mine, Fairhaven Mining District, Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Cunningham Creek Mine	Mine
Fairhaven Mining District	Mining District
Northwest Arctic Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Cunningham Creek is a west headwater tributary to Hannum Creek (BN057). Hannum Creek is a west tributary to Inmachuk River. Herried (1966) shows placer mine workings to be present 500 feet downstream of the mouth of Harrys Creek but other workings may be present between here and the confluence with Hannum Creek (Cobb, 1975). This is locality 75 of Cobb (1972; MF 417; 1975; OFR 75-429).
Geology: Placer gold mining took place as early as 1901 on Cunningham Creek when $1,200 (about 70 ounces) was said to have been recovered near its mouth (Moffit, 1905). Herried (1966) shows placer mine workings to be present 500 feet downstream of the mouth of Harrys Creek but other workings may be present between here and the confluence with Hannum Creek (Cobb, 1975, OFR 75-429). Anderson (1947) reports that a placer concentrate produced by drift mining in 1942 contained lead carbonates, pyromorphite, and galena and assayed 50 % Pb and 5.7 ounces/ton Ag. Mining from near Harrys Creek produced coarse gold and abundant galena and pyrite (Mulligan, 1965). Sulfides are also apparently present in colluvial materials along stream. Galena- and sphalerite-bearing lode deposits are present on Harrys Creek (BN055) and Hannum Creek (BN056). Bedrock of the area is a metasedimentary schist and marble sequence of Lower Paleozoic age (Till and others, 1986). Quaternary/Teritiary basalt flows locally cap ridges along stream valleys.
Workings: Open-cut surface placer mine workings are locally present between the confluence with Hannum Creek and the mouth of Harrys Creek.
Age: Quaternary

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BN113

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References