Dese Creek Mine, Port Clarence Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Dese Creek Mine	Mine
Port Clarence Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Dese Creek is a north-flowing stream whose mouth is on the southeast shore of Grantley Harbor, 7 miles southeast of Teller. As mapped by Sainsbury and others (1969), placer mining operations took place along 1.5 miles of the main drainage at surface elevations of 45 to 180 feet. This is locality 86 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Dese Cr.'.
Geology: Bedrock in the Dese Creek drainage is a metapelitic sequence with local metamorphosed mafic intrusive bodies (Sainsbury, 1972). In places, the retrograded greenschist facies mafic bodies preserve remnant blueschist facies minerals. The age of this assemblage is unknown but it is probably Paleozoic. Sainsbury and others (1969) mapped placer workings along 1.5 miles of the main drainage at surface elevations of 45 to 180 feet. Mining took place primarily between 1927 and 1946 and included several years of dredge operations (Cobb, 1975). Heavy mineral concentrates from placer operations contained cinnabar. Sainsbury and others (1969) report anomalous mercury levels in stream sediments above the area of placer operations. The character of the placer deposit has not been described. The area is low enough that Quaternary marine transgressions could have affected the placer deposit.
Workings: Placer mining operations, mostly dredging, have taken place along 1.5 miles of the main drainage between surface elevations of 45 and about 180 feet.
Age: Quaternary
Production: Not known
Reserves: Not defined

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Hg
Development Status: Yes
Deposit Model: Alluvial Au placer (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	TE091

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References