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

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

Location: Elkhorn Creek is a southwest tributary to the Niukluk River. The mouth of Elkhorn Creek is 0.5 miles upstream of the mouth of Camp Creek (SO057), which is about 9 miles upriver from Council. About the lower mile, between elevations of 125 and 200 feet, have been placer mined. This is locality 114 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).
Geology: Placer mining has taken place for about a mile along the lower part of Elkhorn Creek. The drainage is incised into a terrace along the Niukluk River. Creek gravels were 2.5 feet thick near the mouth and bench deposit at the mouth consisted of 4 feet of cross-bedded sand and gravel that are overlain by 6 feet of clay, muck, and vegetation. The paystreak was apparently spotty but some coarse gold was recovered; one nugget was worth $55 (about 2.75 ounces). Quartz was commonly attached to the coarser gold and one nugget was embedded in schist (Brooks and others, 1901). Bedrock in the area is probably part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Till and others, 1986).
Workings: Small-scale surface mining took place before WW I and a dredge operated between 1914 and 1918 (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181). The lower mile of the creek has probably been extensively worked.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Production was $30,000 (about 1,450 ounces) in 1900 (Brooks and others, 1901) and totaled about $120,000 (about 6,000 ounces) by 1906 (Collier and others, 1908). Total production is probably more than 10,000 ounces (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SO056

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References