Falls Creek; Little Falls Creek; Treasure Creek Mine, Yentna Mining District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Falls Creek; Little Falls Creek; Treasure Creek Mine	Mine
Yentna Mining District	Mining District
Matanuska-Susitna Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Other tributaries to Falls Creek from which placer gold has been produced are Ruby Gulch and Treasure Creek. Also see Cache Creek (TL029). Reed and others (1978) indicate that hydrothermally altered zones similar to those in the headwaters of Treasure Creek are observed along Dollar (TL031) and Thunder Creeks (TL032, TL058), at the headwaters of Dutch (TL033) and Bear Creeks (TL017) and at an unnamed locality east of McDoel Peak (TL053).
Location: C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc. (1978, Fig. 4.2-B(3)) locate this property at the headwaters of Falls Creek at the confluence of Falls, Little Falls and Ruby Gulch, tributaries to Cache Creek in the southwest quarter of Section 30, T. 28 N., R. 9 W., of the Seward Meridian.
Geology: In Falls Creek, C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc. (1978) describe auriferous bench gravels in an old southwest flowing drainage on bedrock of sedimentary rocks of the Tertiary Kenai Group. The alluvial channels are shallow, 5 to 10 feet deep. The Falls Creek channel probably represents an old southwest flowing drainage similar to those at Thunder (TL032, 058), Dollar (TL031), Nugget (TL035) and Willow ( TL042) Creeks. Quartz-breccia in these older channels previously has been described as the basal unit of the Tertiary Kenai Group (Capps, 1913). Hawley and Clark (1973) suggest that the conglomerate is younger than the Kenai Group and is the product of erosion of igneous dikes that intruded along northeast-striking normal faults. Clark and Hawley (1968) report the fineness of the gold from Falls Creek ranges from 860 to 863. Ground down to about 10 cents per bedrock foot has been mined profitably in both Cache and lower Falls Creek in the 1970s (C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978). Reed and others (1978) indicate that hydrothermally altered zones similar to those in the headwaters of Treasure Creek are observed along Dollar (TL031) and Thunder Creeks (TL032, TL058), at the headwaters of Dutch (TL033) and Bear Creeks (TL017) and at an unnamed locality east of McDoel Peak (TL053). Other tributaries to Falls Creek from which placer gold has been produced are Ruby Gulch and Treasure Creek (Smith, 1939). From these older channels gold was reconcentrated into Cache Creek (TL029).
Workings: The drainage has been prospected and mined by various small scale surface methods.
Age: Pleistocene and Tertiary (?) (Clark and Hawley, 1968).
Alteration: Hydrothermally altered zones in Falls Creek are noted by Reed and others (1978). Alteration mineralogy is not described at this site. However, based on its reported similarity to altered zones at Thunder Creek (TL032, TL058), it is most likely argillic alteration of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks.
Production: Placer mining is reported as early as 1916. Ground down to about 10 cents per bedrock foot has been mined profitably in both Cache and lower Falls Creek in the 1970s (C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	TL030

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References