Hot Air Bench; Last Chance Creek Prospect; Mine, Valdez Creek Mining District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Hot Air Bench; Last Chance Creek Prospect; Mine	Mine
Valdez Creek Mining District	Mining District
Matanuska-Susitna Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The Hot Air Bench gold placer prospect is on the south side of Valdez Creek on the prominent terrace between White Creek and Lucky Gulch. This site also includes a placer mine in a small gulch locally called Last Chance Creek, which is a tributary of Valdez Creek. The map site is just inside the north-central border of sec. 11, T. 20 S., R. 2 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. This location is accurate to within 100 feet.
Geology: The Hot Air Bench consists mostly of glacial-moraine gravels and of fluvial channels that cross the bench. All of the gravels are auriferous but none is rich enough to mine at this time (1999). A limited cross section is exposed in Last Chance Creek, along the lower portion of the bench, where Valdez Creek fluvial gravels are interbedded with apparently glacial-moraine gravels. In drill holes along the lower portion of the bench there was a large amount of ground water (D. L. Stevens, personal observations).
Workings: In 1986, a reconnaissance-scale drilling program tested these gravels. The Last Chance Creek gulch has been mined sporadically since the early days in the district. The most recent mining was in the mid-1980's. The gold is bright and shiny and some nuggets were found (D.L. Stevens, personal observations).
Age: Quaternary. Most of the bench probably consists of moraines from the last phase of valley glaciation.
Production: There has been very small production.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	HE206

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