Last Chance Creek Mine (west bench), Nome Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Last Chance Creek Mine (west bench)	Mine
Nome Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: This is a small bench placer mine located on the west side of Last Chance Creek, about 2,000 feet southwest of its confluence with North Fork Snake River. It is included in locality 89 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]). The map location is in the SW1/4 section 10, T. 9 S., R. 34 W., Kateel River Meridian. Mining claims were patented under U.S. Mineral Survey No. 1838.
Geology: A bench placer was mined about 500 to 600 feet west of Last Chance Creek, immediately above its confluence with North Fork. The pit is oriented northeast, parallel to the modern drainage. The placer was mined hydraulically to bedrock for a distance of about 1,000 feet on the Calfornia Association and Good Chance Association claims (U.S. Mineral Survey No. 1838). Moffit (1913, p. 87) reported scheelite, pyrite, magnetite, and hematite from Last Chance Creek near Dewey Creek, a name not currently used. A quartz-ankerite vein cutting schistose bedrock is exposed at a bedrock drain of the cut. A sample of this vein did not contain gold, but it is similar to others in the area that are locally auriferous. Bedrock in the area is probably part of the 'mixed unit' of Till and others, 1986) and the calcareous metaturbidite schist of Bundtzen and others (1994).
Workings: This small bench placer was mined hydraulically, probably before 1926. Claims were located between 1906 and 1916; the claims were surveyed for patent in 1926, and most of the workings predate that year.
Age: Quaternary.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	NM194

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References