Lower Willow Creek Mine, Council Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

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

Location: Lower Willow Creek is a major, west tributary to the Casadepaga River. The mouth of Lower Willow Creek is is 0.9 miles downstream from Casadepaga and across from the mouth of Ruby Creek (SO096). This is locality 76 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181). Cobb (1972, MF 445) shows the lower 5 miles of this creek as having been placer mined but Sainsbury and others (1972, OFR 511) show tailings along 1.6 miles of the drainage starting about 1.2 miles upstream rom the mouth.
Geology: This west tributary of the Casadepaga River, lower Willow Creek, is incised as much as 30 feet into terraces of its drainage and, near its mouth, terraces of the Casadepaga River. Bedrock is exposed at many locations along Lower Willow Creek (Sainsbury and others, 1972, OFR 511) and placer mining has taken place at least locally for a distance of 5 miles upstream from the mouth. Sainsbury and others (1972) show tailings along 1.6 miles of the drainage starting about 1.2 miles upstream from the mouth. Benches are present on both sides of creek but the richest were on the north bank between Cahill and Rocky Creeks where mining is reported (Smith, 1910). The gold from the active drainage was both fine and coarse with nuggets up to about 0.1 ounce. Bedrock in Lower Willow Creek is a pelitic schist assemblage that may be Cambrian or Precambrian in age that is in contact with a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage to the west (Till and others, 1986).
Workings: Placer mining has taken place at least locally for a distance of 5 miles upstream from the mouth. Sainsbury and others (1972, OFR 511) show tailings along 1.6 miles of the drainage starting about 1.2 miles upstream from the mouth. Most of the mining was between 1900 and 1915 and a dredge was operated between 1911 and 1915 (Cobb, 1972, OF 78-181).
Age: Quaternary; the numerous incised terraces along the Casadepaga River and its major tributaries (including Lower Willow Creek) indicate that more than one cycle of erosion and deposition has developed placer deposits in the area. The low elevations between 170 and 270 feet along the first 11 miles of the river, suggest that Quaternary sea level fluctuations could have influenced placer development.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SO091

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References