Meketchum Creek Mine, Ruby Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Meketchum Creek Mine	Mine
Ruby Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Meketchum Creek is location 26 of Cobb (1972; MF405). Meketchum Creek is a southwest-flowing tributary of the Sulatna River and is about 3 miles long. The placer ground extends for 3,000 feet upstream from the intersection of the winter trail and the light duty road marked on the Ruby A-5 quadrangle USGS topographic map (1952, minor revisions in 1973). This site corresponds to location 26 of Cobb (1972 [MF405]), and the coordinates are for the approximate center of the placer tailings, in section 11, T. 15 S., R. 17 E., Kateel River Meridian. The location is accurate.
Geology: The bedrock under Meketchum Creek is greenstone (Mertie, 1936). Gold was discovered in 1917, but it was too deep for easy recovery. Drift mining occurred from 1929 to at least 1934 (Mertie, 1936; Cobb and Chapman, 1981). The pay streak extends for about 3,000 feet along the creek and is distributed through 10 to 20 feet of gravel, beneath 60 to 70 feet of muck. Farther upstream the gravel is 2 to 3 feet thick, and the gold is on or near bedrock. The gravel is subangular greenstone, and much of the gold is coarse. The mean of two assays shows 918 parts gold per thousand and 76 parts silver per thousand (Mertie, 1936).
Workings: Drift mining took place along Meketchum Creek between 1929 and 1934 (Eberlein and others, 1977).
Age: Quaternary.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	RB059

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References