Pinnell River Mine, Fairhaven Mining District, Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Pinnell River Mine	Mine
Fairhaven Mining District	Mining District
Northwest Arctic Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Pinnell River is a major north-flowing tributary to Inmachuk River. Placer gold mining has taken place below the mouth of Old Glory Creek (BN063), especially the 3,000 feet of the active channel above the mouth (on Inmachuk River, BN067). This is part of location 72 of Cobb (1972; MF 417; 1975; OFR 75-429).
Geology: Placer gold production started on Pinnell River by 1903 (Moffit, 1905). The main channel was worked intermittently up to the late 1930's, primarily by hydraulic operations (Cobb, 1975). A terrace gravel, capped by basalt, is preserved along the west side of the Pinnell River valley in this area. Gold in the active floodplain of Pinnell River is, at least in part, probably reworked from these terrace gravels. Most of the bedrock in the area is a metasedimentary schist and marble sequence of Lower Paleozoic age (Till and others, 1986).
Workings: Surface, open-cut placer mine workings are present, especially along the lower part of the stream. Some dredging may have taken place near the mouth as well.
Age: Quaternary; two or more cycles of placer development have occurred in the area.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BN066

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References