Location: Rocky Mountain Creek is an east tributary to upper Nome River. It is about 2 miles south of Christian Creek (NM073). Tailings extend about one-half mile along Rocky Mountain Creek, beginning just east of the Nome-Taylor road. The location is accurate; the coordinates are the mid-point of the placer tailings. The mine is locality 108 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).
Geology: The lower part of Rocky Mountain Creek was placer mined for gold, probably after WW II. The area was actively prospected for tungsten and other strategic metals during World War II (Coats, 1944), and native gold and small amounts of cassiterite were present with scheelite in heavy mineral concentrates. Rocky Mountain Creek was one of three creeks in the Nome area identified by Anderson (1947) as having notable amounts of cassiterite. Anderson (1947) inferred that the placer cassiterite was derived from the same veins that hosted scheelite. Lode occurrences identified above the placer mine in the Rocky Mountain Creek drainage include the Lindfors (NM080) and Spring (NM078) antimony prospects and the Thomson (NM077) antimony and zinc prospect identified by Hummel (1962 [MF 248]). Coats (1944) reported a narrow vein, mostly composed of quartz and albite but also with about 3 percent scheelite, in Rocky Mountain Creek above the placer. This scheelite occurrence may be locality 34 of Hummel (1962 [MF 248]) near the head of the creek (NM076). Bedrock in the Rocky Mountain Creek drainage is a metasedimentary schist and marble sequence (Hummel, 1962 [MF 248]).
Workings: Rocky Mountain Creek was worked as a placer mine on a small scale relatively late in the history of the district. It is not mentioned as a placer prospect in reports earlier than World War II.
Age: Holocene.

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

Select Mineral List Type

Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

ⓘ Gold

ⓘ Tin

ⓘ Tungsten

Mineral List

ⓘ Cassiterite

ⓘ Native Gold

ⓘ Scheelite

3 valid minerals.

Detailed Mineral List:

ⓘ Cassiterite

Formula: SnO₂

References:

(2008) Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) Open-File Report 2008-1225. US Geological Survey

ⓘ Native Gold

Formula: Au

References:

(2008) Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) Open-File Report 2008-1225. US Geological Survey

ⓘ Scheelite

Formula: Ca(WO₄)

References:

(2008) Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) Open-File Report 2008-1225. US Geological Survey

Gallery:

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 1 - Elements
ⓘ	Native Gold	1.AA.05	Au
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides
ⓘ	Cassiterite	4.DB.05	SnO₂
Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates
ⓘ	Scheelite	7.GA.05	Ca(WO₄)

List of minerals for each chemical element

O	Oxygen
O	ⓘ Cassiterite	SnO₂
O	ⓘ Scheelite	Ca(WO₄)
Ca	Calcium
Ca	ⓘ Scheelite	Ca(WO₄)
Sn	Tin
Sn	ⓘ Cassiterite	SnO₂
W	Tungsten
W	ⓘ Scheelite	Ca(WO₄)
Au	Gold
Au	ⓘ Native Gold	Au

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	NM082

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

North AmericaContinent

North America PlateTectonic Plate

Brooks-Seward DomainDomain
Nome ComplexAccretionary Complex

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

Anderson, Eskil, 1947, Mineral occurrences other than gold deposits in northwestern Alaska: Alaska Territorial Division of Mines Pamphlet 5-R, 48 p. Coats, R.R., 1944, Lode scheelite occurrences of the Nome area: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 17, 6 p. Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000. Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p. Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome D-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-248, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

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