Rockybottom Creek Prospects, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Rockybottom Creek Prospects	Group of Prospects
Koyukuk Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Rockybottom Creek is a northwest-flowing tributary to the Alatna River. It joins the Alatna River about 1.5 miles north-northeast of the junction of the Alatna River and Helpmejack Creek. The prospects are about 4.6 miles east of of the junction of Rockybottom Creek and the Alatna River. The location is accurate within one-half mile.
Geology: Good colors of gold were reported on Rockybottom Creek prior to 1898 (Wyman, 1988). Mendenhall (1902) also reports gold colors and that two men were prospecting on the creek, but did not cite evidence of any significant mining. Kurtak and others (2002) collected several pans of broken-up bedrock that produced a few fine to very fine, flat gold particles. Their placer sample of a thin gravel layer on bedrock has a value of about 0.0003 ounces of gold per cubic yard. In the lower part of Rockybottom Creek, thin gravels cover Cretaceous conglomerate (Patton and Miller, 1966). Upstream the bedrock is graywacke and mudstone. The gold that has been found on the creek appears to be concentrated in fractures and depressions in the bedrock (Kurtak and others, 2002).
Workings: Apparently only prospecting.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Cobb (1973) refers to reports that indicate the gold on Rockybottom Creek could not be mined profitably.

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	HU006

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References