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

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

Location: Solomon Creek is approximately 2 1/2 miles long and is a west-flowing tributary of Poorman Creek. Coordinates are given for the approximate center of placer ground, in section 25, T. 16 S., R. 16 E., Kateel River Meridian, and correspond to location 33 of Cobb (1972 [MF405]). The location is accurate.
Geology: The bedrock underlying Solomon Creek is phyllite and slaty phyllite (Mertie, 1936). Mining began on Solomon Creek in 1921 and continued intermittently until at least 1937 (Brooks, 1923; Smith, 1939 [B910-A]). Further exploration along Solomon Creek occurred in the late 1980's when several lines of holes were drilled across the creek (Pete Haggland, oral communication, 2000). The gravel in Solomon Creek is from 1 to 5 feet thick and lies beneath 20 to 60 feet of muck. In places the gold is distributed throughout the gravel, and in other places it is found only in the foot above bedrock (Mertie, 1936). The pay streak is 15 to 80 feet wide. The gold is generally fine grained, angular, and attached to quartz. The largest nugget reported weighed 1/2 ounce (Mertie, 1936). At least one radioactive mineral was present: a uraniferous mineral of the spinel group that contains Al, Cr, Fe, Mg, Ti, and rare-earth elements as major constituents (on the basis of a qualitative spectrographic analysis) (White and Stevens, 1953). The lode source(s) for neither the gold nor the uranium has been located (Eberlein and others, 1977).
Workings: Mining began on Solomon Creek in 1921 and continued intermittently until at least 1937 (Brooks, 1923; Smith, 1939 [B910-A]). Further exploration along Solomon Creek occurred in the late 1980's when several lines of holes were drilled across the creek (Pete Haggland, oral communication, 2000).
Age: Quaternary.

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

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	RB050

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References