Sonora Creek Ridge Prospects, Goodpaster Mining District, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Sonora Creek Ridge Prospects	Group of Prospects
Goodpaster Mining District	Mining District
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Sonora Creek Ridge is part of the Pogo project, a joint venture of Teck Corporation, Sumitomo Metal Mining, and Sumitomo Corporation. The Teck Corporation is the principal operator of the project and can earn a 40% interest in the property.
Location: The Sonora Creek Ridge prospect is located on a ridge in the headwaters of Sonora Creek, a tributary of Central Creek (BD011). The prospect is part of a 72-square-mile claim block that includes the Pogo deposit (BD033) and parts of Central Creek. The approximate center of the prospect is in SE1/4NE1/4 section 9, T. 6 S., R. 15 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. A winter trail from Big Delta on the Richardson Highway provides access up the Goodpaster River. A 1,500-foot airstrip is also located at the mouth of Pogo Creek, about 7 miles northwest. Sonora Creek Ridge was not identified as a separate location by Cobb (1972; MF-388) or by Cobb and Eberlein (1980).
Geology: The Sonora Creek Ridge prospect is part of a 72-square-mile claim block that includes the Pogo deposit (BD033) and parts of Central Creek (BD011). The regional bedrock is composed of high grade gneisses intruded by Cretaceous granitic bodies. The area is predominantly cut by northwest-trending, high-angle faults. However, there are other high angle faults with various orientations (Smith, 1998). To the north, the region is intruded by the Cretaceous Goodpaster Batholith (Teck Resources Inc., unpublished report, 1998). A regional stream-sediment sampling program identified gold, arsenic, and tungsten anomalies at nearby Liese Creek and Pogo Creek in 1981. From 1991 to 1998, exploration of the claim block has included a total of 171,859 feet of drilling and collected 9,641 core samples and 5,508 geochemistry samples (M. Smith, oral communication, 1999). A rock sample collected during the 1998 field season from Sonora Creek Ridge contained 3 ounces/ton Au. The exploration program of the claim block identified an 8-mile-long trend of anomalous soil geochemistry extending from the Pogo deposit to the southeast (Teck Resources Inc., unpublished report, 1998).
Workings: A regional stream sediment sampling program identified gold, arsenic, and tungsten anomalies in the nearby Liese Creek and Pogo Creek in 1981. From 1991 to 1998, the exploration program of the claim block has drilled a total of 171,859 feet of drilling and collected 9,641 core samples and 5,508 geochemistry samples (M. Smith, oral communication, 1999). During the 1998 field season, a rock sample collected from Sonora Creek Ridge contained 3 ounces/ton Au. The exploration program of the claim block identified an 8 mile long trend of anomalous soil geochemistry extending from the Pogo deposit to the southeast (Teck Resources Inc., unpublished report, 1998).

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Plutonic-related mesothermal

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BD049

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References