Elephant Creek Mine, Marshall Mining District, Kusilvak Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Elephant Creek Mine	Mine
Marshall Mining District	Mining District
Kusilvak Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Elephant Creek flows north to Wilson Creek from headwaters 1.7 miles east of the summit of Mount Okumiak. Placer mining may have taken place at least locally along about 2 miles of its length. The map site is at an elevation of about 350 feet in the southeast corner of sec. 35, T. 21 N., R. 69 W., of the Seward Meridian. This is locality 9 of Hoare and Cobb (1972, 1977).
Geology: The trail development along Elephant Creek suggests that placer gold mining may have taken place at least locally along about 2 miles of its length upstream from Wilson Creek (RM002). The placer gold was discovered in 1914, and hydraulic mining was under way by 1916. The gold is in modern stream deposits and is accompanied by minor scheelite (Joesting, 1942). Bedrock in the Elephant Creek drainage is sedimentary and igneous rocks of the Gemuk Group that are locally intruded by Mesozoic or Tertiary granitic rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1959). The sedimentary rocks include chert, siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate, and the intrusive rocks include biotite quartz monzonite, diorite, gabbro, hornblende porphyry, and felsic rocks (Bull and Schneider, 1997).
Workings: Underground mining methods were used before 1916; hydraulic methods were used from 1916 intermittently until at least 1940.
Age: Quaternary.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	RM004

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References