Ptarmigan Creek Prospect, Chistochina Mining District, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Ptarmigan Creek Prospect	Prospect
Chistochina Mining District	Mining District
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Ptarmigan Creek flows east into lower Limestone Creek, which is a main tributary of the Middle Fork Chistochina River. The prospect is on Ptarmigan Creek at an elevation of about 4,000 feet, in the NE1/4NE1/4 section 9, T. 21 S., R. 16 E., Fairbanks Meridian. The location of the prospect is approximate; it is assumed to be where a prospect trail (ditch?) from upper Limestone Creek crosses Ptarmigan Creek (see the Mount Hayes A-2 quadrangle topographic map). (MH003 in the D-6 quadrangle is also named Ptarmigan Creek.)
Geology: Ptarmigan Creek was one of the properties of Middle Fork Mining Company of Seattle (Moffit, 1944) and was staked in a group of about 75 mining claims that covered parts of an auriferous bench at least 3 miles long. Ptarmigan Creek is about 3 miles long. The upper 2 miles of the creek are in a canyon incised in bedrock; the lower mile flows on a gravel bench on the west side of the Middle Fork Chistochina River. The bench is auriferous, and where prospected on Limestone (MH309), Bedrock (MH310), and Kraemer (MH311) Creeks, gravels were generally less than 40 feet thick (Moffit, 1944; Cobb, 1979 [OFR 79-238]). Results of prospecting on Ptarmigan Creek are unknown. Claims were staked in 1907 on Ptarmigan Creek for gold and platinum (Heiner and Porter, 1972).
Workings: More than 70 claims were staked on the Ptarmigan Creek bench for gold and platinum in 1907 (Heiner and Porter, 1972, Kardex site number KX68-26). Workings are unknown, but the bench dissected by Ptarmigan Creek was probably prospected with reconnaissance pits or drill holes. Claims on Ptarmigan Creek were part of the property of the Middle Fork Mining Company of Seattle in 1941 (Moffit, 1944).
Age: Pleistocene to Holocene.
Reserves: A low-grade gold resource is present on the bench of the Middle Fork Chistochina River bisected by Ptarmigan Creek (Moffit, 1944).

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: Undetermined.
Deposit Model: Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	MH312

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References