Tatalina Creek Mine, Iditarod Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

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

Location: What is locally called Tatalina Creek has its headwaters just west of VABM Tatalina; it flows about 2 miles north-northwest to Carl Creek. One of the reporters of this record (T.K. Bundtzen) collected anomalous panned concentrates in upper Tatalina Creek in 1978. The coordinates reflect the location of that sampling at an elevation of about 1,200 feet. However there was also some placer mining along Tatalina Creek prior to 1917 but the location is uncertain. A placer gold prospect with the same name has also been located in the McGrath quadrangle south of Candle Hills (Bundtzen, 1999).
Geology: Tatalina Creek which has its headwaters near VABM Tatalina, flows about 2 miles north-northwest to Carl Creek. Unpublished U.S. Mint records indicate prospecting in Tatalina Creek in 1917 and 1918 and the production of about 18 ounces of placer gold. However, the location of this production is uncertain (Wimmler, 1927). Heavy-mineral-concentrate samples were collected by Bundtzen, Cox and Veach (1987) in Tatalina Creek at an elevation of about 1,200 feet. The samples contained anomalous values of lead, silver, arsenic, and gold; the heavy minerals in the samples include magnetite, galena, ilmenite, crossite, and fluorapatite (Bundtzen and others, 1987). The base-metal deposit in tourmaline hornfels upstream near VABM Tatalina (ID044) is the possible source of the anomalous samples in Tatalina Creek.
Workings: There are old placer tailings in Tatalina Creek. Panned-concentrate samples were collected by the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys in 1978 and by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1985 (Bundtzen and Laird, 1983; McGimsey and others, 1988; Bennett and others, 1988). Anaconda Minerals Company took stream-sediment samples in Carl and other tributary creeks in 1981; they reportedly contained five to ten times above background values for lead, zinc, and silver (D.B. Obolewicz, written communication, 1981).
Age: Probably Quaternary.
Production: Unpublished U.S. Mint records show that Tatalina Creek was prospected in 1917 and 1918 and about 18 ounces of placer gold were recovered (Wimmler, 1927).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	ID043

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References