Latitude: 60°26'1"N
Longitude: 149°20'20"W
Carl Persson and Carol S. Huber conducted a mineral patent examination in 1995 and concluded that no discovery within the meaning of the 1872 Mining Law had been made. The patent application was subsequently dropped. A patent report is available at the Chugach National Forest office in Anchorage, Alaska.
Location: This placer is located in T. 4 N., R. 1 E., sections 16, 17, and 18 and S1/2 section 13, T. 4 N., R. 1 W. of the Seward Meridian. From its headwaters this creek flows westwardly into Trail Creek. The lower 2 miles of the creek has produced placer gold; upstream, in another 2-mile section of the creek, the stream gravels contain small amounts of gold. The map location is in the center of the lower canyon, in SE1/4 section 18. This is location 163 of Cobb and Richter (1972), location 175 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977), location 22 of Tysdal (1978 [MF-880-B]), location 163 of Cobb and Tysdal (1980), and location P-55 of Jansons and others (1984). This location is accurate to within 300 feet.
Geology: Bedrock in the drainage is slate and sandstone of the Upper Cretaceous Valdez Group (Nelson and others, 1985). Most of the Falls Creek valley is narrow and steep sided. From its headwaters, Falls Creek descends in a series of steps. The uppermost section descends rapidly along a bedrock canyon below which is a relatively gentle portion with a narrow flood plain. Another canyon area begins just below the Falls Creek mine (lode) and continues to within a mile of its junction with Trail Creek. Below the second canyon a broad alluvial fan has developed. Small amounts of gold have been found in the silty gravels a half mile above the Falls Creek mine (SR206) and in the alluvial fan gravels below the lower canyon (Jansons and others, 1984). Coarse gold has been recovered by suction dredges in the lower canyon.
Workings: Martin and others (1915) reported that all gold recovered had been taken from low benches in the canyon in the lower part of the creek and at the mouth of the canyon; they reported that the amount of gold in the canyon small, not sufficient to pay wages on pick and shovel work. In 1911, the gravel in the flats along Falls Creek between Kenai and Lower Trail Lakes was prospected by drilling. Twenty holes were drilled; depth to bedrock ranged from 10 to 23 feet. No definite pay streak was located (Martin and others, 1915). Drilling and prospect pits were dug in the 1950's on the alluvial fan below the lower canyon (Jansons and others, 1984). A small, mechanised operation worked alluvial gravel near the mouth of the lower canyon in 1980 without significant success. Suction dredging has occurred in the lower canyon area during each year since at least 1977 (Jansons and others, 1984). In 1995, a mining claimant unsuccessfully attempted to patent the BBK #2, a 9-acre placer mining claim in the lower canyon. This was a small suction dredge operation that recovered coarse nuggets. The U.S. Bureau of Mines collected two 0.1-cubic-yard samples that yielded 0.0022 and 0.0077 ounce of gold per cubic yard. A dredge sample near the Falls Creek mine (SR206) yielded only traces of mercury-coated gold (Jansons and others, 1984). Two suction dredge samples collected by the mining claimant for the patent examination at the BBK #2 yielded .075 and .028 ounces of gold per hour. An estimated 400,000 cubic yards or better of auriferous gravels are present in the alluvial deposits below the lower canyon (Jansons and others, 1984).
Age: Quaternary.
Production: The U.S. Bureau of Mines has estimated total production to be between 200 and 300 ounces (Jansons and others, 1984).
Reserves: An estimated 400,000 cubic yards or better of auriferous gravels are present in the alluvial deposits below the lower canyon (Jansons and others, 1984).
Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
References
Cobb, E.H., and Richter, D.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Seward quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-466, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000. Cobb, E.H., and Tysdal, R.G., 1980, Summaries of data on and list of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Blying Sound and Seward quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-621, 276 p. Hoekzema, R.P., and Sherman, G.E., 1983, Mineral investigations in the Chugach National Forest, Alaska (Peninsula study area): U.S. Bureau of Mines in-house report; held at U.S. Bureau of Land Management Alaska State Office, Anchorage, 524 p. Jansons, Uldis, Hoekzema, R.B., Kurtak, J.M., and Fechner, S.A., 1984, Mineral occurrences in the Chugach National Forest, southcentral Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Mineral Land Assessment 5-84, 218 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000. Johnson, B.L., 1912, Gold deposits of the Seward-Sunrise region, Kenai Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 520-E, p. 131-173. Koschmann, A.H., and Bergendahl, M.H., 1968, Principal gold producing districts of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 610, 283 p. MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous and selected non-metalliferous mineral deposits in the eastern part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-A, 99 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000. Martin, G.C., Johnson, B.L., and Grant, U.S., 1915, Geology and mineral resources of Kenai Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 587, 243 p. Moffit, F.H., 1906, Gold fields of the Turnagain Arm region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 277, p. 7-52. Nelson, S.W., Dumoulin, J. A., and Miller, M.L., 1985, Geologic map of the Chugach National Forest, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1645-B, 16 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Tysdal, R.G., 1978, Map showing placer deposits of the Seward and Blying Sound quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-880-B, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.
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