Little Squaw Creek Mine, Chandalar Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Little Squaw Creek Mine	Mine
Chandalar Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The Little Squaw Creek placer mine is approximately 2 miles southeast of the southeast end of Squaw Lake. Placer mining has taken place on the lower portion of the creek, generally in the NW1/4 sec. 26, T. 32 N., R. 3 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian, and as shown on fig. 2 in Chipp (1970). The location is accurate.
Geology: Little Squaw Creek has been placer mined by surface and underground workings, mostly by small-scale drift mining in the old channels. Gold was discovered on Little Squaw Creek in 1905, and mining was reported in most years through 1940, with further activity noted as late as the mid-1980s. In 1983, bulk sampling indicated average grades of $11 to $16 per cubic yard (gold at $400 per ounce) (Alaska Construction and Oil, 1984). Average fineness of the gold was reported as 848 (Mertie, 1925, p. 258). Little Squaw Creek drains an area of auriferous quartz veins of the Chandalar district (CH040 through CH042) that are the presumed source of the placer gold. Mertie (1925, p. 254-259, 263) described the complex glacial history for the creek. The creek was dammed by ice in the North Fork Chandalar River valley during part of Pleistocene, and this damming resulted in both pre- and post-glacial channel and bench deposits along Little Squaw Creek. The creek and bench gravels are mixed with no distinct boundaries. The upper part of the drainage is described as having gold on bedrock, while farther downstream the pay streak runs onto false bedrock in glacial gravels (Mertie, 1925). Post-glacial deposits, mainly along the lower course of the stream, are composed of 25 to 50 feet of glacial till overlain by 55 to 100 feet of gravel. The pre-glacial deposits, mainly along the upper stream course, are about 35 feet thick, with coarse gold in the upper 2 to 3 feet of bedrock. The placer concentrates contain, in addition to gold, a variety of other minerals, including pyrite, hematite, arsenopyrite, scheelite, galena, and monazite. In 2004, Little Squaw Gold Mining Company controlled 8,550 acres of patented and unpatented mining claims in the Chandalar district which may include all or part of Little Squaw Creek. This company contracted a district-scale analysis of the placer and lode gold potential of the district by Pacific Rim Geological Consulting, Inc. This study was completed in April, 2004 (Barker and Bundtzen, 2004).
Workings: Little Squaw Creek has been placer mined by surface and underground workings, mostly by small-scale drift mining in the old channels. Gold was discovered on Little Squaw Creek in 1905, and mining was reported in most years through 1940, with further activity noted as late as the mid-1980s. In 2004, Little Squaw Gold Mining Company controlled 8,550 acres of patented and unpatented mining claims in the Chandalar district which may include all or part of Little Squaw Creek. This company contracted a district-scale analysis of the placer and lode gold potential of the district by Pacific Rim Geological Consulting, Inc. This study was completed in April, 2004 (Barker and Bundtzen, 2004).
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Significant production but exact figures are unavailable.
Reserves: Alaska Construction and Oil (1984) reported that Canadian Barranca Ltd., Inc., the operator in 1984, considered placer reserves in Tobin Creek, Little Squaw Creek, and two additional unnamed creeks in the area to be at least 100,000 ounces of gold, with potential for as much as 500,000 ounces.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CH039

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References