Sutter Creek Mine, Port Clarence Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Sutter Creek Mine	Mine
Port Clarence Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Sutter Creek is the major east tributary to Buck Creek (TE020), the principal placer tin producer in the Potato Mountain (TE024) area. Iron Creek (TE022), with headwaters on Potato Mountain, is a headwater drainage of Sutter Creek. The mouth of Sutter Creek, almost on the eastern boundary of the Teller C-6 quadrangle, is at about 225 feet elevation on Buck Creek . This creek was included with locality 29 of Cobb and Sainsbury (1972). Cobb (1975) summarized relevant references under the name 'Sutter Cr.'.
Geology: Bedrock in the northern headwaters of Sutter Creek is thermally metamorposed thin-bedded metapelite, metasandstone, and minor impure metacarbonate rocks of unknown but probable Paleozoic age. These rocks makeup the relatively resistant upland of Potato Mountain that is interpreted to be underlain at depth by biotite granite (Hudson and Reed, 1997, p. 454). Significant lode tin deposits are present in the headwaters of Iron Creek, the northern headwater fork of Sutter Creek (Mulligan, 1965). The thin (1 to 10 feet thick) alluvial gravels of the active Sutter Creek drainage contain 0 to 1 pound of tin per cubic yard. Detrital cassiterite is present upstream from the previous workings to the fork with Iron Creek. The higher grades are present in the lower part of the drainage just upstream from areas of previous mining. Some of this tin is derived from the headwaters of Iron Creek but the higher grades in the lower part of the creek (including the area of previous mining) may be related to proximity to Buck Creek.
Workings: The lower 1,000 feet of Sutter Creek has been mined, probably by a combination of hand methods and dredging. Fifty USBM churn-drill holes on 12 lines were completed between the creek mouth and the fork with Iron Creek.
Age: Quaternary
Production: A small amount of the 1,124 short tons of tin that have been produced from placers in the Potato Mountain area came from lower Sutter Creek.
Reserves: Not defined; only a few small areas of higher tin grades were identified by USBM churn-drilling.

Commodities (Major) - Sn
Development Status: Yes
Deposit Model: Alluvial tin placer (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39e)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	TE021

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References