The Willow Creek mining district, also known as the Independence Mine/Hatcher Pass district, is a gold-mining area in the U.S. state of Alaska. Underground hard-rock mining of gold from quartz veins accounts for most of the mineral wealth extracted from the Hatcher Pass area. The first mining efforts were placer mining of stream gravels, and placer mining in the area has continued sporadically to this day. Robert Hatcher discovered gold and staked the first claim in the Willow Creek valley in September 1906. The first lode mill in the area started operating in 1908. Underground mining continued at a variety of locations around the pass until 1951. In the 1980s one of the area's hard-rock mines was briefly re-opened. At least one mining company is actively exploring for gold in the area now. Through 2006 the district produced 667-thousand ounces of hard rock gold and 60-thousand ounces of placer gold.
The lode gold mines at Hatcher Pass exploit gold-bearing quartz (+/- Ag, W, Sb, As, Cu, Mo, Pb, Te, Zn, Hg) veins in a variety of granitic intrusive rocks and country-rock schist. Near the pass, the southwestern margin of the Tertiary-Cretaceous-age Talkeetna Mountains batholith abuts an older pelitic schist unit. The Talkeetna Mountains batholith in this area consists of a 74ma-old tonalite body to the east and a 67ma-old quartz monzonite to the west. The schist consists mainly of metamorphosed and deformed sedimentary rocks, probably of Jurassic age. Plutonic bodies and dikes of Jurassic age are found within the schist, some are deformed, some postdate deformation. Undeformed Tertiary terrastial sediments of the Chickaloon and Arkose Ridge Formations lie to the south of the Jurassic schists and intrusives. Gold deposits occur in the 74ma-old tonalite, the enclosing schist, and the Jurassic intrusives, but not in the 67ma-old quartz monzonite or in the Tertiary sediments.
Read more about Willow Creek Mining District: Independence Mine, Willow Creek Mines, Other Notable Lode-Gold Mines of The District, See Also
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