Gold Creek

Site Name

Primary: Gold Creek

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Antimony

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Koyukuk

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Land Status

Not available

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Stibnite
Ore: Gold

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Comments

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Gold fineness reported to range between 900 and 931. Alaska Kardex Nos. 031-030, 031-104, 031-103, 031-102, 031-101, 031-100, 031-099, 031-098, 031-092, 031-091, 031-088, 031-066 (Kardex is a card file mining claim information system located at the State of Alaska DNR Public Information Center in Fairbanks).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Placer gold has been mined in Gold Creek from the present stream channel in gravels reported to be 2 to 7 feet deep; from a deeply buried channel approximately 50 to 100 feet below the present channel; and from benches about 8 feet above the present channel. The gravel in the present channel is coarse and waterworn, with many boulders. The gravel from one place in the deep channel is fairly fine, with only a few boulders. The ancestral Gold Creek originally flowed to the Middle Fork through what is now lower Linda Creek, but glacial drainage derangement or stream capture diverted the lower mile to its present course. Reed (1938) described the bedrock of Gold Creek as schist cut by a diorite dike a short distance upstream from the mouth of Magnet Creek. Dillon and Reifenstuhl (1995) mapped the country rocks in most of the Gold Creek drainage as sedimentary units of the Beaucoup Formation; other rocks present are a sequence of Devonian carbonaceous, siliceous, and calcareous sedimentary and felsic volcanic rocks and one occurrence of Devonian metabasite, which may correspond to the diorite dike described by Reed. The richest placers were between constrictions in the valley caused by resistant schist and diorite. The richest claim was at the mouth of Magnet Creek, just downstream from the diorite dike. Values from various operations along the creek were reported by Reed (1938) to run from about $0.25 to $1.50 per square foot of bedrock. Most of the gold forms smooth, shot-like pieces and small nuggets, but some pieces from high on the creek are angular and may not have been transported far. Angular fragments of stibnite in quartz have been found in the gravels, and some pyritization has been noted in the schist bedrock.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Reed, 1938

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Surface and underground drift mining in the early days. Later mining activity was undoubtedly mechanized, but there is no description of this activity.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Gold was discovered in Gold Creek during the summer of 1900, and it was one of the first creeks to be mined in the district (Reed, 1938). Since then it has been a significant producer. The creek was mined in most years until around 1916, and mining continued sporadically after that, probably to the present (1998). The stream course has been mined for about 8 miles. Values reported by Reed (1938) ranged from $0.25 to $1.50 per square foot of bedrock. Production through 1909 was estimated by Maddren (1913) to be approximately $232,000.

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

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References

Reference (Deposit): Dillon, J.T., and Reifenstuhl, R.R., 1995, Geologic map of the Chandalar C-6 quadrangle, southeastern Brooks Range, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Professional Report 105, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): DeYoung, J.H., Jr., 1978, Mineral resources map of the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-878-B, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Dillon, J.T., 1982, Source of lode and placer gold deposits of the Chandalar and upper Koyukuk Districts: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Open-File Report 158, 25 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S. 1939, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1937: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 910-A, p. 1-113.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1931: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 844-A, p. 1-82.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1936, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1934: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 868-A, p. 1-91.

Reference (Deposit): U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1978, Mineral appraisal of the proposed Gates of the Arctic Wilderness National Park, Alaska, A preliminary comment: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 109-78, 29 p., 4 sheets.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Chandalar and Wiseman quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-340, 205 p.

Reference (Deposit): Mulligan, J.J., 1974, Mineral resources of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline corridor: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8626, 24 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1915, Mineral resources of Alaska in 1914: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622, 238 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1916, Antimony deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 649, 67 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1916, Antimony deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 649, 67 p.

Reference (Deposit): Maddren, A.G., 1913, The Koyukuk-Chandalar region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 532, 119 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1938: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 917-A, p. 1-113.

Reference (Deposit): Heiner, L.E., and Wolff, E.N., eds., 1968, Mineral resources of northern Alaska, Final report, submitted to the NORTH Commission: Mineral Industry Research Laboratory, University of Alaska, Report 16, 306 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1973, Placer deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1374, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Schrader, F.C., 1904, A reconnaissance in northern Alaska across the Rocky Mountains, along Koyukuk, John, Anaktuvuk, and Colville rivers and the Arctic coast to Cape Lisburne, in 1901, with notes by W.J. Peters: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 20, 139 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-457, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Brosgi, W.P., and Reiser, H.N., 1972, Geochemical reconnaissance in the Wiseman and Chandalar districts and adjacent region, southern Brooks Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 709, 21 p.

Reference (Deposit): Grybeck, D.J., 1977, Known mineral deposits of the Brooks Range, Alaska: US Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-166C, 41 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Swainbank, R.C., Deagen, J.R. and Moore, J.L., 1990, Alaska's mineral industry 1989: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 44, 100 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1908, The mining industry in 1907: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 345, 294 p.

Reference (Deposit): Dillon, J.T., Lamal, K.K., and Huber, J.A., 1989, Gold deposits in the upper Koyukuk and Chandalar mining districts, in Mull, C.G., and Adams, K.E., eds., Bedrock geology of the eastern Koyukuk Basin, central Brooks Range, and east-central Arctic Slope along the Dalton Highway, Yukon River to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Guidebook 7, 2 v., 309 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:125,000 and 1:2,851,200.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1918, Mineral resources of Alaska, 1916: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 662, 469 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Cruz, E.L., 1983, Summaries of data and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-278, 91 p.

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