Gold Dust Creek

The Gold Dust Creek is a gold mine located in Alaska.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

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Site Name

Primary: Gold Dust Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tungsten
Secondary: Titanium
Secondary: Iron

Location

State: Alaska
District: Circle

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

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

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Hematite
Ore: Ilmenite
Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Yeend, 1991; Menzie and others, 1983.

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

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Most of Gold Dust Creek flows within the Upper Quartzite and Upper Schist units described by Wiltse and others (1995). The Upper Schist is a mixed unit of variably garnetiferous pelitic quartz-muscovite schist, muscovite-quartz schist, chlorite-quartz-muscovite schist, and layers tens of meters thick of garnetiferous, calcareous albite-porphyroblastic muscovite-chlorite schist. The Upper Quartzite unit is a prophyroblastic albite-chlorite-muscovite-quartz schist.? Gravel clasts in the creek are subangular to subrounded and are commonly as much as 30 cm in diameter. The area of mined gravel is approximately 70 m wide for most of the creek length, with an average gravel thickness of 4 m. Average gold values were 0.007 to 0.01 ounces per cubic yard (Menzie and others, 1983). Concentrates include ilmenite granules up to 0.5 cm, hematite nodules up to 2 cm, along with pyrite and scheelite (Menzie and others, 1983). Galena-bearing boulders have been found in previously placer mined creek gravels by John Mitchell in the late 1980's.? Mining was reported shortly after drilling in 1936 (Mertie, 1938, p. 231). There were two active placer operations during 1975, but little is known about productivity (Eberlein and others, 1977, p. 20). Simple sluicebox operations used in the early 1980's were moderatly to highly efficient in recovering coarse gold, but low in recovering fine gold. As a result, research by the local miners led to the use of a sophisticated washing plant with jigs. Gold in the 120 to 400 mesh range was routinely recovered with the new system (Yeend, 1991). In 1995, Alpine Exploration Co. conducted 1400 feet of reverse circulation drilling to explore veins found during earlier placer mining (Bundtzen and others, 1995). About 8 km of the ll km long creek has been mined, but the upper 3 km has a steep gradient and contains little gravel, and so it remains unmined (Yeend, 1991).

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Mining was reported shortly after drilling in 1936 (Mertie, 1938, p. 231). There were two active placer operations during 1975. Simple sluicebox operations used in the early 1980's were moderatly to highly efficient in recovering coarse gold, but low in recovering fine gold. As a result, research by the local miners led to the use of a sophisticated washing plant with jigs. Gold in the 120 to 400 mesh range was routinely recovered with the new system (Yeend, 1991). In 1995, Alpine Exploration Co. conducted 1400 feet of reverse circulation drilling to explore veins found during earlier placer mining (Bundtzen and others, 1995). About 8 km of the ll km long creek has been mined, but the upper 3 km has a steep gradient and contains little gravel, and so it remains unmined (Yeend, 1991).

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Average gold values were 0.007 to 0.01 ounces per cubic yard (Menzie and others, 1983). There were two active placer operations in 1975 but little is known of productivity (Eberlein and others, 1977, p. 20).

References

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T. K., Swainbank, R. C., Clough A.H., Henning, M. W., and Charlie, K. M., 1995, Alaska's mineral industry 1995: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 50, 72 p.

Reference (Deposit): Eakins, G.R., Jones, B.K. and Forbes, R.B., 1977, Investigation of Alaska's uranium potential: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Open-File Report 109, 213 p., 10 sheets, scale 1:40,000.

Reference (Deposit): Carnes, D.R., 1976, Active Alaskan placer operations, 1975: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 98-76, 90 p., 40 maps.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-633, 72 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Misc. Field Studies Map MF-391, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Wiltse, M.A., Reger, R.D., Newberry, R.J, Pessel, G.H., Pinney, D.S., Robinson, M.S., and Solie, D.N., 1995, Bedrock geologic map of the Circle mining district, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Report of Investigations 95-02b, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1938, Gold placers of the Fortymile, Eagle, and Circle districts, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 897-C, p. 133-261.

Reference (Deposit): Yeend, W.E., 1985, Trace elements of placer gold: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 945, p. 4-7.

Reference (Deposit): Eakins, G.R., Bundtzen, T.K., Lueck, L.L. Green, C.B., Gallagher, J.L., and Robinson, M.S., 1985, Alaska mineral industry, 1984: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 38, 57p.

Reference (Deposit): Yeend, W.E., 1991, Gold placers of the Circle district, Alaska - past, present, and future: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1943, 42 p.

Reference (Deposit): Menzie, W.D., Foster, H.L., Tripp, R.B., and Yeend, W.E., 1983, Mineral resource assessment of the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-170-B, 61 p., 1 sheet, 1:250,000.

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