Miller Creek

Site Name

Primary: Miller Creek

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Commodity

Primary: Gold

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Circle

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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: Past 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: Gold

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Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = See also Mammoth Creek, ARDF no. CI036, Independence Creek, ARDF no. CI029 and Mastodon Creek, ARDF no. CI037.

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

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was mined intermittently from 1895 to 1940 but there are no data on production (Cobb, 1976, p. 47, [OFR 76-633]). Hydraulic mining was common throughout the district in the middle 20th century and only the thin, muck-covered, low-grade gravel was left unmined. In the early 1980's, only one mining operation was active near the mouth of Miller Creek. That operation involved thawing and moving a 10 meter thick section of gravel (Wilkinson, 1984).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Cobb, 1976, OFR 76-633.

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Placer gold was mined intermittently from 1895 to 1940, and in the early 1980's one mining operation was active near the mouth of Miller Creek, but there are no data on production (Cobb, 1976, p. 47, [OFR 76-633]; Wilkinson, 1984).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Miller Creek is approximately 8 km in length and empties into Mammoth Creek about 2 km below the mouth of Mastodon Creek. The upper part of Miller Creek is underlain by the Middle Schist and Quartzite unit described by Wiltse and others (1995) as fine- to medium-grained quartz-muscovite schist, porphyroblastic albite-quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist, and lesser amounts of quartzose porphyroblastic albite-chlorite-schist. The lower part of the creek, including the confluence with Mammoth Creek, is underlain by the Lower Schist, a unit consisting of slightly calcareous quartz-muscovite schist, prophyroblastic albite-quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist, and lesser amounts of quartzose, porphyroblastic albite-chlorite schist and chlorite schist. Tertiary biotite granite crops out in the lower one half mile of the creek (Freeman and others, 1988).? In the lower valley, gravel thickness is 2 to 3 meters and overlying muck is 1 to 2 meters thick. Clasts in Miller Creek gravel are subangular to well-rounded and are as much as 1 meter in diameter (Yeend, 1991). Locally, a 1 meter thick bed of clay is present at the base of the gravel (Mertie, 1938). Most gold was recovered from the lower meter of gravel and at the gravel-bedrock contact in a width across the valley ranging from 15 to 20 meters. The gold formed fine flat scales and only a few nuggets weighing as much as 1 ounce were recovered (Mertie, 1938). Analyses of two sets of 7 assays gave weighted mean values of fineness of 832 Au and162 Ag, and 838 Au and153 Ag (Mertie, 1938).? Placer gold was mined intermittently from 1895 to 1940 but there are no data on production (Cobb, 1976, p. 47, [OFR 76-633]). Hydraulic mining was common throughout the district in the middle 20th century and only the thin, muck-covered, low-grade gravel was left unmined. In the early 1980's, only one mining operation was active near the mouth of Miller Creek. That operation involved thawing and moving a 10 meter thick section of gravel (Wilkinson, 1984).

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References

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1932: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 857-A, p. 1-91.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1931: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 844-A, p. 1-81.

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): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1930: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 836-A, p. 1-83.

Reference (Deposit): Purington, C.W., 1905, Methods and costs of gravel and placer mining in Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 263, 273 p.

Reference (Deposit): Prindle, L.M., 1905, The gold placers of the Fortymile, Birch Creek, and Fairbanks regions, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 251, 89 p.

Reference (Deposit): Freeman, C.J., Adams, D.D., Balla, J.C., and Metz, P.A., 1988, Circle joint venture 1988 final report: Fairbanks, Alaska, Fairbanks Exploration Inc. 23 p.

Reference (Deposit): Wilkinson, Fred, 1984, Excavating frozen muck, in Sixth Annual Conference on Alaskan Placer Mining: Fairbanks, University of Alaska Mineral Industry Research Laboratory Report 69, p. 20-22.

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

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., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1933: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 864-A, p. 1-94.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1930: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 836, p. 1-83.

Reference (Deposit): Spurr, J.E., 1898, Geology of the Yukon gold district, Alaska, with an introductory chapter on the history and conditions of the district to 1897 by H.B. Goodrich: U.S. Geological Survey 18th Annual Report, Part 3, p. 87-392.

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., 1932, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1929, in Smith, P.S., and others Mineral resources of Alaska, report on progress of investigations in 1929: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 824-A, p. 1-81.

Reference (Deposit): Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1932, Mining in the Circle district: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 824, p. 155-172.

Reference (Deposit): Burand, W.M., 1965, A geochemical investigation between Chatanika and Circle hot springs, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geochemical Report 5, 11 p.

Reference (Deposit): Martin, G.C., 1919, Alaska Mining Industry in 1917: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 692, p. 11-42

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1904, Placer mining in Alaska in 1903: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 225, p. 43-59.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1937, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1935: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 880-A, p. 1-95.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1938, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1936: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 897-A, p. 1-107.

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

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.

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): Ellsworth, C.E., 1910, Placer mining in the Yukon-Tanana region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 442, 432 p.

Reference (Deposit): Ellsworth, C.E., and Parker, G.L., 1911, Placer mining in the Yukon-Tanana region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480, 325 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1907, The Alaskan mining industry in 1906: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 314, p. 19-39.

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