Greenhorn Gulch

The Greenhorn Gulch 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: Greenhorn Gulch

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver

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: Past 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: Gold

Comments

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Greenhorn Gulch is the only part of the Boulder Creek drainage that has had significant placer mining activity. Greenhorn Gulch has also been called Greenhorn Creek but it should not be confused with the much less productive 'Greenhorn Creek' that is a tributary of Bottom Dollar Creek.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = There was small-scale placer mining reported in 1896, and 1911 to 1912; however, mining was hampered by the lack of water. Recent mining activity in the 1970's and 1980's has occurred on the creek junction with Tinhorn Gulch (Yeend, 1991; Menzie and others, 1983).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The creek along Greenhorn Gulch flows north for approximately 5 km before joining Boulder Creek. Bedrock throughout the entire Greenhorn Gulch drainage is the Lower Schist unit described by Wiltse and others (1995) as slightly calcareous quartz-muscovite schist, porphyroblastic albite-quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist, and lesser amounts of quartzose porphyroblastic albite-chlorite schist and chlorite schist.? An alluvium-covered bench on the west side of the gulch is 8 to 12 m above the valley bottom and grades into the bench in Boulder Creek. The creek gravel in Greenhorn Gulch is composed of boulders up to 70 cm in diameter, but are more commonly 10 to 30 cm across. The gravel is 1 to 2 meters thick over the schist bedrock and is as much as 30 meters wide (Yeend, 1991). A fragment of vein quartz with cavities from which sulfides had been weathered out assayed 24 oz. silver per ton and contained specks of free gold (Spurr, 1898, p. 293).

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

Comment (Production): Production Notes = A 2.5 oz gold nugget was recovered in the early days of mining, and vein quartz in the gravel reportedly contained finely disseminated free gold (Spurr, 1898).

References

Reference (Deposit): Prindle, L.M., 1913, A geologic reconnaissance of the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 538, 82 p.

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.

Reference (Deposit): Barker, J.C., 1979, Trace element study of the Circle mining district, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 57-79, 74 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): 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): Ellsworth, C.E., and Davenport, R.W., 1913, Placer mining in the Yukon-Tanana region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 542, 303 p.

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

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

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): Ellsworth, C.E., 1912, Placer mining in the Fairbanks and Circle Disctricts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 520, p. 240-245.

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.

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