The West 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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West Creek MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: West Creek
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Location
State: Alaska
District: Nome
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: Arsenopyrite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Pyrite
Gangue: Magnetite
Gangue: Garnet
Comments
Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Placer mining was mostly by small-scale methods but a dryland-dredge on tracks operated in 1908-11. Some open-cut (dozer ?) mining took place in the 1930's (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181).
Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive
Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Brooks and others, 1901
Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Placer mining took place over about the lower 1.5 miles of the West Creek, between elevations of 175 to 300 feet. Gold-bearing gravels were 3 to 4 feet thick on bedrock; gold coarseness increased upstream. Crevices and cracks in marble bedrock locally controled gold deposition and gold was concentrated on a false clay bedrock in places. A 0.2 ounce gold nugget with quartz was found embedded in schist and heavy mineral concentrate contained arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, garnet, magnetite, and pyrite (Brooks and others, 1901). Bedrock is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Sainsbury and others, 1972, OFR 511; Till and others, 1986).
Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.
References
Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., Dumoulin, J.A., Gamble, B. ., Kaufman, D.S., and Carroll, P.I., 1986, Preliminary geologic map and fossil data, Soloman, Bendeleben, and southern Kotzebue quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-276, 10 p., 3 plates, scale 1:250,000.
Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic resources map of the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-445, scale 1:250,000.
Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-181, 185 p.
Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., Richardson, G. B., and Collier, A. J., 1901, Reconnaissance in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay regions, Alaska, in 1900: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, p. 1-180.
Reference (Deposit): Sainsbury, C.L., Hudson, T.L., Ewing, R., and Marsh, W.R., 1972, Reconnaissance geologic maps of the Solomon D-5 and C-5 quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 511, 12 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.
The Top Ten Gold Producing States
These ten states contributed the most to the gold production that built the West from 1848 through the 1930s. The Top Ten Gold Producing States.
