Dahl Creek

Site Name

Primary: Dahl Creek

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Commodity

Primary: Gold

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Kougarok

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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 (Geology): Geologic Description = The lower 10,000 feet of Dahl Creek has been placer mined for gold. This mining, starting as early as 1901, has been by various open-cut methods but dozer and sluice operations took place as recently as 1967 (Sainsbury and others, 1969). Some of the gold is coarse and some is intergrown with quartz. A nugget worth $200 (10 ounces?) was recovered in 1931 (Smith, 1933). The gold-bearing gravels are covered by fozen muck from which mammoth and horse bones have been recovered (Collier, 1902). Bench placers were also mined along the lower creek. This part of the creek is just west of Kougarok gravel deposits of Pliocene-Pleistocene age (Hopkins, 1963; Till and others, 1986). The bench gravels, which are about 50 feet above the active drainage and covered by 15 to 20 feet of muck, carry gold in 3 to 4 feet of gravel on a clay bottom (Collier and others, 1908). Brooks (1905) reported that drilling showed the bench gravels to a depth of 180 feet. Early reports described the alluvial pay in the main drainage to be on a false bedrock of clay below which there was a quartz gravel (Collier and others, 1908). A test shaft, which did not reach bedrock, indicated this deep gravel to be at least 187 feet thick. However, Sainsbury and others (1969) reported clay-altered zones with broken quartz veins in bedrock and concluded that the false bedrock described by early reports was instead altered bedrock. Bedrock is locally exposed in the area, primarily on the crest of nearby uplands, but Sainsbury and others (1969) note some bedrock in the drainage 7,000 feet above the mouth. All known bedrock in the area is part of a low grade, Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Sainsbury and others, 1969; Till and others, 1986). Sainsbury and others (1969) emphasize that gold placers in this area are most strongly associated with exposures of the metamorphic bedrock assemblage rather than with Kougarok gravel.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = The lower 10,000 feet of Dahl Creek has been placer mined for gold. This mining, starting as early as 1901, has been by various open-cut methods, but dozer and sluice operations took place as recently as 1967 (Sainsbury and others, 1969). At least one deep (187 feet) test shaft is reported.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Cobb, 1975 (OFR 75-429)

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

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Unnamed tributaries to Quartz Creek are reported to have scheelite in placer concentrates (Anderson, 1947).

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary

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References

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Bendeleben quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-417, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

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

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1975, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bendeleben quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-429, 123 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hopkins, D.M., 1963, Geology of the Imuruk Lake area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1141-C, p. C1-C101.

Reference (Deposit): Sainsbury, C.L., Kachadoorian, Reuban, Hudson, Travis, Smith, T.E., Richards, T.R., and Todd, W.E., 1969, Reconnaissance geologic maps and sample data, Teller A-1, A-2, A-3, B-1, B-2, B-3, C-1, and Bendeleben A-6, B-6, C-6, D-5, and D-6 quadrangles. Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 377, 49 p., 12 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1905, Placer mining in Alaska in 1904: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 259, p. 18-31.

Reference (Deposit): Collier, A.J., 1902, A reconnaissance of the northwestern portion of Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 2, 70 p.

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): Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.

Reference (Deposit): Anderson, Eskil, 1947, Mineral occurrences other than gold deposits in northwestern Alaska: Alaska Territorial Division of Mines Pamphlet 5-R, 48 p.

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