Charlie Creek (placer)

The Charlie Creek (placer) 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: Charlie Creek (placer)

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Titanium
Secondary: Bismuth

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: Bismuth
Ore: Bismuthinite
Ore: Gold
Ore: Rutile

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Probably inactive

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Charlie Creek was known as auriferous by 1901 (Brooks and others, 1901). The creek was mined on a small scale with sluice boxes before 1907 (Moffit, 1907). It probably has been prospected more recently.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Moffit, 1907

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Placer gold was mined on Charlie (Charley) Creek on a small scale prior to WWI (Brooks and others, 1901). Moffit (1907) reports that discovery of bismuth minerals in miners' sluice boxes led to the discovery of the bismuth-bearing quartz veins (NM048) in upper Charlie Creek (Moffit, 1907). Hummel and Chapman (1960, p. B32) reported 20 ppm bismuth from a stream sediment sample from Charlie Creek, the highest content of any creek that they sampled in the southwest Seward Peninsula except for Thomson Creek (NM036) in the Kigluaik Mountains. They also reported 300 ppm arsenic, a concentration only equaled at Rock Creek in the Nome C-1 quadrangle, suggesting the presence of arsenopyrite in the creek sediments.? Charlie Creek drains pelitic biotite-garnet schist and a highly pyritic pelitic schist (Bundzten and others, 1994). These metasedimentary rocks are probably of Precambrian or early Paleozoic protolith age (Till and Dumoulin, 1994; Bundzten and others, 1994). The schist is cut by numerous quartz veinlets in cross-joints there are a few quartz veins reportedly to be as much as 4 feet wide (Chapin, 1914 [B 592-L, p. 385-395]). The quartz veins or veinlets are probably the source of the gold, native bismuth, bismuthinite and rutile that has been reported from heavy mineral concentrates from Charlie Creek.

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

References

Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., and Dumoulin, J.A, 1994, Geology of Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H.C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, DNAG, v. G-1, p. 141-152.

Reference (Deposit): Chapin, Theodore, 1914, Placer mining on Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592-L, p. 385-395.

Reference (Deposit): Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 p.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Reger, R.D., Laird, G.M., Pinney, D.S., Clautice, K.H., Liss, S.A., and Cruse, G.R., 1994, Progress report on the geology and mineral resources of the Nome mining district: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Public Data-File 94-39, 21 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

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): Hummel, C.L., and Chapman, R.M., 1960, Geologic and economic significance of some geochemical results obtained from stream sediment samples near Nome, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 400-B, p. B30-33.

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.

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