Spruce Creek

Site Name

Primary: Spruce Creek

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Commodity

Primary: Gold

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Aniak

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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

Name: Clay, Mud
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Holocene

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Gold

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Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Maddren, 1915

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Open-cut placer mining took place along lower Spruce Creek until about 1920. Some of this work included a 280-foot long, 15- to 20-foot wide, and 10-foot-deep trench built as a bedrock drain.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The lower part of Spruce Creek has been placer mined where it crosses bench deposits along Bear Creek. Gravel deposits at the mouth of the creek are as much as 400 feet thick. Gravels along the active drainage are 20 to 30 feet thick 1,500 feet upstream of the mouth, and the headwaters of the creek cut directly into bedrock. Where the alluvial deposits are 20 to 30 feet thick, they consist of 2 to 4 feet of muck, 2 to 3 feet of coarse gravel with boulders as much as 1 foot in diameter, 1 to 1.5 feet of blue clay, and brown sandy and pebbly clay to bedrock (Maddren, 1915). Most of the gold occurred in the blue and brown pebbly clays and on bedrock. Some of the gold was coarse and attached to quartz. Maddren (1915) thought that it could have been derived from the contact zone around an intrusive at the head of the creek. Bedrock in the Spruce Creek drainage includes thermally metamorphosed Jurassic volcanic rocks developed around a mid-Cretaceous granitic stock (Box and others, 1993). Spruce Creek may be the only tributary of Bear Creek that contains substantial amounts of gold derived from bedrock in its own drainage.

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

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References

Reference (Deposit): Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Box, S.E, Moll-Stalcup, E.J., Frost, T.P., and Murphy, J.M., 1993, Preliminary geologic map of the Bethel and southern Russian Mission quadrangles, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2226-A, 20 p., scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

Reference (Deposit): Maddren, A.G., 1915, Gold placers of the lower Kuskokwim with a note on copper in the Russian Mountains: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-H, p. 292-360.

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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.