Butterfield Canyon

The Butterfield Canyon 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: Butterfield Canyon

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tungsten

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: Gold
Ore: Scheelite
Gangue: Albite

Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = This report

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Butterfield Creek was worked largely by hand methods above its confluence with Bangor Creek. The creek was probably mined mainly before 1930. In 1992, Kennecott Exploration Company mapped the geology and collected soil samples in the area and found an extensive gold anomaly on the flank of Butterfield Creek above the placer mine; this zone is almost certainly part of the source of the pay in Butterfield and Bangor Creeks.

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

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Butterfield Creek has been placer mined for approximately 2,000 feet above its confluence with Bangor Creek (NM192). The source of the placer gold appears to be lode deposits at an elevation of 400 to 500 feet southeast of the placer workings. This zone is marked by scattered boulders of white quartz with 1 to 2 percent disseminated galena and a 2,000-foot-long, east-west-oriented soil anomaly containing as much as 895 ppb gold and 3,720 ppm arsenic (Kennecott Exploration Company, written communication,1993). The anomaly terminates sharply upslope, suggesting an east-west linear source.? the placer deposit appears to have contained sulfidized albite. A small dump on the south side of the creek mainly contains auriferous, iron-stained albite. The dump probably represents either placer clean-up or tailings from a hard-rock mill or arrastre. The presence of auriferous albite suggests that the source of the placer gold is of the albite-rich type like that at Twin Mountain (NM186), Goodluck Gulch (NM202), and Sophie Gulch (NM208). Rocks such as these could have also contributed scheelite that is reported to be abundant in Bangor Creek below its confluence with Butterfield Creek (Thorne and others, 1948). Most of the mining along Butterfield Creek was probably done around 1900 by shovel-in methods.? Country rock is calcareous metaturbidite schist (Bundtzen and others, 1994). This schist is composed mainly of quartz, calcite, feldspar, mica and opaques. Graphitic quartz schist crops out on the southeast flank of the creek near the upper limit of placer pay.

References

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): Thorne, R.L., Muir, N.M., Erickson, A.W., Thomas, B. I., Hedie, H. E., and Wright, W. S., 1948, Tungsten deposits of Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4174, 22 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

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