No Grub Creek

Site Name

Primary: No Grub Creek

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Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tungsten
Secondary: Bismuth

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Fairbanks

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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: 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: Scheelite
Ore: Bismuth
Ore: Gold
Gangue: Graphite
Gangue: Quartz

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Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Historically, No Grub Creek placer has been grouped with the mines and prospects of the Richardson district. From 1905 through 1921, gold production for the Richardson district was approximately 95,000 ounces of gold and 24,000 ounces of silver (Bundtzen and Reger, 1977). During the late 1930's and early 1940's, values for two years of gold production were $43,000 and $100,000. But only 1,000 troy ounces of gold were recovered during a third year, and the operation was shut down (C.F. Shield, unpublished data, 1979).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Menzie and Foster, 1979

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was first discovered in the Salcha River area in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek (BD006) and soon extended to nearby Caribou Creek (BD009), Pasco Creek (BD031), and Gold Creek (BD015) and associated tributaries. Live water and thawed ground presented the biggest obstacles during prospecting (Prindle, 1906; B 284). No Grub Creek was reported as a major regional producer through 1915 (Brooks,1916). Smith (1942) reported No Grub Creek was mined using methods other than dredging. The property was mined hydraulically in the late 1930's and early 1940's (C.F. Shield, unpublished data, 1979). Eberlein and others (1977) report intermittent mining through the late 1970's. Exploration to determine the lode source for the placer gold is currently being conducted in the No Grub Creek drainage (R. Van Nieuwenhuyse, oral communication, 1998).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = The bedrock in the region is schist, gneiss, some granite, and minor amounts of serpentinite and marble. The schist is composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, with localized garnetiferous and marble zones. The gneiss is coarse to fine grained with various amounts of quartz, feldspar, hornblende, and biotite. They have suspected protoliths of Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks. The intrusive bodies in the area range in composition from granodiorite to quartz monzonite with Cretaceous to Tertiary K-Ar ages (Weber and others, 1978). The intrusive bodies in the area range in composition from granodiorite to quartz monzonite with Cretaceous to Tertiary K-Ar ages (Weber and others, 1978). The gravels in the region average 18 to 20 feet in thickness and contain a variety of schist, gneiss, granite, and vein quartz (Prindle, 1906). Brooks (1908) reported the fineness of the gold in the Salcha region to be higher than that mined in the Richardson district. ? It is reported that coarse gold, native bismuth, and minor scheelite were found in quartz veins in the No Grub Creek drainage (Menzie and Foster, 1979). Joesting (1942) noted an assay of gold and bismuth reported by C.F. Shield in 1938. Hasler and others (1973) report igneous and metamorphic hosted quartz veins containing variable amounts of native bismuth, bismuthinite, gold, graphite, and scheelite in the No Grub Creek drainage. Glover (1920?) reported a range in gold fineness of 868 to 878 for No Grub Creek.? Placer gold was first discovered in the Salcha River area in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on the Butte Creek (BD006) and soon extended to nearby Caribou Creek (BD009), Pasco Creek (BD031), and Gold Creek (BD015) and associated tributaries. Live water and thawed ground presented the biggest obstacles during prospecting (Prindle, 1906; B 284). No Grub Creek was reported as a major regional producer through 1915 (Brooks ,1916). Smith (1942) reported that No Grub Creek was mined using methods other than dredging. The property was mined hydraulically in the late 1930's and early 1940's (C.F. Shield, unpublished data, 1979). Eberlein and others (1977) report intermittent mining continued through the late 1970's. In 1997 and 1998, there was small-scale placer mining and prospecting along No Grub Creek (M.B. Werdon, oral communication, 1998). Exploration to determine the lode source for the placer gold is currently being conducted in the No Grub Creek drainage (R. Van Nieuwenhuyse, oral communication, 1998). ? Historically, No Grub Creek placer has been grouped with the mines and prospects of the Richardson district. From 1905 through 1921, gold production for the Richardson district was approximately 95,000 ounces of gold and 24,000 ounces of silver (Bundtzen and Reger, 1977). During the late 1930's and early 1940's, values for two years of gold production on No Grub Creek were $43,000 and $100,000. But only 1,000 troy ounces of gold were recovered during a third year, and the operation was shut down (C.F. Shield, unpublished data, 1979).

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

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References

Reference (Deposit): Glover, A.E., 1950, Placer gold fineness: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 195-1, 38 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1942, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1940: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 933-A, p. 1-102.

Reference (Deposit): Prindle, L.M., 1906, Yukon placer fields: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 284, p. 109-127.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1977, Placer deposit map of central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-168B, 64 p., 1 map, scale 1:1,000,000.

Reference (Deposit): Eberlein, G.D., Chapman, R.M., Foster, H.L., and Gassaway, J.S., 1977, Map and table describing known metalliferous and selected nonmetalliferous mineral deposits in central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-168-D, 132 p., 1 map, scale 1:1,000,000.

Reference (Deposit): Weber, F.R., Foster, H.L., Keith, T.E.C., Dusel-Bacon, C., 1978, Preliminary geologic map of the Big Delta quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-529A, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1916, Antimony deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 649, 67 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1906, The mining industry in 1905: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 284, p. 4-9.

Reference (Deposit): Hasler, J.W., Miller, M.H., and Chapman, R.M., 1973, Bismuth, in Brobst, D.A., and Pratt, W.P., eds., United States mineral resources: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 820, 722 p.

Reference (Deposit): Ellsworth, C.E., and Parker, G.L., 1911, Placer mining in the Yukon-Tanana region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480, 325 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1908, The mining industry in 1907: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 345, 294 p.

Reference (Deposit): Ellsworth, C.E., 1910, Placer mining in the Yukon-Tanana region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 442, 432 p.

Reference (Deposit): Menzie, W.D., and Foster, H.L., 1979, Metalliferous and selected nonmetalliferous mineral resource potential in the Big Delta quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-529D, 61 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Prindle, L.M., 1906, Yukon placer fields: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 284, 169 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Eberlein, G.D., 1980, Summaries of data on and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Big Delta and Tanacross quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-1086, 77 p.

Reference (Deposit): Prindle, L.M., 1913, A geologic reconnaissance of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 525, 200 p.

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