St. Marys Creek (Gulch)

The St. Marys Creek (Gulch) 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: St. Marys Creek (Gulch)

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Uranium
Secondary: Arsenic
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: REE
Secondary: Tungsten
Secondary: Titanium
Secondary: Thorium
Secondary: Antimony
Secondary: Molybdenum

Location

State: Alaska
District: Chandalar

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

Comments

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

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = See also: Big Creek (CH043).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Chipp, 1970

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Most of the early mining was by drifting or by hand. Heiner and Wolff (1968) reported drift mining in the winter of 1915. Some exploration work, including drilling and sampling, was reported in 1986 on several properties in the area, including St. Marys Creek (Bundtzen and others, 1987).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Maddren (1913) noted that most of the gold that had been produced in the Chandalar district up to that time had come from upper Big Creek and St. Marys Gulch. Despite its production, there is little information describing St. Marys Creek, which drains the area of gold quartz lode deposits in the Chandalar district (CH041-042). Chipp (1970) noted that pan samples from Big Creek and St. Marys Gulch show the gold to be bright yellow and irregular shot-like to flattened; a few crystals occur. The average grain size of the gold is said to be about 1 mm, and there are many 2- to 3-mm nuggets (Chipp, 1970). Some nuggets include quartz crystals and iron oxides. It is reported that, in addition to the gold the concentrates contain a large suite of heavy minerals including monazite(?), magnetite, hematite, rutile, pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, stibnite, molybdenite, scheelite, and uranothorianite.

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Reported to be one of the major gold producers of the Chandalar area, although there is no record of actual production.

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

References

Reference (Deposit): Maddren, A.G., 1913, The Koyukuk-Chandalar region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 532, 119 p.

Reference (Deposit): Maddren, A.G., 1910, The Koyukuk-Chandalar gold region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 442-G, p. 284-315.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1915, Mineral resources of Alaska in 1914: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622, 238 p.

Reference (Deposit): Reed, I.M., 1929, Report on mining conditions in the Chandalar district: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 31-3, 5 p.

Reference (Deposit): Chipp, E.R., 1970, Geology and geochemistry of the Chandalar area, Brooks Range, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Geologic Report 42, 39 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:36,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-457, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1973, Placer deposits of Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1374, 213 p.

Reference (Deposit): Reed, I.M., 1930, Report on the Little Squaw area of the Chandalar mining district: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 31-4, 18 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Chandalar and Wiseman quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-340, 205 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., 1909, The mining industry in 1908: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 379-A, p. 21-62.

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

Reference (Deposit): Reed, I.M., 1930, The future of the placer mining industry in Seward Peninsula and the interior of Alaska: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 195-13, 16 p.

Reference (Deposit): Anderson, Eskil, 1956, Big Creek placer deposit, Chandalar mining district, Alaska: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Prospect Evaluation 31-1, 4 p.

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): Saunders, R.H., 1959, Silver-lead occurrences in the Fairbanks district: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 194-18, 19 p., 2 maps, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Cruz, E.L., 1983, Summaries of data and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-278, 91 p.

Reference (Deposit): DeYoung, J.H., Jr., 1978, Mineral resources map of the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-878-B, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Eakins, G.R. and Forbes, R.B., 1976, Investigation of Alaska's uranium potential: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 12, 372 p., 5 sheets, scale 1:1,000,000.

Reference (Deposit): Heiner, L.E., and Wolff, E.N., eds., 1968, Mineral resources of northern Alaska, Final report, submitted to the NORTH Commission: Mineral Industry Research Laboratory, University of Alaska, Report 16, 306 p.

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Green, C.B., Deagen, J., and Daniels, C.L., 1987, Alaska's mineral industry, 1986: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Special Report 40, 68 p.

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