Boulder Creek

The Boulder Creek 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: Boulder Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tungsten
Secondary: Bismuth
Secondary: Antimony

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

Alteration Text: Marble is altered to ankerite.

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Bismuth
Ore: Gold
Ore: Hematite
Ore: Ilmenite
Ore: Magnetite
Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Stibnite

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Boulder Creek was worked from about 1900 until as late as 1924 (Smith, 1924). It probably had a moderate amount of production. Collier and others (1908) reported that the gold was coarse but that miners in 1903 were making little more than wages. Placer mine activity was also reported in 1913 (Chapin, 1914, [B 592-L, p. 389]), 1914 (Eakin, 1915 [B 622-I, p. 370), 1916 (Mertie, 1918 [ B 662-I, p. 455]), and 1918 (Cathcart, 1920, p. 188). The miners apparently used an elevated sluice fed by a hydraulic elevator.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = An alluvial placer gold deposit was worked downstream from the Boulder Creek lode prospect (NM165) over a distance of about a mile. The locality was known shortly after the discovery of the Nome district (Collier and others, 1908, p. 196), and mining claims along the creek are patented. The paystreak varied from about 100 to 300 feet in width and was from 10 to 25 feet deep. Concentrates from Boulder Creek contained native bismuth, stibnite, hematite, ilmenite and magnetite. Scheelite occurred in the concentrates below Twin Mountain Creek (Coats, 1944). The apparent head of the paystreak is the Boulder Creek lode prospect (NM165). The Boulder Creek lode is apparently developed on subsidiary structures to the Rodine fault, a major north-northeast fault of the Nome district (Bundtzen and others, 1994). Some of the placer gold in Boulder Creek is almost certainly derived from the fault and associated mineralized structures. Lower Boulder Creek flows over mica-schist and marble bedrock; some of the marble is strongly altered to ankerite.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Collier and others, 1908

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

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

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): 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.

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.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1926, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1924: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 783-A, p. 1-39.

Reference (Deposit): Cathcart, S.H., 1920, Mining in northwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 712, p. 185-198.

Reference (Deposit): Eakin, H.M., 1915, Placer mining in Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-I, p. 366-373.

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

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