Lower Dry Creek

The Lower Dry 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: Lower Dry Creek

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: 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: Hematite
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Scheelite
Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Moffit, 1913

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a). Placer deposits were of several types including fluvial, marine, and complex fluvial-marine.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active?

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Most of the mining on the lower part of Dry Creek was probably by open cut or dredging; dredges were reported to be operating on Dry Creek almost every year from 1920 to 1938. Mining took place up to at least 1995.

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Most of Dry Creek, starting about 1 mile upstream from its mouth, is auriferous. The placer deposit described in this record is the stretch from about Blind Gulch, where Dry Creek crosses the trend of Intermediate Beach (NM287), upstream to the mouth of Newton Gulch. Mining took place as early as 1900 and in most subsequent years to 1938 (Cobb, 1978 [OFR 78-93]). Most of the mining on the lower part of the creek was probably by open cut or dredging; dredges were reported to be operating on Dry Creek almost every year from 1920 to 1938. Dredging was resumed in this area in about 1975, and a dredge operated until 1994. The first deposits mined on lower Dry Creek were shallow and fairly small. A shallow pay streak about 1 mile upstream from the mouth was 150 feet wide and 3 to 5 feet thick on a clay bottom; it commonly ran a little more than 0.2 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Moffit, 1913, p. 90-91); concentrates included hematite, pyrite, and scheelite. These deposits were partly mined with dredges with digging capacity of 10 to 20 feet (Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942, p. 26). In later years, buried deposits were extensively mined along modern Dry Creek. These deposits include some related to Third Beach and Intermediate Beach; the eastern extension of Submarine Beach is probably near the mouth of Dry Creek (Moffit, 1913, p. 118). Dry Creek marks the eastern limit of the richest part of Third Beach (Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942). Dry Creek was an active drainage during Third Beach time, dumping gold-bearing alluvium directly into the Third Beach sea (Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942, p. 37). The deeper deposits below the Third Beach strandline and on abrasion platforms such as Intermediate Beach were mined until 1995 by dredges with as much as 80-foot digging capacity; locally, some of the deep deposits were naturally thawed.

References

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): Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 p.

Reference (Deposit): Metcalfe, J.B., and Tuck, Ralph, 1942, Placer gold deposits of the Nome district, Alaska: Report for U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Co., 175 p.

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