Buster Creek

The Buster 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: Buster Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold

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

Comments

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

Comment (Exploration): Status = Inactive

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Buster Creek apparently was mined from about 1900 until at least 1918; lower Buster Creek was dredged from about 1953 to 1954.

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

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Gold was discovered on Buster Creek by 1900 (Schrader and Brooks, 1900 and Brooks and others, 1901). Mining took place intermittently until 1918 and again as recently as 1954 and 1955 when a small dredge was in operation (Hummel, 1975; Cobb, 1978 [OFR 78-93]). Buster Creek was auriferous from the floodplain of Nome River upstream at least to Goodluck Gulch. Two tributaries, Grace (NM269) and Union (NM270), were also auriferous. In the canyon above the floodplain, paystreaks had formed under the modern drainage and in bench deposits. The modern creek paystreak consisted of 3-foot-thick gravels on bedrock and 1 to 2 feet of bedrock that contained coarse gold; pay was 100 feet wide about 2 miles above the mouth (Collier and others, 1908). A bench deposit opposite the mouth of Union Gulch probably continued upstream to a similar deposit in Grace Gulch. The bench deposit opposite Union Gulch was at an elevation of about 300 feet and about 100 feet higher than nearby Buster Creek. The bench channel had bedrock rims that disappeared to the west (Moffit, 1913, p. 96-97). The creek was actively mined until 1918 (Cathcart, 1920). A small dredge probably operated in 1954 on lower Basin Creek near or in the main floodplain (Hummel, 1975). Gold was reported as coarse and about 900 fine. Bedrock in the drainage is marble and schist, probably of early Paleozoic protolith age (Hummel, 1962 [MF 247]; Till and Dumoulin, 1984; Bundtzen and others, 1994). Buster Creek is bracketed by two NNE-striking faults. The faults are subparallel to the Anvil Creek fault about 2 1/2 miles northwest of Buster Creek.

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): Hummel, C.L., 1975, Mineral deposits and occurrences, and associated altered rocks, in southwest Seward Peninsula, western Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 75-2, 1 sheet, scale 1:125,000.

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

Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome C-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-247, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., and Dumoulin, J.A, 1994, Geology of Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H.C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, DNAG, v. G-1, p. 141-152.

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): Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 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): Brooks, A.H., Richardson, G. B., and Collier, A. J., 1901, Reconnaissance in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay regions, Alaska, in 1900: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, p. 1-180.

Reference (Deposit): Schrader, F.C., and Brooks, A.H., 1900, Preliminary report on the Cape Nome gold region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, 56 p.

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