Ophir Creek

The Ophir 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: Ophir Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold

Location

State: Alaska
District: Council

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: Gold
Ore: Pyrite
Gangue: Garnet
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Ilmenite
Gangue: Magnetite

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active?

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Ophir Creek is the most important producer of placer gold in the Council district. The majority of the 707,000 ounces of gold production recorded for the Council district probably came from Ophir Creek (Hudson and DeYoung, 1978).

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary; the elevation, less than 250 feet above sea level, location proximal to Niukluk River lowlands, and the many bench deposits suggest that these placers are the result of more than one cycle of erosion and deposition and that sea level fluctuations influenced their development.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Gold was discovered in 1897 and the entire creek and many areas of bench deposits have been placer mined, much by dredging. A dredge continued to be active in the area at least as recently as 1968 and probably later.

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

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Cobb, 1978 (OF 78-181)

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Ophir Creek is the most important producer of placer gold in the Council district. The majority of the 707,000 ounces of gold production recorded for the Council district probably came from Ophir Creek (Hudson and DeYoung, 1978). Placer gold was discovered here in 1897 and extensive mining, especially dredging, has taken place over its entire length downstream from the mouth of Crooked Creek in the Bendeleben A-4 quadrangle. Benches have been mined at many places along the drainage. In the Solomon D-4 quadrangle, Ophir Creek is less than 250 feet above sea level. This low elevation suggest the possiblity that the character of Ophir Creek placer deposits was influenced by Quaternary sea level fluctuations. The presence of terrace gravels and bench placer deposits indicates that two or more cycles of placer deposit development have occurred. However, there are gold-bearing lode deposits in lower Paleozoic metasedimentary bedrock (schist and marble; Till and others, 1986) near the mouth of Ophir Creek (Smith and Eakin, 1911), the mouth of Crooked Creek (BN100), and the headwaters of Crooked Creek (BN104). The gold-bearing rocks are most commonly described as areas with small quartz or quartz-carbonate veins in schist or schistose limestone.

References

Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., Dumoulin, J.A., Gamble, B. ., Kaufman, D.S., and Carroll, P.I., 1986, Preliminary geologic map and fossil data, Soloman, Bendeleben, and southern Kotzebue quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-276, 10 p., 3 plates, 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. and Eakin, H.M., 1911, Mineral resources of Alaska 1910: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 480, 333 p..

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic resources map of the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-445, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-181, 185 p.

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