The Butte Creek District is a gold mine located in Butte county, California.
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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Butte Creek District MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Butte Creek District
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Location
State: California
County: Butte
District: Butte Creek District
Land Status
Not available
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Not available
Ownership
Not available
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: District
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Stream placer
Operation Type: Surface-Underground
Discovery Year: 1849
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S
Physiography
Not available
Mineral Deposit Model
Model Name: Placer Au-PGE
Orebody
Form: Irregular
Structure
Not available
Alterations
Not available
Rocks
Name: Sand and Gravel
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Quaternary
Name: Sand and Gravel
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Tertiary
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Ore: Gold
Gangue: Quartz
Comments
Comment (Commodity): Commodity Info: Based on production in placer deposits elsewhere in this region, it is possible that platinum is present.
Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: Native gold
Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: Metamorphic rock, igneous rock, quartz
Comment (Development): The streams were placer-mined during the gold rush, and hydraulic mining and some drift mining of the Tertiary gravels followed. Later, the main production in the district came from mining of the lower segments of the creek, mainly by dredging. In the early 1900?s, the creek was worked with primitive power shovels and washing plants. It was then dredged from around 1902 to the early 1920?s, again in the 1930?s, and from 1945 to 1949.
Comment (Economic Factors): The last operations were reported to have yielded as much as $0.35 of gold per cubic yard ($35/oz. price). Total production from this district is uncertain, but was likely not major.
Comment (Workings): Most mining in this district was accomplished through surface placering and dredging. Some hydraulic and drift mining took place in the Tertiary deposits. Dredging depths ranged from 13 to 35 feet on an uneven bedrock surface.
Comment (Deposit): The deposits consist mainly of stream and bench gravels in and along Butte Creek. They range from a few hundred feet wide at the northeast end of the district to nearly a mile at the southwest end. The gravels are coarse, well rounded, and consist of andesite with some chert and minor quartz. There are also some auriferous Tertiary gravels in the northeast part of the district. O?Brien (1949) reported the Butte Creek channel in Section 35, T22N, R2E to be about 250 feet wide, with the gravel about 15 feet thick above a hard tuff bedrock.
Comment (Geology): REGIONAL GEOLOGY The Butte Creek District is situated at the westernmost edge of the Sierra Nevada geologic province where it adjoins the Sacramento Valley This province is characterized by extremely complex lithologies and structures that were assembled through various plate-tectonic processes. Paleozoic-Mesozoic metamorphic complexes intruded by various Mesozoic plutons compose the basement of the province. This basement is overlain at higher elevations by erosional remnants of Cenozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, including gravels. Most of these various lithologies contain gold in places. In the vicinity of Chico where the province meets the Sacramento Valley, continental volcanic rocks of the Pliocene Tuscan Formation are exposed. Structurally, the metamorphic rocks and some of the plutonic rocks of the basement have been deformed by folding and faulting. The major fault zones typically trend northerly or northwesterly, although in places intrusion of the younger plutons has deformed some of the zones so as to assume other trends as well. In contrast, the overlying Cenozoic rocks are relatively undeformed except that the Tuscan Formation exhibits abundant fracturing, which largely trends northwesterly. LOCAL GEOLOGY The Butte Creek District is mainly associated with modern alluvial deposits of the main drainage of Butte Creek where it discharges into the Sacramento Valley after passing through the Tuscan Formation. The materials in these deposits have been derived by erosion of the various basement and older Cenozoic rocks at higher elevations as well as from the Tuscan Formation. In places, the basement rocks contain gold within quartz veins and altered rock, while the Cenozoic deposits at higher elevations contain placer gold derived by erosion of these basement rocks. Erosion of both the gold-bearing basement rocks and the older Cenozoic rocks provided the gold that was eventually deposited in the modern placer deposits along the lower segments of Butte Creek.
Comment (Identification): Located in north-central Butte County, this site is chiefly a gold-dredging district that extends along Butte Creek from about three miles southeast of Chico northeast to Centerville and Helltown, a distance of almost 12 miles (Clark, 1970).
Comment (Location): Location selected for latitude and longitude is within the large tailings area in the eastern half of Section 4 as shown on the USGS 7.5-minute Chico quadrangle.
References
Reference (Deposit): O?Brien, J.C., 1949, Mines and mineral resources of Butte County, California: California Journal of Mines and Geology, v. 45, no. 3, p. 417-454.
Reference (Deposit): Saucedo, G.J. and Wagner, D.L., 1992, Geologic map of the Chico Quadrangle, California: California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology Regional Geologic Map Series, Map No. 7A, scale 1:250,000.
Reference (Deposit): Clark, W. B., 1970, Gold districts of California: California Divisions of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193, p. 32.
Reference (Deposit): Lindgren, W., 1911, Tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 73, p. 84-85.
California Gold
"Where to Find Gold in California" looks at the density of modern placer mining claims along with historical gold mining locations and mining district descriptions to determine areas of high gold discovery potential in California. Read more: Where to Find Gold in California.
