1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Candle Creek

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Gold
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10000529
MRDS ID A010726
Record type Site
Current site name Candle Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.92339, 65.90939 (WGS84)
Relative position The active mining area along Candle Creek extends from its confluence with the Kiwalik River at the Candle townsite upstream approximately 7 miles to the boundary of the Bendeleben quadrangle and then 9 miles to Potato Creek. The reference point is the center of the Candle airstrip, in section 24, T. 6 N., R. 16 W., of the Kateel River Meridian. Cobb, 1972 (MF 389), locations 1 and 18.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Northwest Arctic(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Candle D-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Candle N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Candle(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Goodhope-Spafarief Bay(hydrologic unit)

Northern Seward Peninsula(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Silver Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -161.92339, 65.90939
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer gold was discovered on Candle Creek in 1901 and the deposit has been mined almost continuously since that time.? the geology of the area is not well understood due to extensive ground cover. In general the area is underlain by late Precambrian to early Paleozoic quartz mica schists which are cut by small quartz stringers and granitic dikes. The schists are overlain unconformably by metamorphosed early to mid-Paleozoic limestones. Igneous rocks of Late Cretaceous to Tertiary age intrude the older metamorphics. The dominant igneous lithology in the Candle area is medium-grained, quartz monzonite which is exposed in placer workings at Camp 19 in the Bendeleben quadrangle. Quartz float is very common in stream beds and tailings. The age of the quartz is unknown. The source of the placer gold is thought to be from quartz veins crosscutting the schist bedrock. ? A general cross section of the placer ground on Candle Creek is schist bedrock overlain by 12 to 18 feet of gold-bearing creek gravels. The gravels in turn are covered by 10 to 20 feet of ice, muck, slide rock, and tundra. The placer gold is generally flattened, coarse and coated with a dark, organic iron oxide. The gold fineness is 857. Gold is often found in and associated with ironstone concretions commonly found in the gravels. All of the ground is frozen and some areas contain large ice wedges. Placer concentrates contain arsenopyrite, abundant pyrite, galena, chalcopyrite, ilmenite, rutile, garnet, cerusite and occasional magnetite (Cobb, 1976, OFR 76-866).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active?

Mining district

District name Fairhaven

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Harrington (1919) estimates that by 1917 $325,000 of gold (at $20.67/ounce) had been taken from Candle Creek. It is estimated that production from Candle Creek has exceeded 600,000 ounces of gold since 1901 (Williams, 1998).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was discovered on Candle Creek in 1901 and the deposit has been mined almost continuously since that time. The creek gravels were first mined by hand methods. Hydraulicking and drift mining was used on bench deposits. A small dredge was brought to the creek in 1914. In the early 1920's, two larger dredges were brought to the creek. To define the reserves for the dredges, shafts were sunk and several lines of drill holes were drilled. The dredging continued on Candle Creek until the early 1950's; it extended from above Camp 19 in the Bendeleben quadrangle to the confluence with the Kiwalik River. Small-scale placer activities continue on the creek. BHP Utah conducted a soil sampling and mapping program in 1990 for lode gold.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Harrington, 1919; Williams, 1998

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = All gravels are frozen and require stripping and thawing.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 12-JAN-00 Williams, Anita U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.