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Gold Creek

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Antimony
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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. Nearby scientific data
  9. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  10. Mining district
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10000584
MRDS ID A011034
Record type Site
Current site name Gold Creek
Related records 10184723

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.82333, 67.5097 (WGS84)
Relative position Gold Creek is a west-flowing tributary to the Middle Fork Koyukuk River. It is approximately 6 miles south of Sukakpak Mountain. The reference point is near what is thought to be the lower limit of historical placer mining (sec. 17, T. 31 N., R. 10 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian) from which mining extended upstream for 7 to 8 miles. The location is accurate within a 1/4-mile radius.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Chandalar C-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Chandalar N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Chandalar(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Antimony Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Stibnite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.82333, 67.5097
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer gold has been mined in Gold Creek from the present stream channel in gravels reported to be 2 to 7 feet deep; from a deeply buried channel approximately 50 to 100 feet below the present channel; and from benches about 8 feet above the present channel. The gravel in the present channel is coarse and waterworn, with many boulders. The gravel from one place in the deep channel is fairly fine, with only a few boulders. The ancestral Gold Creek originally flowed to the Middle Fork through what is now lower Linda Creek, but glacial drainage derangement or stream capture diverted the lower mile to its present course. Reed (1938) described the bedrock of Gold Creek as schist cut by a diorite dike a short distance upstream from the mouth of Magnet Creek. Dillon and Reifenstuhl (1995) mapped the country rocks in most of the Gold Creek drainage as sedimentary units of the Beaucoup Formation; other rocks present are a sequence of Devonian carbonaceous, siliceous, and calcareous sedimentary and felsic volcanic rocks and one occurrence of Devonian metabasite, which may correspond to the diorite dike described by Reed. The richest placers were between constrictions in the valley caused by resistant schist and diorite. The richest claim was at the mouth of Magnet Creek, just downstream from the diorite dike. Values from various operations along the creek were reported by Reed (1938) to run from about $0.25 to $1.50 per square foot of bedrock. Most of the gold forms smooth, shot-like pieces and small nuggets, but some pieces from high on the creek are angular and may not have been transported far. Angular fragments of stibnite in quartz have been found in the gravels, and some pyritization has been noted in the schist bedrock.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Koyukuk

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Gold was discovered in Gold Creek during the summer of 1900, and it was one of the first creeks to be mined in the district (Reed, 1938). Since then it has been a significant producer. The creek was mined in most years until around 1916, and mining continued sporadically after that, probably to the present (1998). The stream course has been mined for about 8 miles. Values reported by Reed (1938) ranged from $0.25 to $1.50 per square foot of bedrock. Production through 1909 was estimated by Maddren (1913) to be approximately $232,000.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Surface and underground drift mining in the early days. Later mining activity was undoubtedly mechanized, but there is no description of this activity.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Reed, 1938

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = Gold fineness reported to range between 900 and 931. Alaska Kardex Nos. 031-030, 031-104, 031-103, 031-102, 031-101, 031-100, 031-099, 031-098, 031-092, 031-091, 031-088, 031-066 (Kardex is a card file mining claim information system located at the State of Alaska DNR Public Information Center in Fairbanks).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 17-NOV-99 J.M. Britton 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.