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Golden Top

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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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. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  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 10000934
MRDS ID A011604
Record type Site
Current site name Golden Top
Alternate or previous names Gold Top, Gold Top Mining Co, Kempf

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.38269, 61.79955 (WGS84)
Relative position On the ridgetop to the northwest of Craigie Creek at 4,950 ft elevation, 2 miles northeast of VABM Box. Accurate within 2,000 ft. Locality labeled 'Gold Top Prospect' on plate I of Ray (1954), locality 5 of Cobb (1972), and locality 4 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Matanuska-Susitna(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Anchorage D-7(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Anchorage NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Anchorage(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Susitna River(hydrologic unit)

Susitna River(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Wall-rock alteration within a few inches of the veins is intense, but seldom extends more than 10 to 12 inches beyond the quartz filling. Sericitization and carbonate alteration predominate, but there is some pyritization and in the outer parts of the alteration zone chloritization is present (Ray, 1954).

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.38269, 61.79955
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Gold-bearing quartz veins cut early Paleocene to Late Cretaceous tonalite. Lithologies of this unit includes: biotite-hornblende tonalite and lesser biotite-hornblende quartz diorite. Wall-rock alteration within a few inches of the veins is intense, but seldom extends more than 10 to 12 inches beyond the quartz filling. Sericitization and carbonate alteration predominate, but there is some pyritization and in the outer parts of the alteration zone chloritization is present (Ray, 1954). Assays from samples taken along drifts showed mostly marginal gold values, a few had 0.75 oz/ton Au (Stoll, 1997).
  • Age = Late Cretaceous or younger; veins cut early Paleocene to Late Cretaceous tonalites.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Willow Creek

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = No recorded production.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = In the early 1930's, under the management of William G. Smith (Gold Top Syndicate), a steep aerial tramway was strung from Craigie Creek to the prospect - an elevation difference of 1,300 ft. Smith drove an adit (Smith tunnel) 285 ft to reach the Gold Top vein. Drifts both east and west followed the vein for a total of 850 ft. Amount of work done on prospect might indicate the presence of some gold, however it was never reported and apparently was not economical (Smith, 1934). Forty assays that had been made from samples taken along the east and west drifts in 1940 showed mostly marginal gold values, a few had 0.75 oz/ton Au (Stoll, 1997).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., 1910, Mineral resources of Alaska, report on progress of investigations in 1909: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 442, 426 p.

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., 1912, The Alaska mining industry in 1911, in Brooks, A.H., and others, Mineral resources of Alaska, 1911: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 520, p. 17-44.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1932: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 857-A, p. 1-91.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1933: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 864-A, p. 1-94.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1936, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1934: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 868-A, p. 1-91.

  • Deposit

    Ray, R.G., 1954, Geology and ore deposits of the Willow Creek Mining district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1004, 86 p.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous and selected non-metalliferous mineral deposits in the eastern part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-A, 99 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    Stoll, W.M., 1997, Hunting for gold in Alaska's Talkeetna Mountains 1897-1951: Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Henry Printing, 301 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Anchorage quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-409, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1979, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials in the Anchorage quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1095, 184 p.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous mineral deposits in the western part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-F, 38 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Smith, 1934

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)
Deposit Other Comments = Besides being one of the longest traceable vein outcrops in the district, the Gold Top lode had the distinction of attracting more prospectors and promoters than any other lode on the gold belt, all without becoming a producing mine (Stoll, 1997).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 D.P. Bickerstaff U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 S.W. Huss 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.