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Birch Gulch (Creek)

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Bismuth
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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. 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 10001654
MRDS ID A012429
Record type Site
Current site name Birch Gulch (Creek)
Alternate or previous names Groshong's Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -154.766, 63.21142 (WGS84)
Relative position The Birch Gulch placer mine is located in a first order gulch about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) long that runs south-southwest into Hidden Creek (MD066), about 2.0 miles (3.2 km) downstream from Encio Gulch (MD063).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Medfra A-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Medfra S(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Medfra C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Takotna River(hydrologic unit)

Upper Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Bismuth Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bismuth Ore
Gold Ore
Ilmenite Gangue
Magnetite Gangue
Zircon Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 121
USGS model code 39c
Deposit model name Shoreline placer Ti

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -154.766, 63.21142
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer gold in Birch Gulch occurs on bedrock and in lower 3 ft (0.9 m) of alluvial section up to 24 ft (7.3m) thick. Placer mining during 1933 uncovered 3 ft (0.9 m) of angular wash beneath 8 ft (2.4 m) of muck. Paystreak averages 50 ft (15.2 m) wide. Most past mine activities took place near the confluence of Birch Gulch and Hidden Creek in a poorly developed alluvial fan deposit. Mertie (1936) reports a single fineness value of 961.75 Au and 33.00 Ag from a Birch Gulch placer gold sample. Age of mineralization is judged to be Quaternary, based on comparative geomorphology with other dated placer deposit nearby (Bundtzen and Miller, 1997).
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name McGrath

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = The Birch Gulch placer discovery occurred in 1917. Small scale production commenced in 1922, and took place in 1922-23; 1925-1927; and 1932. From 1922 to 1932, a total of 864.2 ounces (26.8 kg) gold and 50.9 ounces (1.6 kg) silver were produced from Birch Gulch. In 1926, 139.7 ounces (4.3 kg) gold were recovered from 3,300 cubic yards (2,523 cubic meters) of pay, or an average grade of 0.042 oz/cubic yard Au. No further mine activities are known.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Past mine activity utilized hydraulic mine methods, namely a boom dam to remove overburden and a small giant to sluice pay gravels. No mechanized mining was known to take place in Birch Gulch.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mertie, 1936

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model no. 39c)
Deposit Other Comments = See also Hidden Creek (MDO66), Encio Gulch (MDO63), and Holmes Gulch (MD072) placers.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 06-MAY-98 Bundtzen, T.K. Pacific Rim Geological Consulting

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.