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Pasco Creek

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. 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 10001709
MRDS ID A012493
Record type Site
Current site name Pasco Creek
Related records 10209056

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -145.55397, 64.66859 (WGS84)
Relative position Pasco Creek is roughly 5 miles long and drains southeast into the Salcha River. The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system reports placer mining at the base of Paldo Creek. The approximate center of the mining activity is in SW1/4NW1/4 section 9, T. 3 S., R. 11 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. A tractor trail and a landing strip provide access to the lower Pasco Creek drainage. It is locality 29 of Cobb and Eberlein (1980), who summarized relevant references under the name 'Pasco Creek'.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Big Delta C-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Big Delta NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Big Delta C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold 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) PzPxyqm
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The bedrock in the region is primarily schist, gneiss, some granite, and minor amounts of serpentinite and limestone. The intrusive bodies in the area range in composition from granodiorite to quartz monzonite with Cretaceous to Tertiary K-Ar ages (Weber and others, 1978). The gravels in the region average 18 to 20 feet in thickness and contain a variety of schist, gneiss, granite, and vein quartz (Prindle, 1906). Brooks (1908) reported the fineness of the gold to be higher than that mined in the Richardson district. ? Placer gold was first discovered in the Salcha River area in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek (BD006) and soon extended to nearby Caribou Creek (BD009), and Gold Creek (BD015) and associated tributaries. Live water and thawed ground presented the biggest obstacles during prospecting (Prindle, 1906; B 284). The first claims on Pasco Creek were staked in 1954 (Cobb and Eberlein, 1980). Subsequently, there have been active claims in 1976, 1977, and 1980 (Eberlein and others, 1977). The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system records active claims on Pasco Creek as recent as 1986. There is evidence of surficial mining operations, but the period of activity is unknown (Eberlein and others, 1977). It is unclear how much gold was produced from Pasco Creek.
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairbanks

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = It is unclear how much gold was produced from Pasco Creek.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was first discovered in the Salcha River area in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek (BD006) and soon extended to nearby Caribou Creek (BD009), and Gold Creek (BD015) and associated tributaries. Live water and thawed ground presented the biggest obstacles during prospecting (Prindle, 1906; B 284). The first claims on Pasco Creek were staked in 1954 (Cobb and Eberlein, 1980). Subsequently, there have been active claims in 1976, 1977, and 1980 (Eberlein and others, 1977). The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system records active claims on Pasco Creek as recent as 1986. There is evidence of surficial mining operations, but the period of activity is unknown (Eberlein and others, 1977).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Eberlein and others, 1977

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 26-APR-1999 Cameron S. Rombach Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys

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.