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Ophir Creek

Producer 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 10001940
MRDS ID A012774
Record type Site
Current site name Ophir Creek
Related records 10209013

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -163.66524, 64.99934 (WGS84)
Relative position Ophir Creek is a north tributary to Niukluk River. Its headwaters are along the south flank of the Bendeleben Mountains, just west of the terminal moraine complex of the Pargon River valley. It flows south and crosses from the Bendeleben to the Solomon quadrangle about 6 miles upstream from its mouth. The entire creek -- channel, flood plain, and benches -- has been placer mined downstream from the mouth of Crooked Creek. The main part of Ophir Creek in the Bendeleben quadrangle that has been placer mined is the 7,500 feet downstream from the mouth of Crooked Creek. This is locality 78 and 79 of Cobb (1972; MF 417; 1975; OFR 75-429).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Solomon D-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Solomon C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(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

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) -163.66524, 64.99934
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Ophir Creek is the most important producer of placer gold in the Council district. The majority of the 707,000 ounces of gold production recorded for the Council district probably came from Ophir Creek (Hudson and DeYoung, 1978). Placer gold was discovered here in 1897 and extensive mining, especially dredging, has taken place over its entire length downstream from the mouth of Crooked Creek (Cobb, 1975). Dredging of the entire floodplain, in places almost 1,000 feet wide, took place along the 7,500 feet of the drainage downstream from Crooked Creek. Benches have been mined here and there along the drainage and at the mouth of Crooked Creek. Terrace gravels at the mouth of Crooked Creek were 5 to 6 feet deep and covered by 2 to 3 feet of overburden. The paystreak at the mouth of Crooked Creek was 250 feet wide, 6 feet thick, and contained 0.22 ounces Au per cubic yard (Smith and Eakin, 1911). Below Crooked Creek , Ophir Creek is at elevations less than 250 feet. This low elevation suggest the possiblity that the character of Ophir Creek placer deposits was influenced by Quaternary sea level fluctuations. The presence of terrace gravels and bench placer deposits indicates that two or more cycles of placer deposit development have occurred. However, there are gold-bearing localities in Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary bedrock (schist and marble; Till and others, 1986) near the mouth of Ophir Creek (Smith and Eakin, 1911), the mouth of Crooked Creek (BN100), and the headwaters of Crooked Creek (BN104). Gold-bearing bedrock is most commonly described as areas with small quartz or quartz-carbonate veins in schist or schistose limestone.
  • Age = Quaternary; the presence of terrace gravels and bench placer deposits indicates that two or more cycles of placer formation have occurred. Below Crooked Creek, Ophir Creek is at elevations less than 250 feet. This low elevation proximal to the Niukluk River coastal area suggest the possiblity that Quaternary sea level fluctuations influenced the character of Ophir Creek placer deposits.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active?

Mining district

District name Council

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = The majority of the 707,000 ounces of gold production recorded for the Council district (Hudson and DeYoung, 1978) probably came from Ophir Creek. About 50,000 ounces ($1,000,000) were estimated to have been produced in 1901 alone (Brooks, 1903).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Dredging of the entire floodplain, in places almost 1,000 feet wide, took place over the 7,500 feet of the drainage downstream from Crooked Creek. Benches have been mined here and there along the drainage and at the mouth of Crooked Creek. Some dredging took place as recently as the 1980's.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1975 (OFR 75-429)

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 15-MAR-1999 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

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