Ester Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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 10002574
MRDS ID A015009
Record type Site
Current site name Ester Creek
Related records 10281805

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -156.60907, 63.02944 (WGS84)
Relative position Ester Creek is a short, west-flowing tributary to Dollar Creek, which is a headwater tributary to Beaver Creek. The coordinates are for the mine symbol marked on the U.S. Geological Survey Ophir A-2 topographic map (1954, minor revisions 1965). The symbol is near the midpoint of Ester Creek, in the SE1/4 sec. 29, T. 28 S., R. 12 E., Kateel River Meridian. Ester Creek is locality 11 of Cobb (1972 [MF 367]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Ophir A-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Ophir SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ophir(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

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) Kk

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The drainage area of Ester Creek is underlain by undivided Cretaceous clastic rocks. The headwaters also drain several small, Cretaceous or Tertiary dikes and subvolcanic plutons (Chapman and others, 1985).? the gold in Ester Creek is 841 fine according to Metz and Hawkins (1981). Mertie (1936) reports a fineness of 836 gold and 156 parts silver. Gold was being mined in 1926, and it was probably mined earlier (Holzheimer, 1926 [MR 64-1)]. Mertie (1936) reports mining in 1933, and Bundtzen and others (1987) indicate mining sometime during the 1980's.? Production from Ester Creek between the early 1900's to 1964 was 1,110 ounces of gold and 210 ounces of silver. Production figures for Ester Creek from 1980 to 1986 are unavailable (Bundtzen and others, 1987).? Also see OP028.
  • Age = Quaternary. The source of the placer gold is probably Cretaceous or Tertiary intrusive rocks (Bundtzen and others, 1987).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Innoko

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Production from Ester Creek from the early 1900's to 1964 was 1,110 ounces of gold and 210 ounces of silver. Production figures for Ester Creek from 1980 to 1986 are unavailable (Bundtzen and others, 1987).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Gold was being mined in Ester Creek in 1926, and it was probably mined earlier (Holzheimer, 1926 [MR 64-1]). Mertie (1936) reports mining in 1933, and Bundtzen and others (1987) indicate mining sometime during the 1980's.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Bundtzen and others, 1987

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 07-AUG-01 Cameron, C.E. Northern Associates Inc.

Beyond USGS

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

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.