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Upper Dahl Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Jade
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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 10003076
MRDS ID A015601
Record type Site
Current site name Upper Dahl Creek
Related records 10184813

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -156.86261, 66.9751 (WGS84)
Relative position The upper Dahl Creek placer mine extends along the creek from just below Wye Creek to just above Harry Creek. The coordinates are for the mine symbol at the confluence of Wye Creek. The deposit is in sections 3 and 10, T. 18 N., R. 9 E., of the Kateel River Meridian. Cobb (1972, MF-448), locations 13, 14.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Northwest Arctic(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Shungnak D-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Shungnak NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Shungnak(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Kobuk River(hydrologic unit)

Kobuk-Selawik Rivers(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

NANA Regional Corporation, Incorporated(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Cadmium Secondary
Chromium Critical Secondary
Copper Secondary
Jade Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = Silver (native)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Silver Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Serpentinite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -156.86261, 66.9751
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = At the upper Dahl Creek placer mine most of the gold lies on, or just above, bedrock, although some spongy gold occurs in black, soil-like overburden (A. Williams, unpublished data, 1998). The gold was most abundant near the mouth of Wye Creek. Creek gravels range from 5 to 25 feet thick. The gold is in the lower 1 to 2 feet of gravel as well as on bedrock; it is unevenly distributed and patchy, occurring in pockets. There is no continuous pay streak. The gold is reddish to brass yellow in color. Some of the nuggets were spongy and rare wire gold has been reported. Nuggets of considerable size have been recovered from the deposit. One nugget was worth about $65 in 1913 and had considerable greasy-looking milky quartz attached. A flat nugget worth over $600 was recovered just below Harry Creek. The gold was valued at $17.20 per ounce (Reed, 1931). Concentrates from the placers are predominately magnetite, along with some chromite and native copper. Nuggets of native silver up to 1 inch in diameter been reported in the concentrates. The silver carries a small amount of cadmium. (Smith, 1913). Nephrite boulders have been recovered during placer mining.? the upper Dahl Creek placer is in thawed ground. Bedrock is lower Paleozoic, black slate with quartz stringers, and schist which breaks into small, rectangular blocks. The joint faces on these blocks are commonly iron-stained. The dominant strike of the bedrock is perpendicular to the creek, forming natural riffles for catching gold. Holes sunk on some low benches on either side of the creek are in unconsolidated deposits up to 15 feet thick. Quartz veins cutting bedrock on these benches are 1 inch to 4 feet thick. Serpentinite near Dahl Creek around the confluence of Stockley Creek contains chrysotile and fibrous serpentine.
  • 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 Shungnak

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Total production from the Dahl Creek placers (also see ARDF number SH002) is estimated to be 15,000 ounces to more than 17,000 ounces (Degenhart and others, 1978).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Gold was first discovered in 1898 and the claims were worked more or less continuously up to 1968. From the late 50's into the early 70's nephrite boulders were recovered and cut during the mining process. Early mining was done with shovels and sluice box. In the 1920's, hydraulic equipment was installed and used extensively around Wye Creek. In 1988 and 1989 NANA took jig samples from each of the claim blocks in an attempt to complete a patenting application on the claims.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Smith, 1913; Reed, 1931

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = the gradient of Dahl Creek is approximately 150 feet per mile. Much of material collected as nephrite jade was serpentinite rather than nephrite. Best placer ground is worked out. The mine area is accessible by trail from Kobuk and is owned by NANA Regional Corp. Data on Dahl Creek are available by request from NANA Regional Corp.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 16-DEC-99 Williams, Anita 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.