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Gold Bullion

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper, Mercury
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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. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  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 10308764
MRDS ID A010710
Record type Site
Current site name Gold Bullion
Alternate or previous names New Bullion, Ready Bullion, Willow Creek Mines Inc.
Related records 10000519

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.33069, 61.78856 (WGS84)
Relative position Marked with adit symbols and labeled 'Gold Bullion Mine' on the Anchorage D-7 1:63,360-scale topographic map. Near top of northwestern flank of Bullion Mountain, the divide between Willow and Craigie Creeks. Accurate within 400 ft. Locality 9 of Cobb (1972) and locality 8 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Matanuska-Susitna(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Anchorage D-7(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Anchorage NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Anchorage(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Susitna River(hydrologic unit)

Susitna River(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary
Mercury Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = secondary copper minerals

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Cinnabar Ore
Pyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • Wall-rock alteration within a few inches of the veins is intense, but seldom extends more than 10 to 12 inches beyond the quartz filling. Sericitization and carbonate alteration predominate, but there is some pyritization and in the outer parts of the alteration zone chloritization is present (Ray, 1954). Oxidation of copper minerals.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.33069, 61.78856
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Mine developed on one or more quartz veins 1.5 to14 ft thick that are intermittently exposed over 3,000 feet of strike length (Capps, 1915). The veins cut the Late Cretaceous Willow Creek Pluton and contain gold, small amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite, other sulfides, and copper carbonates stains. At least three normal faults are known to displace the veins. Visible slickensides and gouge occur along the vein walls (Katz, 1911). Capps (1915) reported cinnabar in cracks of quartz in one tunnel. According to Chapin (1920), most mining occurred on one vein that strikes N 10 E, and dips 14 NW. The ore mined reported to have averaged about 1.7 oz/ton Au (Ray, 1933). The Willow Creek Pluton is a zoned pluton: the outer part consists of hornblende quartz diorite and lesser hornblende tonalite; the core consists of hornblende-biotite granodiorite, and lesser hornblende-biotite quartz monzodiorite and biotite quartz monzonite. The K-Ar age from muscovite in a quartz-sericite selvage adjacent to a gold-bearing vein in the mine was 56 m.y., suggesting a Late Paleocene age for mineralization (Silberman and others, 1978). Wall-rock alteration within a few inches of the veins is intense, but seldom extends more than 10 to 12 inches beyond the quartz filling. Sericitization and carbonate alteration predominate, but there is some pyritization and in the outer parts of the alteration zone chloritization is present (Ray, 1954).
  • Age = The K-Ar age from muscovite in a quartz-sericite selvage adjacent to a gold-bearing vein in the mine was 56 m.y., suggesting a Late Paleocene age for mineralization (Silberman and others, 1978).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Willow Creek

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Crediting the Gold Bullion lode with the few thousand ounces of gold obtained from the old tailings, a sum of very roughly 77,000 ounces of gold may have been recovered from the property. From 1908 to 1951, the lode was the third largest contibutor of gold in the district (Stoll, 1997). The Ready Bullion was also mined in the mid-1970's and the following isbased on oral communications in 1998 with Dan Renshaw who did the work. Ore was recovered from surface pits along the ridge above the Ready Bullion adits from frozen, near-surface portions of the vein that had been left in place during early mining to protect the underground workings.Several hundred tons were mined that ran 3 to4 ounces of gold per ton. The ore was trucked to the Gold Cord mill (ARDF number AN007) on upper Fishhook Creek; the last of it was milled in 1977. Mining stopped with additional ore in sight when the property was folded into a consolidation of a number of properties put together when gold was approaching $800 per ounce. Subsequently the price of gold retreated to a level that curtailed this effort and there was no additional production from the Ready Bullion. Access to the property during this work was by a steep zig-zag road upward from the head of Little Willow Creek.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = First staked by William Bartholf in 1907 (Capps, 1915). From 1909 to 1927, mine was the second largest producer in the district (Ray, 1933). The first ore from the property was from an open cut on a vein outcrop. The ore was carried to the mill 1,600 ft below by pack horse. The 2-stamp mill, on Craigie Creek, had a capacity of six tons a day in 1909 (Stoll, 1997). Stoll (1997) also indicates that a 5-stamp mill was added to the property in 1911, increasing the mill capacity to 21 tons of ore per day. By 1915, a cyanide plant, five tunnels, numerous open cuts, several aerial trams, and other surface improvements were reported (Capps, 1915). According to Capps (1919) underground workings totalled more that 5,220 ft in length. The ore mined reported to have averaged about 1.7 oz/ton Au (Ray, 1933). Ray (1954) reported the old tailings were cyanided in 1939-1940 and several thousand dollars of gold was recovered.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Capps, 1915

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)
Deposit Other Comments = For many years this was one of major mines in district. Mining reported nearly all the years between 1909-1927, but very limited data on production. Some literature calls mine New Bullion and Ready Bullion, but generally referred to as Gold Bullion.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 D.P. Bickerstaff; D.J. Grybeck; S.W. Huss U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

External references

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.