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Switch Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Arsenic, Lead, Tungsten
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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 10308819
MRDS ID A012237
Record type Site
Current site name Switch Creek
Related records 10185232, 10001490

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -144.89492, 65.46774 (WGS84)
Relative position The location is the approximate center of mining on Switch Creek. The placered area extends about 3,500 ft up and down stream from the intersection of the coordinates. Switch Creek is a tributary of Deadwood Creek.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Circle B-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Circle(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Arsenic Critical Secondary
Lead Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Ilmenite Ore
Limonite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Garnet Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Tourmaline Gangue

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) -144.89492, 65.46774
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Headwaters of Switch Creek drain both Cretaceous biotite monzogranite and calcareous quartz-muscovite schist (Wiltse and others, 1995). Both flood-plain and bench gravels have been mined. A bench on the west side of the creek in the lower valley is 12 to 15 meters above the creek bed. Remnants of other benches upvalley are sites of former mining operations (Mertie, 1938). The gravel on the benches is composed of cobbles and a few boulders. Boulders are fairly common in the present valley (Yeend, 1991). Gold has been concentrated within the lower 1 meter above of bedrock. The largest nugget found was 4 ounces (Mertie, 1938). Weighted mean of eight assays showed fineness of 760 Au and 231 Ag (Mertie, 1938). Johnson (1910), reported arsenopyrite in quartz-feldspar veins, and concentrates containing gold, arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena, cassiterite, ilmenite, garnet, tourmaline, limonite, and quartz. Gold has been mined sporadically on Switch Creek since 1906. Initially, opencut and drifting were the only mining methods used. Once hydraulic mining was introduced in 1922, it was the predominant mining method used on the creeks through the 1930's (Mertie, 1938). Both surface and underground work took place. Drift mining occurred on benches while hydraulic mining was used on creek gravels (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 52).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Circle

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Mining has been reported (see workings/exploration), however, amount of production is unknown.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Gold has been mined sporadically on Switch Creek since 1906. Initially, opencut and drifting were the only mining methods used. Once hydraulic mining was introduced in 1922, it was the predominant mining method used on the creeks through the 1930's (Mertie, 1938). Both surface and underground work took place. Drift mining occurred on benches while hydraulic mining was used on creek gravels (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 52).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Menzie and others, 1983.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = See also Deadwood Creek, ARDF no. CI014.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 14-SEP-1998 C.J. Freeman, J.R. Guidetti Schaefer, A.S. Clements Avalon Development Corporation

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.