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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Woodchopper Creek Area

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Iridium, Platinum
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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 10308823
MRDS ID A010754
Record type Site
Current site name Woodchopper Creek Area
Alternate or previous names Alluvial Golds Inc., Alluvial Placers, Inc., Anna May, Aztec, Joe, Bennett, Bodacious, Charles, Comet, Cordova, Florence, Gold Medal, Gladys, Gold Star, Kelly, Herbert, Holstrom, Hunky Dory, Mary Flow, Seward Assn., Sioux, Snowbird, State, Sunshine, Valdez
Related records 10184961, 10000549

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -143.29185, 65.30376 (WGS84)
Relative position The Woodchopper Creek basin and the area surrounding it cover approximately 55 square miles. Tributaries to Woodchopper Creek include Dome Creek (CY010), Mineral Creek (CY020), Moore Creek (CY016), and Iron Creek (CY019). The coordinates for the Woodchopper Creek mine are located in the center of the placer workings marked on the Charley River (B-5) quadrangle topographic map, in section 34, T. 6 N., R. 21 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The principal placer mining activity was about 1.25 miles upstream and downstream from this point. The location is accurate.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Charley River B-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Charley River SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Charley River(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve(National Preserve)

National Preserve NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Iridium Critical Secondary
Platinum Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Iridium 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) -143.29185, 65.30376
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The headwaters of Woodchopper Creek are underlain by Precambrian to Paleozoic metamorphic rocks that are intruded by Mesozoic(?) granitic plutons. The creek flows across a belt of Cretaceous to Tertiary conglomerate and other sedimentary rocks (Brabb and Churkin, 1969; Dover and Miyaoka, 1988). Gold placers are found in or immediately downstream from this belt. The proximal source of the gold is likely the conglomerate, but the ultimate source is probably the older metamorphic rocks upstream (Prindle and Mertie, 1912). Platinum metals are alloyed with the gold, and monazite is also present. In the 1912 workings, the depth to the conglomerate bedrock was about 22 feet; about 11 feet of this was gravel that contained many granite boulders (Prindle and Mertie, 1912). In 1942, the mean of 6 assays from the creek was 932 parts Au per thousand, and 62 parts Ag per thousand. One sample assayed 0.42 percent Pt with a trace of Ir (Mertie, 1942). Gold was discovered in 1902, or possibly earlier; mining and exploration continued intermittently in the area until 1964. In 1910, the gold output for the area was about $20,000 (1910 dollars) (Cobb, 1973; B 1374).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Circle

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Gold output for 1910 was estimated to be about $19,000 (1910 dollars) for the Woodchopper Creek area. For 1909, gold production was estimated to be about $20,000 (1909 dollars) (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-632]).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Gold was discovered in 1902, or possibly earlier, and mining and exploration continued intermittently in the area until 1964, when the dredge that had been operating since 1937 shut down.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1976 (OFR 76-632)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = See also Mineral Creek (CY020), Alice Gulch (CY002), Dome Creek (CY010), and Iron Creek (CY019). This site is within the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-APR-00 Cameron, C.E. Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys

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.