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Fox Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, 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 10308830
MRDS ID A015328
Record type Site
Current site name Fox Creek
Related records 10185864, 10097552

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -147.63295, 64.97967 (WGS84)
Relative position The Fox Creek mine is located in the W1/2 sec. 19, T. 2 N., R. 1 E., Fairbanks Meridian. Fox Creek is a south-flowing tributary of Goldstream Creek. Two areas have been placered on Fox Creek in recent years: (1) an area shown on the current D-2 topographic map about 1.6 miles north of the junction of the Steese and Elliott highways, and (2) an extensive area that begins about a mile above (1) and extends about 1.5 miles from the head of Fox Creek. The coordinates given are for the southern most placer. This site is also described in the Livengood quadrangle ARDF records as LG061. This mine is locality 52 of Cobb (1972 [MF 410]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

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

Big Delta NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Fairbanks(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Scheelite 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) -147.63295, 64.97967
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer gold was mined from Fox Creek as early as 1908 (Prindle, 1908). Depth to bedrock is approximately 10 to19 feet, and granite is exposed near the head of the creek (Prindle and Katz, 1909, p. 191; Prindle and Katz, 1913). Bedrock in the Fox Creek drainage is quartz-muscovite schist, quartzite, and chlorite-quartz schist; the upper Fox Creek area is intruded by Cretaceous granite, tonalite, and quartz diorite (Newberry and others, 1996). Fox Creek has been placer mined in recent years, possibly in the 1980's and early 1990's, up to the head of the creek (J. Schaefer, 1999, field observation). Placer concentrates near the head of the creek contained an estimated 90 percent scheelite (Joesting, 1943 [ATDM Pamph. 2]; Byers, 1957, p. 210). Production from 1905 to 1910 was about 1,500 ounces (Prindle and Katz, 1913). Production figures are not available for more recent mining.
  • Age = Quaternary placer.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairbanks

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Production from 1905 to 1910 was almost 1,500 ounces (Prindle and Katz, 1913). Information on production in more recent years is not available.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was mined from Fox Creek as early as 1908 (Prindle, 1908). Fox Creek has been placer mined in recent years, possibly in the 1980's and early 1990's, up to the head of the creek (J. Schaefer, 1999, field observation).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Prindle, L.M., 1908, The Fairbanks and Rampart quadrangles, Yukon-Tanana region, Alaska, with a section on the Rampart placers, by F.L. Hess, and a paper on the water supply of the Fairbanks region, by C.C. Covert: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 337, 102 p.

  • Deposit

    Prindle, L.M., and Katz, F.J., 1909, The Fairbanks gold-placer region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 379, p. 181-200.

  • Deposit

    Ellsworth, C.E., 1910, Placer mining in the Yukon-Tanana region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 442, 432 p.

  • Deposit

    Prindle, L.M., and Katz, F.J., 1913, Detailed description of the Fairbanks district, in Prindle, L. M., A geologic reconnaissance of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 525, p. 59-152.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1913, Lode mining near Fairbanks, in Prindle, L.M., A geologic reconnaissance of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 525, p. 153-216.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1913, Lode mining near Fairbanks: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 542-F, p. 137-202.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1929, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1926: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 797, p. 1-50.

  • Deposit

    Joesting, H.R., 1943, Strategic mineral occurrences in interior Alaska, supplement to pamphlet no. 1: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Pamphlet 2, 26 p.

  • Deposit

    Thorne, R.L., Muir, N.M., Erickson, A.W., Thomas, B. I., Hedie, H. E., and Wright, W. S., 1948, Tungsten deposits of Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4174, 22 p.

  • Deposit

    Byers, F.M., Jr., 1957, Tungsten deposits in the Fairbanks district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1024-I, p. 179-216.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-410, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Mulligan, J.J., 1974, Mineral resources of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline corridor: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8626, 24 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Fairbanks quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-662, 174 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1975, Mineral resources of Alaska, in Yount, M.E., ed., U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Program, 1975: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 722, p. 37.

  • Deposit

    Saunders, R.H., 1961, The Silvertone prospect in 1961 (Fox Creek): Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Prospect Evaluation 58-11, 6 p.

  • Deposit

    Thorne, R.L., Muir, N.M., Erickson, A.W., Thomas, B. I., Hedie, H. E., and Wright, W. S., 1948, Tungsten deposits of Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation 4174, 51 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Prindle and Katz, 1913

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = This site is also described in Livengood ARDF records as LG061.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 31-JUL-2001 J.R. Guidetti Schaefer and C.J. Freeman 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.