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Moose Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Mercury, Platinum, Tin, 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 10308849
MRDS ID A015342
Record type Site
Current site name Moose Creek
Alternate or previous names Big Moose Creek, Keys, Triple Xs
Related records 10002861

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -148.97889, 64.03862 (WGS84)
Relative position The Moose Creek mine is located in sections 16, 17, 18, and 20, T. 10 S., R. 7 W., Fairbanks Meridian. Most placer mining took place for about one mile downstream from the junction of Moose Creek and Little Moose Creek. The coordinates given are near the junction of Moose Creek and Little Moose Creek where a placer mine is plotted on the Fairbanks A-4 topographic map. The mine is locality 62 of Cobb (1972 [MF 410]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Denali(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Fairbanks A-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Fairbanks S(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Fairbanks C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Mercury Secondary
Platinum Critical Secondary
Tin Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
Cinnabar Ore
Gold Ore
Platinum 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) -148.97889, 64.03862
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Moose Creek, a tributary of the Nenana River, drains an area underlain by quartz-orthoclase-sericite schist and augen gneiss of the the California Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist (Wahrhaftig, 1970 [GQ-810]). The schist is overlain by a thick mantle of gravels. The thick deposits of high gravels that overlie the schist within the Moose Creek basin occur chiefly on the ridges and spurs between Cody, Big Moose, and Little Moose Creeks (Maddren, 1918, p. 366). The first recorded production was in 1909, when 100 ounces of gold was recovered from a gravel bench near the mouth of Little Moose Creek (Capps, 1912, p. 44). Some gold was found in the high gravels, but most gold was recovered from the stream gravels (Maddren, 1918). Concentrates contain gold, scheelite, cassiterite, cinnabar, and platinum-group metals. Mining was reported for most years from 1909 to 1940 (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-622, p. 101]). In 1990 and 1991, gold was mined from both upper and lower Moose Creek (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34), and mining continued until at least 1994 in upper Moose Creek. Glover (1950) reported that gold on Moose Creek is 866 to 876 fine.
  • 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 Bonnifield

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = The first production was reported in 1909, when 100 ounces of gold was recovered from a gravel bench (Capps, 1912, p.44). From 1909 to 1916, the total output from the basin, including Little Moose Creek, was about $30,000 (about 1,451 ounces of gold) (Maddren, 1918). A dragline was installed in 1937, and the total output for the district increased markedly from $12,000 to $44,000 (Smith, 1939 [B 910-A, p. 55]). No information is available on production in later years.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Small-scale placer mining has taken place since 1909 (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-662, p. 101-102]; Smith, 1941 [B 926-A, p. 50-51]). In 1925, an automatic gate was in use (Wimmler, 1925 [ATDM MR 195-8, p. 43]). A dragline plant was installed in 1937 (Smith, 1939 [B 910-A, p. 55]). In 1938, and probably other years, prospect drilling was conducted on benches (Smith, 1939 [B 917-A, p. 54]), and a one-bucket dredge began mining in 1939. In 1991, gold was mined from upper Moose Creek by Tom Faa, and Jim Roland worked his Annebelle Property on lower Moose Creek (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34). In 1994, several discontinuous areas in sections 16 and 15 of upper Moose Creek were being mined. The mining was greatly contsrained by the steep valley walls, abundant boulders, and the narrow auriferous channel along the creek (Donald Grybeck, field observations, 1994).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1976 (OFR 76-662)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

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.