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Gold King 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 10308854
MRDS ID A015355
Record type Site
Current site name Gold King Creek
Related records 10208701, 10002870

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -148.00687, 64.07364 (WGS84)
Relative position The Gold King Creek mine is mostly in sec. 6, T. 10 S., R. 2 W., Fairbanks Meridian. Gold King Creek is a north-flowing tributary of the Wood River. The mine is localities 80, 81, and 82 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-3(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
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) -148.00687, 64.07364
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = In 1990 and 1991, Gold King Creek was the largest placer mine in the district (Swainbank and others, 1991, p. 31; Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34). Gold is believed to be derived from the Tertiary Nenana Gravel (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34). Placer gold is found in both the 4 to 5 feet of gravel overlying bedrock and on the clay-rich bedrock (Prindle, 1907, p. 212). Mining took place intermittently from 1903 to 1940 (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-662, p. 44]). In the 1920's, an attempt at large-scale hydraulic mining of Nenana Gravel was not financially successful (Capps, 1924, p. 138). The gold varies from 818 to 833 fine (Glover, 1950).
  • 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 = Information on gold production is not available.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = In 1990 and 1991, Gold King Creek was the largest placer mine in the district; it operated under the direction of Warren Taylor and Alaska Unlimited Inc. (Swainbank and others, 1991, p. 31; Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34). Mining from 1903 to 1916 was done by open-cut, pick-and-shovel methods and continued intermittently until 1940 (Maddren, 1918, p. 401). In 1924, a hydraulic operation was active in gravels 6 to 7 feet in depth (Wimmler, 1924, p. 43). An attempt at large-scale hydraulic mining of the Nenana Gravel was not financially successful (Capps, 1924, p. 138). This failed attempt consisted of 11 miles of ditches designed to convey 3,000 miner's inches of water from the upper part of Gold King Creek to a point on the eastern slopes of the valley, where it was to be delivered to a pipeline with a head of 700 feet (Maddren, 1918, p. 401).

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 (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.