Little Eldorado Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Tin, Tungsten
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 10308896
MRDS ID A015501
Record type Site
Current site name Little Eldorado Creek
Related records 10257737, 10002994

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -147.53596, 65.05767 (WGS84)
Relative position Cobb (1972, MF-413), loc. 86, 87; NW1/4SW1/4 sec. 27, T. 3 N., R. 1 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The mine tailings are marked on the Livengood (A-2) quadrangle. The coordinates given are for the center of the tailings at the head of Little Eldorado Creek.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Livengood A-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Livengood(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Tin Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
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) -147.53596, 65.05767

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Little Eldorado Creek drains the north side of Pedro Dome. Bedrock in the headwaters area consists of granodiortie on Pedro Dome and micaceous quartzite, quartz-mica schist and pelitic schist of the Fairbanks schist unit (Weber and others, 1992). Gold is mainly in the bench placers with some gold in the creek. Bedrock is quartz-mica schist at a depth of 60 to 120 feet (Prindle, 1908). Concentrates contain gold, cassiterite, scheelite, and wolframite (Prindle and Katz, 1909; Johnson, 1910). Bench placer mining took place in 1907-27, 1930-31, 1938-40 and drift mining has been active throughout the 1990's, especially in the lower parts of the creek (Cobb, 1976; OFR 76-633, p. 113-114; Swainbank and others, 1998). U.S.S.R. & M. Dredge no. 5 moved to Little Eldorado Creek in 1948 and worked there from 1948 to 1954 (R. M. Chapman, 1978, U.S.G.S. memorandum). Total production as of 1924 was worth $2,414,000 (Smith, 1926), and production figures are not available for more recent operations. More recent drift mining in the 1990's has taken place in the Chatanika flats, near the mouth of Little Eldorado Creek (ARDF no. LG045).

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 = Total production as of 1924 was worth $2,414,000 (Smith, 1926). Production records are not available for recent mining activity.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Mining took place in 1907-27, 1930-31, 1938-40 (Cobb, 1976; OFR 76-633, p. 113-114) and Al Hopen mined Little Eldorado Creek throughout the 1990's. Drift mining was reported in 1925 (Moffit, 1927, p. 17). U.S.S.R. & M. Dredge no. 5 moved to Little Eldorado Creek in 1948 and worked there from 1948 to 1954.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1976 (OFR 76-633)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 04-MAY-1999 C.J. Freeman, J.R. Guidetti Schaefer Avalon Development Corporation

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.