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Buster Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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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 10308970
MRDS ID A012923
Record type Site
Current site name Buster Creek
Related records 10100990, 10160197

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.24907, 64.59159 (WGS84)
Relative position This alluvial placer gold mine is on Buster Creek, an east tributary to Nome River, directly across the Nome River valley from Dexter Creek (NM303). The map location is near where Buster Creek enters the Nome River floodplain, at the center of section 27, T. 10 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian. Buster Creek was mined for about 3 miles above the map location. It is locality 116 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome C-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Sitnasuak Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold 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) -165.24907, 64.59159
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Gold was discovered on Buster Creek by 1900 (Schrader and Brooks, 1900 and Brooks and others, 1901). Mining took place intermittently until 1918 and again as recently as 1954 and 1955 when a small dredge was in operation (Hummel, 1975; Cobb, 1978 [OFR 78-93]). Buster Creek was auriferous from the floodplain of Nome River upstream at least to Goodluck Gulch. Two tributaries, Grace (NM269) and Union (NM270), were also auriferous. In the canyon above the floodplain, paystreaks had formed under the modern drainage and in bench deposits. The modern creek paystreak consisted of 3-foot-thick gravels on bedrock and 1 to 2 feet of bedrock that contained coarse gold; pay was 100 feet wide about 2 miles above the mouth (Collier and others, 1908). A bench deposit opposite the mouth of Union Gulch probably continued upstream to a similar deposit in Grace Gulch. The bench deposit opposite Union Gulch was at an elevation of about 300 feet and about 100 feet higher than nearby Buster Creek. The bench channel had bedrock rims that disappeared to the west (Moffit, 1913, p. 96-97). The creek was actively mined until 1918 (Cathcart, 1920). A small dredge probably operated in 1954 on lower Basin Creek near or in the main floodplain (Hummel, 1975). Gold was reported as coarse and about 900 fine. Bedrock in the drainage is marble and schist, probably of early Paleozoic protolith age (Hummel, 1962 [MF 247]; Till and Dumoulin, 1984; Bundtzen and others, 1994). Buster Creek is bracketed by two NNE-striking faults. The faults are subparallel to the Anvil Creek fault about 2 1/2 miles northwest of Buster Creek.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Buster Creek apparently was mined from about 1900 until at least 1918; lower Buster Creek was dredged from about 1953 to 1954.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Collier and others, 1908

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUL-00 Hawley, C.C. and Hudson, Travis L. Hawley Resource Group

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.