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Daniels Creek

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Mercury, 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. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10309009
MRDS ID A010715
Record type Site
Current site name Daniels Creek
Related records 10112154, 10000521

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -163.75225, 64.57332 (WGS84)
Relative position Daniels Creek is a 1 mile drainage that flows south to Norton Sound at Bluff. Mining took place upstream from the mouth of the creek for a distance of about 2,500 feet, between elevations of 20 and 120 feet. This is locality 110 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Solomon C-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Solomon C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Mercury Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Gold Ore
Scheelite Ore

Alteration

  • Manganese oxide cementation was at least locally present.

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) -163.75225, 64.57332
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = A rich gold placer was discovered on the beach at Bluff in 1899 and by 1900, placers on Daniels Creek were also being exploited (Brooks and others, 1901). Placer mning on Daniels Creek took place for about 2,500 feet from its mouth to where schist crosses the drainage. Downstream, bedrock in the drainage is Paleozoic marble (Herreid, 1965; Mulligan, 1971; Till and others, 1986). The marble bedrock is characterized by irregular solution channels, crevices, sink holes, pits, and collapsed caverns that are in places tens of feet deep and below sea level. Cumulative gold production from Daniels Creek, mostly between 1900 and 1920, is about 44,000 ounces (Mulligan, 1971). Ditch systems brought water to the area and much of the mining was by hydraulic methods. Total placer production from the Bluff area (Daniels Creek, modern beaches, and offshore submerged channels or beaches - see ARDF locality SO134) is about 90,000 ounces. The initial discoveries were very rich; production in 1900 included about 10,000 ounces from Daniels Creek and 29,000 ounces from the modern beaches (Brooks and others, 1901; Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181). Manganese oxide locally cemented the paystreak and cinnabar, scheelite, magnetite, and ilmentite accompanied gold in heavy mineral concentrates.
  • Age = Quaternary; the placer deposits here are at low enough elevation (below sea level to 100 feet) to have been influenced by Quaternary sea level fluctuations.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Council

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = The initial discoveries were very rich; production in 1900 was about 10,000 ounces of gold from Daniels Creek and 29,000 ounces of gold from the modern beaches (Brooks and others, 1901; Collier and others, 1908; Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181). Cumulative gold production from Daniels Creek, mostly between 1900 and 1920, is about 44,000 ounces (Mulligan, 1971). Total placer production from the Bluff area (Daniels Creek, modern beaches, and offshore submerged channels or beaches - see ARDF locality SO134) is about 90,000 ounces.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = The Daniels Creek placer is mostly worked out but offshore extensions of the very irregular and locally deep channel probably still contain gold (see ARDF locality 134).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Hydraulic placer mining took place over 2,500 feet of the drainage upstream from the mouth. Much hand digging must have been required to exploit placers on the very irregular bedrock; shaft-digging buckets were scattered over the length of the mined area in 1966 (Mulligan, 1971). Ditch systems were constructed to bring water to the area for hydraulic operations. Other operations and exploration activities nearby were associated with beach and offshore mining (see ARDF locality SO134) and lode gold epxploitation (see ARDF locality SO135).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1978 (OF 78-181)

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 19-AUG-1999 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

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.