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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Greenhorn Gulch

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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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. Host and associated rocks
  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 10001486
MRDS ID A012232
Record type Site
Current site name Greenhorn Gulch
Related records 10112320

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -145.07404, 65.45084 (WGS84)
Relative position Greenhorn Gulch extends about 1.5 mi north and 1.5 mi south of the coordinate intersection; it is a tributary of Boulder Creek. Mining activity in the 1970's and 1980's also has occurred at the junction with Tinhorn Gulch.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Circle B-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Circle C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

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

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -145.07404, 65.45084
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The creek along Greenhorn Gulch flows north for approximately 5 km before joining Boulder Creek. Bedrock throughout the entire Greenhorn Gulch drainage is the Lower Schist unit described by Wiltse and others (1995) as slightly calcareous quartz-muscovite schist, porphyroblastic albite-quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist, and lesser amounts of quartzose porphyroblastic albite-chlorite schist and chlorite schist.? An alluvium-covered bench on the west side of the gulch is 8 to 12 m above the valley bottom and grades into the bench in Boulder Creek. The creek gravel in Greenhorn Gulch is composed of boulders up to 70 cm in diameter, but are more commonly 10 to 30 cm across. The gravel is 1 to 2 meters thick over the schist bedrock and is as much as 30 meters wide (Yeend, 1991). A fragment of vein quartz with cavities from which sulfides had been weathered out assayed 24 oz. silver per ton and contained specks of free gold (Spurr, 1898, p. 293).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Circle

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = A 2.5 oz gold nugget was recovered in the early days of mining, and vein quartz in the gravel reportedly contained finely disseminated free gold (Spurr, 1898).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = There was small-scale placer mining reported in 1896, and 1911 to 1912; however, mining was hampered by the lack of water. Recent mining activity in the 1970's and 1980's has occurred on the creek junction with Tinhorn Gulch (Yeend, 1991; Menzie and others, 1983).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = Greenhorn Gulch is the only part of the Boulder Creek drainage that has had significant placer mining activity. Greenhorn Gulch has also been called Greenhorn Creek but it should not be confused with the much less productive 'Greenhorn Creek' that is a tributary of Bottom Dollar Creek.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 09-SEP-98 C.J. Freeman Avalon Development Corporation
Reporter 09-SEP-98 J.R. Guidetti Schaefer Avalon Development Corporation
Reporter 09-SEP-98 Clements, A.S. 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.