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Butte Creek

Prospect 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. 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 10001701
MRDS ID A012483
Record type Site
Current site name Butte Creek
Alternate or previous names Twentymile Cr.
Related records 10136470, 10308498, 10308497

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -145.71787, 64.73081 (WGS84)
Relative position Butte Creek drains southwest into the Salcha River. The creek is about 12 miles long and has several tributaries with associated placers. This includes Twentymile Creek (not identified on existing maps). The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system reports placer mining on Butte Creek south of VABM The Butte. Several collapsed drift-mining shafts and surface tailings are situated at the confluence of several tributaries in the headwaters of Butte Creek . The approximate center of the mining activity on the creek is in NW1/4NE1/4 section 22, T. 2 S., R. 10 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. There are references to additional placer mining along Butte Creek, but it is unclear where. Several trails and a short unimproved landing strip provide access to the Butte Creek drainage. It is locality 15 of Cobb and Eberlein (1980), who summarized relevant references under the name 'Butte 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

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

Big Delta NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Big Delta C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

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

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metavolcanic Rock > Mafic Metamorphic Rock > Greenstone
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Gneiss
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -145.71787, 64.73081
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The bedrock in the region comprises schist, gneiss, some granite, and minor amounts of serpentinite and limestone. The schist is composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, with localized garnetiferous and marble zones. The gneiss is coarse to fine grained with various amounts of quartz, feldspar, hornblende, and biotite. The schist and gneiss probably have protoliths of Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks. The intrusive bodies in the area range in composition from granodiorite to quartz monzonite, and have Cretaceous to Tertiary K-Ar ages (Weber and others, 1978).? Butte Creek is larger than several nearby streams and flows in a broad valley that narrows to steep gulches towards the headwaters. The gravels average 18 to 20 feet in thickness and consists of a variety of schist, gneiss, granite, and vein quartz (Prindle, 1906; B 284). Brooks (1908) reported the fineness of the gold to be higher than that found in the Richardson District. ? Placer gold was first discovered on Butte Creek in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek and soon expanded to nearby Caribou Creek (BD009), No Grub Creek (BD028), Pasco Creek (BD031), and Gold Run Creek (BD016) and associated tributaries. As of late 1905, three holes had been sunk 24 to 26 feet to bedrock on Butte Creek. Live water and thawed ground presented the biggest obstacles during prospecting (Prindle, 1906; B 284). By 1910, most of the mining activity in the area was focused on Caribou Creek. Exploration to determine the lode source for the placer gold is currently (1998) being conducted in the Butte Creek drainage (R. Van Nieuwenhuyse, oral communication, 1998). Historically, Butte Creek has been grouped with the mines and prospects of the Richardson district. From 1905 through 1921, production from the Richardson district was approximately 95,000 ounces of gold and 24,000 ounces of silver (Bundtzen and Reger, 1977). Since 1980, the district has produced approximately 10,000 additional ounces of gold from intermittent mining (Olson and others, 1985). Individual gold production for Butte Creek has not been reported separately. The creek has been heavily prospected, but no pay streak was detected during early work (Brooks, 1906).
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Fairbanks

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Historically, creek placers in the region have been grouped with the mines and prospects of the Richardson district. From 1905 through 1921, production from the Richardson district was approximately 95,000 ounces of gold and 24,000 ounces of silver (Bundtzen and Reger, 1977). Since 1980, the district has produced approximately 10,000 additional ounces of gold from intermittent mining (Olson and others, 1985). Individual gold production for Gold Creek has not been reported separately. Historically, Butte Creek has been grouped with the mines and prospects of the Richardson area. From 1905 through 1921, production in the Richardson area was approximately 95,000 ounces of gold and 24,000 ounces of silver (Bundtzen and Reger, 1977). Individual gold production for Butte Creek has not been reported separately. The creek has been heavily prospected, but no pay streak was detected during early work (Brooks, 1906).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Placer gold was first discovered on Butte Creek in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek and expanded to nearby Caribou Creek, No Grub Creek, and Gold Run Creek and associated tributaries. As of late 1905, three holes had been sunk 24 to 26 feet to bedrock on Butte Creek. Water and thawed ground presented the biggest obstacles during prospecting (Prindle, 1906; B 284). By 1910, most of the mining activity in the area was focused on Caribou Creek. Exploration to determine the lode source for the placer gold is currently (1998) being conducted in the Butte Creek drainage (R. Van Nieuwenhuyse, oral communication, 1998).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Prindle, 1906; B 284

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 26-APR-1999 Cameron S. Rombach Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys

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.