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St. Marys Creek (Gulch)

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Arsenic, Copper, Molybdenum, Lead, REE, Antimony, Thorium, Titanium, Uranium, 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. 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 10307332
Record type Site
Current site name St. Marys Creek (Gulch)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -148.21328, 67.51973 (WGS84)
Relative position St. Marys Creek drains the Chandalar mine area and joins Big Creek near the lower limit of mining on Big Creek. The reference point is near the junction of St. Marys Creek and Big Creek (SE1/4 sec. 9, T. 32 N., R. 3 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian). It is approximately 5 miles south of the southwest end of Squaw Lake. Mining has occurred upstream from the reference point for approximately 1/2 mile. The location is accurate within a 1/2-mile radius. See fig. 2 in Chipp (1970).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Chandalar C-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Chandalar N(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Chandalar C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Arsenic Critical Secondary
Copper Secondary
Molybdenum Secondary
Lead Secondary
REE Critical Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary
Thorium Secondary
Titanium Critical Secondary
Uranium Secondary
Tungsten Critical 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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -148.21328, 67.51973
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Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Maddren (1913) noted that most of the gold that had been produced in the Chandalar district up to that time had come from upper Big Creek and St. Marys Gulch. Despite its production, there is little information describing St. Marys Creek, which drains the area of gold quartz lode deposits in the Chandalar district (CH041-042). Chipp (1970) noted that pan samples from Big Creek and St. Marys Gulch show the gold to be bright yellow and irregular shot-like to flattened; a few crystals occur. The average grain size of the gold is said to be about 1 mm, and there are many 2- to 3-mm nuggets (Chipp, 1970). Some nuggets include quartz crystals and iron oxides. It is reported that, in addition to the gold the concentrates contain a large suite of heavy minerals including monazite(?), magnetite, hematite, rutile, pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, stibnite, molybdenite, scheelite, and uranothorianite.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Chandalar

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Reported to be one of the major gold producers of the Chandalar area, although there is no record of actual production.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Most of the early mining was by drifting or by hand. Heiner and Wolff (1968) reported drift mining in the winter of 1915. Some exploration work, including drilling and sampling, was reported in 1986 on several properties in the area, including St. Marys Creek (Bundtzen and others, 1987).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Chipp, 1970

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = See also: Big Creek (CH043).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 17-NOV-99 J.M. Britton U.S. Geological Survey

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.