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Arctic Creek (upper)

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Lead, Antimony, 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 10307971
Record type Site
Current site name Arctic Creek (upper)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.74558, 64.63278 (WGS84)
Relative position Arctic Creek is an east tributary of lower Cripple River. The mouth of Arctic Creek is about 5 miles upstream from the mouth of Cripple River on Norton Sound. Two segments of the creek have been mined, probably with gold derived in part from two different sources. Upper Arctic Creek is the part of the creek above its confluence with Bluff Creek. This location is an approximate mid-point of the section mined between the Nome-Teller road and the mouth of Bluff Creek. This is locality 78 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463]) but most of the information summarized by Cobb (1978 [OFR 78-93]) is for lower Arctic Creek (NM155).

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-2(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)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Lead Secondary
Antimony Critical Secondary
Tungsten Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Scheelite 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) -165.74558, 64.63278
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Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Upper Arctic Creek was mined by hand methods for about 1 mile downstream from the Nome-Teller road and probably by mechanical methods for a half-mile segment above the mouth of Bluff Creek (NM154). Abundant granitic boulders have been stacked on the north side of the placer pit just below the Nome-Teller road, suggesting the possibility that some gold was derived by reworking glacial deposits. However, the unnamed northern tributary to Arctic Creek, above the Nome-Teller road, contains stream sediments that are strongly anomalous in lead and tungsten, suggesting local bedrock mineralization. A pan concentrate collected by Kennecott Exploration Company from this north tributary contained 830 ppm lead and 80 ppm tungsten. A pan concentrate from Arctic Creek just above Bluff Creek contained greater than 10,000 ppb gold. A bedrock sample of pyritic graphitic quartz schist collected about 500 feet above the confluence of Bluff Creek contained 15 ppb gold, 1,340 ppm arsenic, and 41 ppm antimony.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Mostly shovel-in type workings; probably most date from before 1906 (Moffit, 1906, p. 136).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H., 1906, Gold mining on Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in Brooks, A.H., and others, Report on progress of investigations of mineral resources in Alaska in 1905: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 284, p. 132-144.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = This report

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 12-MAR-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.