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Gold 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. 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 10308497
MRDS ID A012483
Record type Site
Current site name Gold Creek
Related records 10001701, 10308498, 10136470

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -145.55899, 64.88165 (WGS84)
Relative position Gold Creek drains east into the North Fork of the Salcha River. The creek is roughly 12 miles long and has several tributaries with associated placers, including Bluestone Creek, Eldorado Creek, Greystone Creek, Quartz Creek, Wickersham Creek, Little Gold Creek, and Flume Creek. The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system reports placer claims on Gold Creek and its tributaries. The approximate center of the mining activity is in SW1/4SW1/4 section 16, T. 1 S., R. 11 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. An unimproved trail provides access to the middle of the Gold Creek drainage from No Grub Creek (BD028) on the Salcha River. It is locality 12 of Menzie and Foster (1979), who summarized relevant references under the name 'Gold 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 D-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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -145.55899, 64.88165
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The bedrock in the region is 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 have suspected protoliths of Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks. The intrusive bodies in the area range in composition from granodiorite to quartz monzonite with Cretaceous to Tertiary K-Ar ages (Weber and others, 1978). The gravels in the region average 18 to 20 feet in thickness and contain a variety of schist, gneiss, granite, and vein quartz (Prindle, 1906; B 284). Brooks (1908) reported the fineness of the gold in the area to be higher than that mined in the Richardson district.? It is unclear where or when placer mining activities took place on Gold Creek and its tributaries. Placer gold was first discovered on nearby Butte Creek (BD006) in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek and soon extended to nearby creeks. By 1910, most of the mining activity was focused on Caribou Creek. A trail from No Grub Creek was put in by C.F. Shield in the early 1940's (C.F. Shield, unpublished data, 1979). The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system records active claims on Gold Creek and its tributaries as recent as 1986. Exploration to determine the lode source for the placer gold in the Gold Creek drainage is currently being conducted in the Gold Creek drainage (R. Van Nieuwenhuyse, oral communication, 1998). ? 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.
  • 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.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = It is unclear where or when placer mining took place on Gold Creek and its tributaries. Placer gold was first discovered on nearby Butte Creek (BD006) in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek and soon extended to nearby creeks. By 1910, most of the mining activity was focused on Caribou Creek. A trail from No Grub Creek was put in by C.F. Shield in the early 1940's (C.F. Shield, unpublished data, 1979). The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system records active claims on Gold Creek and its tributaries as recent as 1986. Exploration to determine the lode source for the placer gold in the Gold Creek drainage is currently being conducted in the Gold Creek drainage (R. Van Nieuwenhuyse, oral communication, 1998).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Foster and others, 1978

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.