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  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Silver Creek

Past Producer 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 10308668
Record type Site
Current site name Silver Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.39999, 64.74929 (WGS84)
Relative position Silver Creek, a north tributary of Steep Creek (NM093), flows south from the southwest flank of Mount Distin. The stream has been placer mined by mechanical methods for about 1,500 feet above its confluence with Steep Creek.

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-1(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)

Federal lands

Bering Straits Native Corporation(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

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) -165.39999, 64.74929
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The lower 1,500 feet of Silver Creek has been placer mined by small-scale mechanical methods; this mining probably occurred in the 1930's and 1940's. The creek flows across interlayered marble, mica schist, and probably some metabasite for about a mile above its confluence with Steep Creek. The uppermost 2,000 feet of the drainage (above the mined section) is in massive marble (Hummel, 1962 [MF 248]; Bundtzen and others, 1994). Proximal sources for the placer gold may exist in the Silver Creek drainage. Soils developed on the basal contact of the massive marble in upper Silver Creek are highly anomalous in gold and arsenic (see NM096). In the summer of 1995, Kennecott Exploration Company mapped the Silver Creek drainage and excavated more than 1,000 feet of trenches east and west of Silver Creek in a search for the source of the arsenic and gold anomaly in soils. The source was not clearly identified, although gold-bearing hematitic zones, possibly overlying veins, were found west of Silver Creek. It is also possible that the McDuffee vein structure (NM092) exposed in Steep Creek extends southwesterly into the Silver Creek area.
  • Age = Holocene.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Small-scale mechanical mining of placer gold probably took place in 1930's and 1940's. The area has been explored in the 1990s for lode gold deposits.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = This report

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 22-OCT-99 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.