Palmer Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Tungsten
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 10308816
MRDS ID A012240
Record type Site
Current site name Palmer Creek
Related records 10208631, 10001493

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -145.47289, 65.01371 (WGS84)
Relative position The coordinates are for the approximate center of the lowermost of two placered areas on the creek. Both areas are about 1,500 to 2,000 ft long. Palmer Creek is a tributary to the Middle Fork of the Chena River.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Fairbanks North Star(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Circle A-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Circle C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
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) -145.47289, 65.01371

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Numerous quartz and calcite veinlets that cut the quartzitic and phyllitic country rock have been considered the source of gold by some workers (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 50). During mining operations in 1941 most of the concentrates consisted of scheelite (Joesting, 1942, p. 41). No granitic rocks are known in the drainage area and there are no igneous rocks in the stream gravels, so the scheelite probably occurs in some of the numerous quartz stringers in the schist country rock (Joesting, 1942, p. 41).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Circle

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Mining has been reported (see workings/exploration); however, amount of production is unknown.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Surface mining in 1937 to 1941 or later (Lampright, 1996, p. 73).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S. 1939, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1937: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 910-A, p. 1-113.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1938: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 917-A, p. 1-113.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Misc. Field Studies Map MF-391, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-633, 72 p.

  • Deposit

    Menzie, W.D., Foster, H.L., Tripp, R.B., and Yeend, W.E., 1983, Mineral resource assessment of the Circle quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-170-B, 61 p., 1 sheet, 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Lampright, R.L., 1996, Gold placer deposits near Fairbanks Alaska: Iron Fire Publications, Nederland, Colorado, 135 p.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1937: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 910-A, p. 1-113.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Menzie and others, 1983.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = See also Van Curlers Bar, ARDF no. CI087 and Shamrock Creek, ARDF no. CI052.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 09-SEP-1998 C.J. Freeman, J.R. Guidetti Schaefer, A.S. Clements Avalon Development Corporation

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.