Gold Creek Mine, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Gold Creek Mine	Mine
Koyukuk Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Gold fineness reported to range between 900 and 931. Alaska Kardex Nos. 031-030, 031-104, 031-103, 031-102, 031-101, 031-100, 031-099, 031-098, 031-092, 031-091, 031-088, 031-066 (Kardex is a card file mining claim information system located at the State of Alaska DNR Public Information Center in Fairbanks).
Location: Gold Creek is a west-flowing tributary to the Middle Fork Koyukuk River. It is approximately 6 miles south of Sukakpak Mountain. The reference point is near what is thought to be the lower limit of historical placer mining (sec. 17, T. 31 N., R. 10 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian) from which mining extended upstream for 7 to 8 miles. The location is accurate within a 1/4-mile radius.
Geology: Placer gold has been mined in Gold Creek from the present stream channel in gravels reported to be 2 to 7 feet deep; from a deeply buried channel approximately 50 to 100 feet below the present channel; and from benches about 8 feet above the present channel. The gravel in the present channel is coarse and waterworn, with many boulders. The gravel from one place in the deep channel is fairly fine, with only a few boulders. The ancestral Gold Creek originally flowed to the Middle Fork through what is now lower Linda Creek, but glacial drainage derangement or stream capture diverted the lower mile to its present course. Reed (1938) described the bedrock of Gold Creek as schist cut by a diorite dike a short distance upstream from the mouth of Magnet Creek. Dillon and Reifenstuhl (1995) mapped the country rocks in most of the Gold Creek drainage as sedimentary units of the Beaucoup Formation; other rocks present are a sequence of Devonian carbonaceous, siliceous, and calcareous sedimentary and felsic volcanic rocks and one occurrence of Devonian metabasite, which may correspond to the diorite dike described by Reed. The richest placers were between constrictions in the valley caused by resistant schist and diorite. The richest claim was at the mouth of Magnet Creek, just downstream from the diorite dike. Values from various operations along the creek were reported by Reed (1938) to run from about $0.25 to $1.50 per square foot of bedrock. Most of the gold forms smooth, shot-like pieces and small nuggets, but some pieces from high on the creek are angular and may not have been transported far. Angular fragments of stibnite in quartz have been found in the gravels, and some pyritization has been noted in the schist bedrock.
Workings: Surface and underground drift mining in the early days. Later mining activity was undoubtedly mechanized, but there is no description of this activity.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Gold was discovered in Gold Creek during the summer of 1900, and it was one of the first creeks to be mined in the district (Reed, 1938). Since then it has been a significant producer. The creek was mined in most years until around 1916, and mining continued sporadically after that, probably to the present (1998). The stream course has been mined for about 8 miles. Values reported by Reed (1938) ranged from $0.25 to $1.50 per square foot of bedrock. Production through 1909 was estimated by Maddren (1913) to be approximately $232,000.

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Sb
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CH080

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References