Candle Creek Mine (ARDF - CA040), Fairhaven Mining District, Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Candle Creek Mine (ARDF - CA040)	Mine
Fairhaven Mining District	Mining District
Northwest Arctic Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

All gravels are frozen and require stripping and thawing.
Location: The active mining area along Candle Creek extends from its confluence with the Kiwalik River at the Candle townsite upstream approximately 7 miles to the boundary of the Bendeleben quadrangle and then 9 miles to Potato Creek. The reference point is the center of the Candle airstrip, in section 24, T. 6 N., R. 16 W., of the Kateel River Meridian. Cobb, 1972 (MF 389), locations 1 and 18.
Geology: Placer gold was discovered on Candle Creek in 1901 and the deposit has been mined almost continuously since that time. The geology of the area is not well understood due to extensive ground cover. In general the area is underlain by late Precambrian to early Paleozoic quartz mica schists which are cut by small quartz stringers and granitic dikes. The schists are overlain unconformably by metamorphosed early to mid-Paleozoic limestones. Igneous rocks of Late Cretaceous to Tertiary age intrude the older metamorphics. The dominant igneous lithology in the Candle area is medium-grained, quartz monzonite which is exposed in placer workings at Camp 19 in the Bendeleben quadrangle. Quartz float is very common in stream beds and tailings. The age of the quartz is unknown. The source of the placer gold is thought to be from quartz veins crosscutting the schist bedrock. A general cross section of the placer ground on Candle Creek is schist bedrock overlain by 12 to 18 feet of gold-bearing creek gravels. The gravels in turn are covered by 10 to 20 feet of ice, muck, slide rock, and tundra. The placer gold is generally flattened, coarse and coated with a dark, organic iron oxide. The gold fineness is 857. Gold is often found in and associated with ironstone concretions commonly found in the gravels. All of the ground is frozen and some areas contain large ice wedges. Placer concentrates contain arsenopyrite, abundant pyrite, galena, chalcopyrite, ilmenite, rutile, garnet, cerusite and occasional magnetite (Cobb, 1976, OFR 76-866).
Workings: Placer gold was discovered on Candle Creek in 1901 and the deposit has been mined almost continuously since that time. The creek gravels were first mined by hand methods. Hydraulicking and drift mining was used on bench deposits. A small dredge was brought to the creek in 1914. In the early 1920's, two larger dredges were brought to the creek. To define the reserves for the dredges, shafts were sunk and several lines of drill holes were drilled. The dredging continued on Candle Creek until the early 1950's; it extended from above Camp 19 in the Bendeleben quadrangle to the confluence with the Kiwalik River. Small-scale placer activities continue on the creek. BHP Utah conducted a soil sampling and mapping program in 1990 for lode gold.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Harrington (1919) estimates that by 1917 $325,000 of gold (at $20.67/ounce) had been taken from Candle Creek. It is estimated that production from Candle Creek has exceeded 600,000 ounces of gold since 1901 (Williams, 1998).

Commodities (Major) - Ag, Au
Development Status: Yes; medium
Deposit Model: Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	CA040

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References