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

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

Gold in small quantities can still be panned from just about anywhere along the upper 160 km of Birch Creek (Yeend, 1991, p. 26).
Location: The coordinates are for the Birch Creek/Buckley Bar confluence. The Steese Highway parallels Birch Creek just east of Twelvemile Summit as it flows west from Mastodon Dome. Eventually Birch Creek flows south, east, then north, crossing the Steese Highway again between Central and Circle.
Geology: Birch Creek is approximately 560 km long, originating just east of Mastodon Dome and emptying into the Yukon River approximately 50 km below Fort Yukon. Birch Creek flows over quartzite and quartzite schist before crossing into the Tintina fault trench where it then flows within the broad lowlands of the Yukon River over Pleistocene and Holocene surficial deposits. The flood plain of the upper and middle portions of the creek is composed of pebble-to-cobble gravel that contains a few boulders composed primarily of quartz and quartzite. A pebble count of gravel in Birch Creek between the mouth of Gold Dust and Butte Creeks reveals a composition of 72 percent quartzitic schist, 20 percent quartz, and 8 percent schist. Panned concentrates are low in magnetite and ilmenite, and rich in garnet (Yeend, 1991, p. 26). The only early placer production recorded from Birch Creek was from river bars, of which Buckley Bar was probably the most productive (Ellsworth and Davenport, 1913, p. 213). A bench about a mile below Twelvemile Creek was unsuccessfully mined in 1911 (Cobb, 1976, p. 7). Mining operations using heavy equipment with modern high-volume sluiceboxes were active along the upper part of Birch Creek in the 1980's (Yeend, 1991).
Workings: Other than during the discovery period of the late 1800's, little mining was done on Birch Creek until the 1980's. Mining operations using heavy equipment with modern high-volume sluiceboxes were active along the upper part of Birch Creek in the 1980's (Yeend, 1991). A bench about a mile below Twelvemile Creek was unsuccessfully mined in 1911 (Cobb, 1976, p. 7, [OFR 76-633]).
Production: During the spring of 1894, about a half ounce of gold per man per day was being taken from Pitka's Bar (Dunham, 1898). In the 1980's in the upper part of Birch Creek near the Steese Highway, 2,000 cubic yards of gravel per day yielded 0.005 to 0.0075 ounces per cubic yard (Yeend, 1991, p.26, Lampright, 1996, p. 56). Most Birch Creek production has been from river bars with Buckley Bar probably being the most productive (Ellsworth and Davenport, 1913, p. 213). Battest Mining reported mining operations on Birch Creek in 1985 (Bundtzen and others, 1986).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CI005

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References