Butte Creek Mine, Bethel Mining District, Bethel Census Area, Alaska, USAi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Butte Creek Mine | Mine |
| Bethel Mining District | Mining District |
| Bethel Census Area | Census Area |
| Alaska | State |
| USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
59° 29' 23'' North , 161° 28' 11'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Quinhagak | 706 (2017) | 38.2km |
| Goodnews Bay | 256 (2017) | 41.8km |
Mindat Locality ID:
196713
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:196713:8
GUID (UUID V4):
0594ccbf-4adf-41a2-8029-6a80e4bf4e22
Location: Butte Creek is a small east tributary to Faro Creek, a south tributary of Arolik River. Almost a mile of upper Butte Creekhas been placer mined. The map site is at the approximate midpoint of the placer workings, at the southeast corner of section 11, T 8 S, R 27 W, of the Seward Meridian. This is locality 6 of Hoare and Cobb (1977) and of Cobb and Condon (1972).
Geology: Butte Creek is in the non-glaciated part of the Faro Creek drainage. Placer gold mining has taken place over about one mile of upper Butte Creek, starting in 1911 and continuing in most years up to 1940 (Hoare and Cobb, 1977, p. 29). About five feet of gravel covered a pay streak on a false clay bedrock like that on Kowkow Creek (GO031). The depth to true bedrock is 15 to 25 feet below the false bedrock. About 3,400 ounces of gold were produced up to 1919 (Harrington, 1921). Some platinum was also recovered with the gold. Platinum recovered from Butte Creek contained 59.07 percent Pt, 15.38 percent Ir, 14.82 percent Os, 9.31 percent Ru, 0.96 percent Rh, and 0.46 percent Pd (Mertie, 1969, table 38). Butte Creek was prospected for platinum in the 1960s by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company (Mertie, 1969, p. 89). Butte Creek is near the faulted contact between Precambrian crystalline rocks and Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978).
Workings: Open-cut surface mine workings are present along about 1 mile of upper Butte Creek. The creek was prospected for platinum in the 1960s by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company (Mertie, 1969, p. 89).
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Placer gold mining has taken place over about one mile of the creek starting in 1911 and continuing in most years up to 1940 (Hoare and Cobb, 1977. p. 29). About 3,400 ounces of gold were produced up to 1919 (Harrington, 1921). The small amount of platinum production from Butte Creek was included in the amount reported by the Goodnews Bay Mining Company for its Salmon River operations in the Hagemeister Island quadrangle (Mertie, 1969).
Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Pt
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
1 valid mineral.
Gallery:
Other Databases
| Link to USGS - Alaska: | GO033 |
|---|
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Farewell-Kilbuck DomainDomain
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References
