Vermont Creek; Right Fork Mine, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Vermont Creek; Right Fork Mine	Mine
Koyukuk Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Vermont Creek and its tributary, Right Fork, flow east into the Hammond River. Vermont Creek heads on Vermont Dome and Right Fork heads in Vermont Pass. The placer deposits on Vermont Creek extend from the valley of the Hammond River, up Vermont Creek to the fork, then up the Right Fork for 0.5 to 0.7 mile. Placer gold is not known to occur on Vermont Creek above its junction with Right Fork. The coordinates are the junction of Right Fork and Vermont Creek. The location is accurate.
Geology: Gold was discovered on Vermont Creek August 25, 1901. Maddren reported that $172,000 (about 9,050 ounces) were produced from 1901 through 1909. Eden (2000) reports that a total of 9,145.40 ounces of gold were produced from Vermont Creek between 1904 and 1999. Kurtak and others (2002) estimate that 11,230 oz. of gold were produced between 1901 and 1983. Mining is reported as late as 1983 (Bundtzen and others, 1984) and there was some mining in 1992 (Swainbank and others, 1993). Placer gold occurs in the modern stream beds of Vermont Creek and Right Fork, and in deep buried channels in lower Vermont Creek. Maddren, (1913). Reed (1938) suggests that the deep channels may in part be continuous with bench deposits of the Hammond River. Auriferous shallow gravels on Right Fork extend continuously from the lower 0.5 to 0.7 mile of Right Fork, and continues along Vermont Creek below the mouth of Right Fork for about 0.2 to 0.5 mile (about one or two claim lengths). Right Fork contains about 3 feet of gravel, but the width of the gravel is restricted due to the narrowness of the valley bottom. In Vermont Creek below the mouth of Right Fork, the gravels are covered by 6 to 8 feet of muck; the pay channel increases in width to 200 to 400 feet and in thickness to 4 or 5 feet. The pay channel consists of coarse-grained, poorly sorted and subangular gravel, lying on soft micaceous schist (Reed, 1938). The gold in Vermont Creek is on, and in the top few inches of, the bedrock. The gold forms few small nuggets; it is mostly fine. According to Reed (1938) the value of the ground in these shallow gravels was about $0.13 per square foot of bedrock (gold at $35.00 per ounce). The gravel contains considerable pyrite. On lower Vermont Creek the gravels become deeper, and Maddren (1913) thought that the lower 0.5 miles of auriferous gravel could, at least in part, be continuous with bench deposits of the Hammond River. He also suggests that the gold probably was derived from the drainage area of Vermont Creek. Reed (1938) indicated that the deep channel was about 0.2 mile long, along the left limit of lower Vermont Creek. The gravels in these deposits are frozen and 30 to 90 feet deep. Reed (1938) noted that gravel on the dumps was fine, and waterworn, with few boulders. The gold in these deposits is rounded and mostly coarse; several nuggets more than 10 ounces in weight have been recovered. There are unconfirmed reports that the value of the ground in these deep gravels may have run as high a $5 per square foot of bedrock (gold at $35,00 per ounce) (Reed, 1938). Maddren (1913) identified quartz veinlets along joint surfaces in bedrock on upper Right Fork; he noted that at least one of these veinlets contained sulfides as well as specks and flakes of free gold. A cobble-size boulder of gold quartz with stibnite and about 1% gold was found by local placer miners (Dillon, 1982). The fineness of the gold from Vermont Creek is 892 to 952, with a median of 928 (Mosier and Lewis, 1986).
Workings: The shallow creek gravels were mined by hand methods and open-cuts. Some of the overburden was removed by hydraulicking. The deep, frozen deep gravels on lower Vermont Creek were drift mined.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Gold was discovered on Vermont Creek August 25, 1901. Maddren reported that $172,000 (about 9,050 ounces) were produced from 1901 through 1909. Eden (2000) reports that a total of 9,145.40 ounces of gold were produced from Vermont Creek between 1904 and 1999. Kurtak and others (2002) estimate that 11,230 oz. of gold were produced between 1901 and 1983. Mining is reported as late as 1983 (Bundtzen and others, 1984) and there was some mining in 1992 (Swainbank and others, 1993).

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

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	WI027

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References