Warm Creek Mine, Council Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Warm Creek Mine	Mine
Council Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Warm Creek is an east tributary to Goldbottom Creek (SO058); it is about 7 miles northwest of Council. The location of placer mining along this creek is approximate, possibly within 1 mile of the coordinates. Collier and others (1908) note that the mines were in the upper part of the creek valley and that supplies were hauled overland from Ophir Creek (SO053). This is locality 117 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).
Geology: Gold mining began on Warm Creek in 1900 and by 1907 perhaps $100,000 (5,000 ounces) had been produced (Collier and others, 1908). Most of the gold was rough and iron-stained, some was almost black, and a 2.8 ounce nugget was recovered. Heavy mineral concentrate contained hematite, ilmenite, garnet, rutile, scheelite, and magnetite. After panning to remove the free gold, this concentrate assayed 22.4 ounces of gold and 4.2 ounces of silver per ton (Collier and others, 1908). Schist, marble, and some greenstone bedrock in the area is cut by quartz veins and lenses. The gold is mostly on the foot of gravel above bedrock; gravels are up to 7 feet thick. The gravels are reported to be 6 to 9 feet thick near the mouth. Bedrock in the area is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Till and others, 1986).
Workings: Placer mining started in Warm Creek in 1900 but much of the mining was by dredging between 1911 and 1922 (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181). The specific location of the placer workings along the creek is not known but the dredging may have taken place on the lower part of the drainage. Early mining was on claims in the upper part of the creek.
Age: Quaternary.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SO054

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References