Busch Creek Mine, Valdez Creek Mining District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Busch Creek Mine	Mine
Valdez Creek Mining District	Mining District
Matanuska-Susitna Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

MAS/MIL number 0020760052.
Location: Placer workings are between an elevation of about 3,500 to 3,900 feet in upper Busch Creek, a tributary of Goose Creek. Claims extend from the SW1/4 sec. 34 to the SE1/4 sec. 23., T. 28 N., R. 9 E., Seward Meridian. The coordinates are about in the center of the claims. The location is accurate to within 1/2 mile.
Geology: Upper Busch Creek drains an area of granodiorite (Csejtey and others, 1978), but bedrock is not exposed at the mine site. Placer gold in Busch Creek occurs in at least two glaciofluvial bench gravels as well as in the active stream bed. The gold may occur on clay-rich false bedrock (Kurtak and others, 1992). The gold particles are flat and up to 2 mm in diameter, although most are finer (0.5 mm). Miners report finding native mercury on gold flakes from virgin gravels. A 0.15-mm-long grain of isoferroplatinum was identified by Kurtak and others (1992). Stream-sediment samples collected by the U.S. Bureau of Mines contain more than 10 parts per million gold, and a placer concentrate sample contains 1,060 parts per billion platinum and 120 parts per billion palladium (Balen, 1990). Bench gravel samples contain up to 0.012 ounce of gold per cubic yard and 480 parts per billion platinum (Kurtak and others, 1992). Abundant magnetite hinders gold recovery. Shaft sinking started in the early 1900's (Kurtak and others, 1992). In 1988, a mining operation processed 1000 cubic yards per day of bank-run material through a 7-jig plant. Production of 150 ounces of gold was reported in 1988; the estimated average grade is 0.025 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Balen, 1990). Jig- and centrifuge-type concentrators have improved gold recovery. As of January 1, 2000, a block of approximately 45 state claims and 2 prospecting sites covered this deposit (Northern Associates Inc., written communication, 2001).
Workings: Shaft sinking started in the early 1900's (Kurtak and others, 1992). In 1988, a mining operation processed 1000 cubic yards per day of bank-run material through a 7-jig plant. Stream sampling by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Balen, 1990; Kurtak and others, 1992). Mining claims include Pearly 1, Busch Creek 1-18, Got-cha and Golden Goose 1-4 (Kurtak and others, 1992). As of January 1, 2000, a block of approximately 45 state claims and 2 prospecting sites covered this deposit (Northern Associates Inc., written communication, 2001).
Age: Quaternary placer.
Production: Production of 150 ounces of gold was reported in 1988; the estimated average grade is 0.025 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Balen, 1990). Jig- and centrifuge-type concentrators have improved gold recovery.
Reserves: A large potential resource is in the upper glaciofluvial bench gravels, and significant gold is reported in the gravels 2 1/2 miles downstream from the mine (Kurtak and others, 1992).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	TK107

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References