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

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

MAS/MIL number 20760021.
Location: The mine is a placer on the middle fork of upper Gold Creek, a tributary of the Oshetna River. Mining cuts on the creek are at elevations of about 4, 500 feet in the Talkeetna Mountains A-2 quadrangle, and about 3,200 feet in the Talkeetna Mountains B-2 quadrangle. The site is arbitrarily located at the 4,500-foot cut in the NW1/4 sec. 26, T. 25 N., R. 9 E., Seward Meridian. The location is accurate to within 1/4 mile. This is location 56 of Csejtey and Miller (1978).
Geology: Alluvial gravels in Gold Creek overlie volcaniclastic breccia, porphyritic basalt, andesite, felsic tuff, sandstone, and argillite of the Jurassic Talkeetna Formation (Kurtak and others, 1992). The ridge west of the creek consists of Tertiary fluviatile conglomerate overlain by Tertiary volcanic rocks. The creek gravels are up to 50 feet thick and average 15 feet thick; the gradient of the creek is about 100 to 200 feet per mile (Kurtak and others, 1992). In addition to gold, the concentrates contain garnet, magnetite, and psilomelane. Placer samples collected by the U.S. Bureau of Mines contain up to 3.1 parts per million platinum and up to 0.0043 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Kurtak and others, 1992). The gold fineness varies from 770 to 850. Several placer claims are on Gold Creek, some staked as recently as 1980 (Kurtak and others, 1992). Mining cuts are at elevations of about 4,500 and 3, 200 feet. Coarse gold was reported to have been found in 1914 (Chapin, 1918). Suction dredging occurred in 1975 and a small placer mine operated in 1976.
Workings: Several placer claims are on Gold Creek, some staked as recently as 1980 (Kurtak and others, 1992). Mining cuts are at elevations of about 4,500 and 3, 200 feet. Coarse gold was reported to have been found in 1914 (Chapin, 1918). Suction dredging occurred in 1975 and a small placer mine operated in 1976. Limited placer samples collected by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Kurtak and others, 1992).
Age: Quaternary placer.
Production: Suction dredging occurred in 1975 and a small placer mine operated in 1976. The amount of gold recovered has not been made public.
Reserves: An estimated 1 million cubic yards of potentially auriferous placer gravel are in the basin of Gold Creek (Kurtak and others, 1992). There are no estimates of the grade.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	TK131

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References