Dome Creek Mine, Fairbanks Mining District, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Dome Creek Mine	Mine
Fairbanks Mining District	Mining District
Fairbanks North Star Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The coordinates given are near the western end of a placered area along Dome Creek at Dome Camp, just below the mouth of Murray Creek; NW1/4NE1/4 sec. 6, T. 2 N., R. 1 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian.
Geology: Dome Creek was one of the most productive placer gold streams in the Fairbanks mining district, and by 1973, the creek had produced more than $4,000,000 in gold from both surface and underground workings (Cobb, 1973). Dome Creek has been mined for more than three miles from above Seattle Creek nearly to Olnes on the Elliot Highway. Before WWI, most mining was by drifting with a depth to bedrock of up to 200 feet (Prindle and Katz, 1913). The portion from near the mouth of Moose Creek to Seattle Creek was dredged from 1955 to 1959 (R.M. Chapman, 1978, unpublished U.S.G.S. memorandum). Surface mining has continued intermittently to the present, notably in upper Dome Creek, and for several miles below the Dome Creek camp site, shown on the Livengood A-2 topographic map. The location of drift mines on lower Dome Creek in the Chatanika Flats is described in ARDF No. LG044. Depth to uneven bedrock surface ranges from 30 to 200 feet, with a paystreak of 130 to 165 feet wide in the lower 2 to 3 feet of gravel and the upper 2 to 3 feet of bedrock (Prindle, 1908, p. 29). The middle part of the stream course is not productive, and auriferous gravel extends into the Chatanika Flats (Prindle and Katz, 1913). Concentrates contained gold, scheelite, and a little cassiterite (Cobb, 1976; OFR 76-633, p. 51). Production, including that from tributaries, from 1903 through 1920 was about 394,245 ounces (Cobb, 1976, p. 51). U.S.S.R. & M. Dredge no. 5 moved to Dome Creek in winter of 1954 to 1955, and worked there from 1955 to 1959 (R.M. Chapman, 1978, unpulished U.S.G.S. memorandum). During winter and early spring 1989, about 14,000 cubic yards were brought to the surface in a small scale undergound drift mine operation below the lower limit of the former U.S.S.R.& M. operations. Gravel sluiced during the summer of 1989 averaged 0.04 ounces of gold per cubic yard (Bundtzen and others, 1990, p. 35). In 1991, this same operation continued to rework old drifts and removed side pay left by the early 20th century hand miners (Bundtzen and others, 1992). Current sluicing is taking place above the dredge tailings (J. Schaefer, 1999, field observation).
Workings: Surface and underground workings have produced gold. U.S.S.R. & M. Dredge no. 5 moved to Dome Creek in winter of 1954 to 1955, and worked there from 1955 to 1959 (Chapman, 1978, U.S.G.S. memorandum). A small scale undergound drift mine by Roberts Mining was started in 1989 below the lower limit of former U.S.S.R. & M. dredging activities (Bundtzen and others, 1990, p. 35) and continued until 1993 (Bundtzen and others, 1994, p. 29). In 1991, Robert's Mining mined 11,470 cubic meters (15,000 cubic yards) of rich placer pay at the drift mine, reworking old drifts and removing side pay left by the early 20th century hand miners (Bundtzen and others, 1992). RCL Mining worked both an underground drift mine and washed old drift tailings on Dome Creek, below the Roberts Mining operation (Swainbank and others, 1993). Current operations consist of a cat feeding a sluice box, above the dredge tailings (J. Schaefer, 1999, field observation).
Production: Dome Creek was one of the most productive placer gold streams in the Fairbanks mining district, and by 1973, the creek had produced more than $4,000,000 in gold from both surface and underground workings (Cobb, 1973). During winter and early spring 1989, about 14,000 cubic yards were brought to the surface and stockpiled for summer sluicing. Gravel sluiced during the summer of 1989 averaged 0.04 ounces per cubic yard (Bundtzen and others, 1990, p. 35).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	LG049

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References