Gold Creek Prospect, Fairbanks Mining District, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Gold Creek Prospect	Prospect
Fairbanks Mining District	Mining District
Fairbanks North Star Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Gold Creek drains east into the North Fork of the Salcha River. The creek is roughly 12 miles long and has several tributaries with associated placers, including Bluestone Creek, Eldorado Creek, Greystone Creek, Quartz Creek, Wickersham Creek, Little Gold Creek, and Flume Creek. The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system reports placer claims on Gold Creek and its tributaries. The approximate center of the mining activity is in SW1/4SW1/4 section 16, T. 1 S., R. 11 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. An unimproved trail provides access to the middle of the Gold Creek drainage from No Grub Creek (BD028) on the Salcha River. It is locality 12 of Menzie and Foster (1979), who summarized relevant references under the name 'Gold Creek'.
Geology: The bedrock in the region is schist, gneiss, some granite, and minor amounts of serpentinite and limestone. The schist is composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, with localized garnetiferous and marble zones. The gneiss is coarse to fine grained with various amounts of quartz, feldspar, hornblende, and biotite. The schist and gneiss have suspected protoliths of Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks. The intrusive bodies in the area range in composition from granodiorite to quartz monzonite with Cretaceous to Tertiary K-Ar ages (Weber and others, 1978). The gravels in the region average 18 to 20 feet in thickness and contain a variety of schist, gneiss, granite, and vein quartz (Prindle, 1906; B 284). Brooks (1908) reported the fineness of the gold in the area to be higher than that mined in the Richardson district. It is unclear where or when placer mining activities took place on Gold Creek and its tributaries. Placer gold was first discovered on nearby Butte Creek (BD006) in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek and soon extended to nearby creeks. By 1910, most of the mining activity was focused on Caribou Creek. A trail from No Grub Creek was put in by C.F. Shield in the early 1940's (C.F. Shield, unpublished data, 1979). The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system records active claims on Gold Creek and its tributaries as recent as 1986. Exploration to determine the lode source for the placer gold in the Gold Creek drainage is currently being conducted in the Gold Creek drainage (R. Van Nieuwenhuyse, oral communication, 1998). Historically, creek placers in the region have been grouped with the mines and prospects of the Richardson district. From 1905 through 1921, production from the Richardson district was approximately 95,000 ounces of gold and 24,000 ounces of silver (Bundtzen and Reger, 1977). Since 1980, the district has produced approximately 10,000 additional ounces of gold from intermittent mining (Olson and others, 1985). Individual gold production for Gold Creek has not been reported separately.
Workings: It is unclear where or when placer mining took place on Gold Creek and its tributaries. Placer gold was first discovered on nearby Butte Creek (BD006) in 1905. Prospecting initially occurred on Butte Creek and soon extended to nearby creeks. By 1910, most of the mining activity was focused on Caribou Creek. A trail from No Grub Creek was put in by C.F. Shield in the early 1940's (C.F. Shield, unpublished data, 1979). The Alaska Division of Mining Kardex file system records active claims on Gold Creek and its tributaries as recent as 1986. Exploration to determine the lode source for the placer gold in the Gold Creek drainage is currently being conducted in the Gold Creek drainage (R. Van Nieuwenhuyse, oral communication, 1998).
Age: Quaternary
Production: Historically, creek placers in the region have been grouped with the mines and prospects of the Richardson district. From 1905 through 1921, production from the Richardson district was approximately 95,000 ounces of gold and 24,000 ounces of silver (Bundtzen and Reger, 1977). Since 1980, the district has produced approximately 10,000 additional ounces of gold from intermittent mining (Olson and others, 1985). Individual gold production for Gold Creek has not been reported separately.

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BD015

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References