Pedro Creek Mine (ARDF - FB094), Fairbanks Mining District, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Pedro Creek Mine (ARDF - FB094)	Mine
Fairbanks Mining District	Mining District
Fairbanks North Star Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The Pedro Creek mine is located in the W1/2 sec. 22, T. 2 N., R. 1 E., Fairbanks Meridian. Mine tailings are marked along Pedro Creek on the Fairbanks D-2 and the Livengood A-1 and A-2 topographic maps; the tailings extend for about 4.5 miles above its mouth. This site is also described in the Livengood ARDF records (LG064). The mine is included in locality 54 of Cobb (1972 [MF 410]).
Geology: Felix Pedro discovered gold on Pedro Creek in 1902, the first discovery in what was to become the Fairbanks District. Pedro Creek was a major placer gold producer in the Fairbanks mining district; placered ground extends almost 4.5 miles along the creek, from its mouth at the junction with Twin Creek to the junction of Pedro Creek and Gilmore Creek. Placer gold on Pedro Creek is both very fine and coarse and was found in the bottom 2 to 7 feet of gravel and the top 1 to 5 feet of bedrock (Prindle, 1904; Brooks, 1905). The depth to quartzite schist bedrock is 9 to 35 feet (Prindle, 1904; Prindle and Katz, 1909). Heavy minerals found with the gold are magnetite, garnet, rutile and pyrite (Prindle, 1905). The paystreak is from 4 to over 200 feet wide (Brooks, 1905). Mining was by drifting, open cuts, and dredges (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-633]). United Stated Smelting Refining and Mining Co. Dredge no. 4 was built on Pedro Creek in 1939, and the dredge worked there from 1939 to 1942 and from 1952 to 1958 (R.M. Chapman, USGS unpublished memorandum, 1978). The value of gold produced from 1903 to 1910 was $1,250,000 (with the gold valued at $17.68 per ounce) (Prindle and Katz, 1913). More recent production figures are not available.
Workings: Felix Pedro discovered gold on Pedro Creek in 1905, the first discovery in what was to become the Fairbanks District. Mining was by drifting, open cuts and dredges (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-633]). In 1922, hydraulic operations continued and over 24,000 square feet of ground was worked (Wimmler, 1922, ATDM MR 195-6, p. 17). United Stated Smelting Refining and Mining Co. Dredge no. 4 was built on Pedro Creek in 1939, and the dredge worked there from 1939 to 1942 and from 1952 to 1958 (R.M. Chapman, USGS unpublished memorandum, 1978). In the summer of 1960, Nick Kupoff and Charles Lazeration mined on Pedro Creek near its junction with Twin Creek (Saunders, 1960). Small amounts of placer gold are still being mined at a recreational mining site on upper Pedro Creek near the monument that marks the discovery of gold in the Fairbanks District by Felix Pedro.
Age: Quaternary placer.
Production: The value of gold produced from 1903 to 1910 was $1,250,000 (gold valued at $17.68 per ounce) (Prindle and Katz, 1913). The production for subsequent years is not available but probably is substantial.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	FB094

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References