Spaulding Creek Mine Mine, Innoko Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Spaulding Creek Mine Mine	Mine
Innoko Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Spaulding Creek (which is not labeled by name on the USGS 1:63,360-scale topographic map) is a 6-mile-long tributary of Ganes Creek (ID011). The mouth of Spaulding Creek is about 0.5 mile south of the mouth of Six Gulch; the lower 2.4 miles of Spaulding Creek has been mined. The coordinates are at the mouth of Spaulding Creek in the SW1/4 SW1/4, section 17, T. 33 N., R. 38 W., of the Seward Meridian. The location is accurate. The Spaulding Creek Mine was described as locality 40 of Cobb (1972 [MF 363]); also described in Cobb (1976 [OFR 76-576]).
Geology: Spaulding Creek is the largest auriferous tributary of Ganes Creek . Placer deposits have been mined for about 2.5 miles of lower Spaulding Creek,, mainly below outcrops of a swarm of Cretaceous and Tertiary dikes and sills. The swarm is the probable source of the placer gold (Bundtzen and Laird, 1982; Bundtzen and Miller, 1997; Bundtzen and others, 1987). The placer deposits consist of fluvial gravels from 3 to 15 thick, that are covered with 3 to 10 feet of overburden (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-576]). The heavy mineral concentrates include magnetite, ilmenite, and a trace of scheelite (Bundtzen and others, 1987). The gold is from 837 to 857 fine, and averages 833. Incomplete records from 1909 to 1941 indicate that 7,925 ounces of gold and 1,591 ounces of silver were produced from several small placer mines.
Workings: Placer deposits on Spaulding Creek were initially mined in open cuts using scrapers; then bulldozers and draglines were used. A dredge mined past the mouth of Spaulding Creek in the 1930s. Most of the mining in the creek was before World War II. Smith reported a non-dredge operation on Spaulding Creek in 1935 (Smith, 1937 [Bull 880-A]), also an operation in 1939 by Vibe and Schwaesdall (Smith, 1941 [Bull 926-A]).
Age: Probably Pleistocene (Bundtzen, 1980 [GR 63]).
Production: Incomplete records from 1909 to 1941 indicate that 7,925 ounces of gold and 1,591 ounces of silver were produced from several small placer mines (Bundtzen and Miller, 1997).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	ID021

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References