Birch Creek

Region West, Southwest
States
Mineral systems
Deposit types
Commodities
Critical minerals
Other minerals

Information leading to the delineation of this focus area

Basis for focus area Barton (2000); Foley, Jaskula, Piatak and Schulte (2017).
Identified resources Minor historical production of gold, lead, silver, and tungsten.
Production Unknown quantity; minor past production (Barton 2000; MRDS).
Status Past mining.
Estimated resources Unknown.
Geologic maps Nelson (1966), scale 1:62,500; Jennings and others (2010), scale 1:750,000.
Geophysical data Inadequate Rank 3 aeromagnetic and Rank 5 aeroradiometric coverage.
Favorable rocks and structures Late Proterozoic and Early Cambrian carbonate and clastic rocks; Birch Creek pluton and associated small W(-Be-F-Zn) skarns and Zn-Pb-Ag-Au veins.
Deposits Birch Creek area prospects (MRDS dep_id: 10212937).
Evidence from mineral occurrences MRDS.
Geochemical evidence Prospect pits that expose scheelite and fluorite veins in skarn around the Birch Creek pluton.
Geophysical evidence Unknown.
Evidence from other sources Unknown.
Cover thickness and description Deposits near surface and could extend at depth. Prospect pits that expose scheelite and fluorite veins in skarn around the Birch Creek pluton.
Authors David A. Ponce, Erica Key.
New data needs Updated geologic mapping, lidar, geochemistry, aeromagnetic and aeroradiometric surveys.
Geologic mapping and modeling needs Updated geologic mapping.
Geophysical survey and modeling needs High-resolution, Rank 1 aeromagnetic and aeroradiometric surveys.
Digital elevation data needs Lidar inadequate.