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Fred Creek (or Fred Gulch--placer)

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Tin
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Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10002035
MRDS ID A012882
Record type Site
Current site name Fred Creek (or Fred Gulch--placer)
Related records 10112358

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.42802, 64.78318 (WGS84)
Relative position Fred Creek is a southern tributary of Stewart River. The creek has been mined in about a half-mile stretch where it leaves the hills northwest of Mount Distin. The placer is mainly in the NE1/4 section 19, T. 8 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian. The location is the approximate mid-point of tailings along Fred Creek and is accurate, along the creek, to within about 1,000 feet of the coordinates. This is locality 84 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).
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Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Tin Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
Gold Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
BC deposit profile C01. C02
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.42802, 64.78318
ListMap

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Small-scale placer gold mining took place by 1906 in Fred Creek downstream from the basal massive marble (Bundtzen and others, 1994) contact with schist (Moffit, 1913). Hess (1906, p. 157) reported minor cassiterite in Fred Creek,which he thought could have been derived from granitic rocks (orthogneiss) in the Mount Distin region. The physical character of the mine tailings also indicates that the placer deposit has been worked mechanically since 1930. Fred Creek drains across the basal contact of massive marble with metasedimentary schist. The contact is poorly exposed in the creek, but about 600 feet to the southwest, gold-bearing hematitic schist occurs immediately below the massive marble (NM063). This lode prospect seems to be stratabound but also is very close to the projection of a main branch of the Penny River fault, which could also be auriferous.
  • Age = Holocene.

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Fred Creek appears to have been worked in at least two periods. It was mined by 1906 because stream tin was reported by Hess (1906). Moffit (1913) also noted mining below the marble contact. Some of the creek was been worked in more recent years by small-scale mechanical methods; there are a few buildings that have been constructed at least from the 1930's, and some of the tailings appear to be less than 30 years old. The area was explored by Kennecott Exploration Company in 1995; also by Cominco American. Some exploration, mainly for lode gold deposits, took place in 1998 and 1999.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS A012882
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF NM064

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Hess, F.L., 1906, The York tin region, in Brooks, A.H., and others, Report on progress of investigations of mineral resources in Alaska, 1905: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 284, p. 145-157.

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

  • Deposit

    Bundtzen, T.K., Reger, R.D., Laird, G.M., Pinney, D.S., Clautice, K.H., Liss, S.A., and Cruse, G.R., 1994, Progress report on the geology and mineral resources of the Nome mining district: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Public Data-File 94-39, 21 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Moffit, 1913

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = Gold in part derived from basal contact zone of massive marble.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 22-OCT-99 Hawley, C.C. Hawley Resource Group
Reporter 22-OCT-99 Travis L. Hudson Hawley Resource Group