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Boulder Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Bismuth, Antimony, Tungsten
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Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308942
MRDS ID AO12892
Record type Site
Current site name Boulder Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.51058, 64.64658 (WGS84)
Relative position Boulder Creek is a west tributary to Snake River; it flows east from headwaters in the eastern Nome C-2 quadrangle. An alluvial placer gold deposit was worked downstream from the Boulder Creek lode prospect (NM165) over a distance of about a mile. The location is the approximate mid-point of the placer mine and just below the junction of Boulder and Twin Mountain Creeks (Twin Mtn Ck on the map); it is accurate to within about 500 feet. Mining claims on this part of Boulder Creek are patented. This is locality 94 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
Bismuth Secondary
Antimony Secondary
Tungsten Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bismuth Ore
Gold Ore
Hematite Ore
Ilmenite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite Ore

Alteration

  • Marble is altered to ankerite.

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) -165.51058, 64.64658
ListMap

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = An alluvial placer gold deposit was worked downstream from the Boulder Creek lode prospect (NM165) over a distance of about a mile. The locality was known shortly after the discovery of the Nome district (Collier and others, 1908, p. 196), and mining claims along the creek are patented. The paystreak varied from about 100 to 300 feet in width and was from 10 to 25 feet deep. Concentrates from Boulder Creek contained native bismuth, stibnite, hematite, ilmenite and magnetite. Scheelite occurred in the concentrates below Twin Mountain Creek (Coats, 1944). The apparent head of the paystreak is the Boulder Creek lode prospect (NM165). The Boulder Creek lode is apparently developed on subsidiary structures to the Rodine fault, a major north-northeast fault of the Nome district (Bundtzen and others, 1994). Some of the placer gold in Boulder Creek is almost certainly derived from the fault and associated mineralized structures. Lower Boulder Creek flows over mica-schist and marble bedrock; some of the marble is strongly altered to ankerite.
  • Age = Quaternary.

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 = Boulder Creek was worked from about 1900 until as late as 1924 (Smith, 1924). It probably had a moderate amount of production. Collier and others (1908) reported that the gold was coarse but that miners in 1903 were making little more than wages. Placer mine activity was also reported in 1913 (Chapin, 1914, [B 592-L, p. 389]), 1914 (Eakin, 1915 [B 622-I, p. 370), 1916 (Mertie, 1918 [ B 662-I, p. 455]), and 1918 (Cathcart, 1920, p. 188). The miners apparently used an elevated sluice fed by a hydraulic elevator.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF NM168
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS AO12892
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS D002584

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.

  • Deposit

    Chapin, Theodore, 1914, Placer mining on Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592-L, p. 385-395.

  • Deposit

    Eakin, H.M., 1915, Placer mining in Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-I, p. 366-373.

  • Deposit

    Cathcart, S.H., 1920, Mining in northwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 712, p. 185-198.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1926, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1924: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 783-A, p. 1-39.

  • 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 = Collier and others, 1908

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 12-MAR-00 Hawley, C.C. and Hudson, Travis L. Hawley Resource Group