Big Creek Mine, Ruby Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

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

See also Cox Pup (RB011).
Location: Big Creek is a curved stream with west-flowing headwaters that turn northward toward the Yukon River and curve southeast toward the flats of the Nowitna River before curling to flow northwest into the Yukon River. The Big Creek placer area, location 4 of Cobb (1972 [MF405]), stretches almost a mile on the headwaters of the creek, two miles northwest of Boston Dome and 5 air-miles south of the Yukon River. The coordinates above mark the center of the mined area, in section 33, T. 9 S., R. 17 E. of the Kateel River meridian. The location is accurate within 1/4 mile. Big Creek is located within Doyon, Ltd.'s Ruby Village Block.
Geology: The bedrock underlying Big Creek consists of slate and granite, both cut by veins of quartz and tourmaline (Eberlein and others, 1977). Big Creek was prospected in 1910; miners sank 15 holes 15 to 60 feet down until they hit slaty bedrock (Maddren, 1910). A 1 to 7-foot-thick gravel layer on the bedrock was found to be auriferous (Maddren, 1910). Pyrite occurs in gravel and attached to large fragments of bedrock. Cassiterite is also abundant in the placer gravels. The pay streak is about 30 feet wide and 1 to 15 feet thick and may extend as much as 5,000 feet downstream from the mouth of Cox Pup (Chapman and others, 1963). In the upper valley, about 0.04 pound cassiterite and 0.0052 ounce of gold per cubic foot can be panned from dumps of prospect holes (Chapman and others, 1963). Sporadic mining took place along the creek between 1907 and the 1940s. Big Creek was also prospected during more recent years by several larger companies (Pete Haggland, oral communication, 2000).
Workings: Around 1910, miners sank 15 holes 15 to 60 feet down to slaty bedrock (Maddren, 1910). Most of the ground is not frozen and is difficult to work by drift mining. Sporadic mining took place along the creek between 1907 and the 1940s (Chapman and others, 1963). Big Creek was also prospected during more recent years by several larger companies (Pete Haggland, oral communication, 2000).
Age: Quaternary

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:	RB009

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References