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

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

Location: Birch Creek is a west-flowing tributary of Flat Creek. Their junction is about 3 miles southeast of Mathews Dome and about 6 miles east-southeast of the south end of Wild Lake. Mining in the early 1900's occurred along about 1 mile of the stream on either side of the mouth of a south-flowing unnamed tributary to Birch Creek whose mouth is about 1.25 miles above the mouth of Birch Creek. The mine is centered on Birch Creek at the mouth of this tributary at the southeast corner of section 4, T. 30 N., R. 17 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate.
Geology: Gold was discovered on Birch Creek in 1904 by Louis Rue (Reed, 1938). He reportedly recovered about $1,800 in gold in 1905 (gold at $20.67 per ounce) (Reed, 1938). The modern channel of Birch Creek has been mined for about 1/2 mile above and below the mouth of Rue Creek, a name reported by Reed (1938), but not shown on the modern topographic map. Rue Creek is a south-flowing tributary to Birch Creek that enters Birch Creek about 1.25 miles above the mouth of Birch Creek. The gravel is coarse and waterworn in Birch Creek and contains many boulders. An area along the left limit of Birch Creek below Rue Creek was drift mined. The depth of the drift workings is probably about 20 feet, similar to the depth to bedrock in the creek bed (Reed, 1938). Several shafts were also sunk in the alluvial fan where Birch Creek enters the valley of Flat Creek but the results of this work are not known. Birch Creek was mined by shoveling-in and drifting. Reed, (1938) noted that mining had not occurred on this creek since 1933. Reed estimated the total production from the early 1900's until about 1933 to be $20,000 to $30,000 (at the old price of gold at $20.67 per ounce). A placer operation on Birch Creek in 1998 was mining stream gravel with dozers and then allowed paying customers to pan, sluice, dredge or use gold detectors to recover gold from the gravels (Kurtak and others, 1999). A sample of quartz-mica schist from the ridge on the north side of upper Birch Creek contains 35 ppb gold and 1,767 ppm arsenic (Kurtak and others, 1999).
Workings: Birch Creek was mined by shoveling-in and drifting. Reed, (1938) noted that mining had not occurred on this creek since 1933. More recently, until 1998, Paradise Mining operated on Birch Creek, including a tourist-oriented recreational mining concession.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Gold was discovered on Birch Creek in 1904 by Louis Rue. He reportedly recovered about $1,800 in gold in 1905 (gold at $20.67 per ounce) (Reed, 1938). Reed (1938) estimated the total production from the early 1900's until about 1933 to be $20,000 to $30,000 (at the old price of gold at $20.67 per ounce. A placer operation on Birch Creek in 1998 was mining stream gravel with dozers and then allowing paying customers to pan, sluice, dredge or use gold detectors to recover gold from the gravels (Kurtak and others, 1999).

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	WI076

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References