Fairview Creek Prospect, Nome Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Fairview Creek Prospect	Prospect
Nome Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Fairview Creek flows west-northwest to its mouth in a lagoon at the Bering Sea coast about 3.5 miles northeast of Cape Woolley. The location given is the approximate mid-point of placer mining claims shown in State of Alaska files (Heiner and Porter, 1972). The gold-bearing part of Fairview Creek extends for about 3 miles below an unnamed mined tributary informally called Tomboy Creek (NM008). This is locality 57 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).
Geology: Gold colors were reported to be locally present on Fairview Creek by Collier and others (1908), and placer mining claims have been located over about 3 miles of its length (Heiner and Porter, 1972). Fairview Creek is wider and more braided downstream where it flows onto the coastal plain. Concentrations of gold, in company with black or ruby sands, would be likely to occur in river bars or points where river velocity changes. Fairview Creek flows near a contact between metavolcanic and metasedimentary units, but it also reworks glacial deposits along its central portion and headwaters (Sainsbury, Smith, and Kachadoorian, 1972). Gold in Fairview Creek may have a somewhat distant source, although the paystreak on its tributary, Tomboy Creek (NM008), was on decomposed chloritic schist bedrock, a possible bedrock source.
Workings: Exploration by pan and rocker back to about 1900. Placer mining claims were active as recently as 1972.
Age: Quaternary.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	NM007

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References