Fox Creek Mine, Eagle Mining District, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Fox Creek Mine	Mine
Eagle Mining District	Mining District
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Fox Creek is a 5-mile-long north tributary of the Seventymile River. Mertie (1938) reported that Fox Creek has been mined for placer gold for some distance downstream from Lucky Gulch (EA020) but no workings are present above Lucky Gulch. The coordinates on Fox Creek are about 1 mile downstream of the mouth of Lucky Gulch, in section 12, T. 1 N., R. 30 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate within one-half mile. Fox Creek is locality 30 of Cobb (1972 [MF-393]), locality 29 of Eberlein and others (1977), and locality 14 of Burleigh and Lear (1994).
Geology: The rocks in the vicinity of Fox Creek are Upper Cretaceous to Pliocene conglomerate (Clark and Foster, 1971; Foster, 1976). Gold placers of the valley floor and lower benches of Fox Creek have been worked for some distance downstream from Lucky Gulch. No workings are present above Lucky Gulch; thus it appears that the gold in Fox Creek is derived from Lucky Gulch (Mertie, 1938). The earliest reported prospecting occurred on Fox Creek in 1911, when some ground was stripped in preparation for placer mining (Porter, 1912). In 1912, mining occurred on Fox Creek over a considerable area below the mouth of Lucky Gulch, but no rich gravels were found (Ellsworth and Davenport, 1913). Mining was sporadically reported on Fox Creek from 1912 to 1939. Mining occurred on a high bench just below the mouth of Lucky Gulch, where the bedrock is 70 feet above Fox Creek (Mertie, 1938). The conglomerate bedrock on the bench is overlain by 4 feet of well-rounded gravel. This is overlain by a mixture of fine gravel and muck 8 to 15 feet deep, in which mammoth tusks were found Mertie (1938). Gold from the bench is fine-grained and high-grade. Assays of gold mined from Fox Creek in 1933 and 1934 averaged 884 parts of gold aned scarce placer cassiterite in Fox Creek, and Clark and Foster (1971) found anomalous zinc, copper, barium, boron, chromium, and nickel in stream-sediment samples.
Workings: The earliest reported prospecting occurred on Fox Creek in 1911, when some ground was stripped in preparation for placer mining (Porter, 1912). In 1912, mining occurred on Fox Creek over a considerable area below the mouth of Lucky Gulch, but no rich gravels were found (Ellsworth and Davenport, 1913). Mining is sporadically reported on Fox Creek from 1912 to 1939. Mining occurred on a high bench just below the mouth of Lucky Gulch, where the bedrock is 70 feet above Fox Creek (Mertie, 1938). Joesting (1942) reported scarce placer cassiterite in Fox Creek, and Clark and Foster (1971) found anomalous zinc, copper, barium, boron, chromium, and nickel in stream sediment-samples.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Assays of gold mined from Fox Creek in 1933 and 1934 averaged 884 parts of gold and 110 parts of silver per thousand (Mertie, 1938).

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Cr, Cu, Ni, Sn, Zn
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	EA021

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References