Fred Creek Mine (or Fred Gulch--placer), Nome Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Fred Creek Mine (or Fred Gulch--placer)	Mine
Nome Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Gold in part derived from basal contact zone of massive marble.
Location: Fred Creek is a southern tributary of Stewart River. The creek has been mined in about a half-mile stretch where it leaves the hills northwest of Mount Distin. The placer is mainly in the NE1/4 section 19, T. 8 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian. The location is the approximate mid-point of tailings along Fred Creek and is accurate, along the creek, to within about 1,000 feet of the coordinates. This is locality 84 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).
Geology: Small-scale placer gold mining took place by 1906 in Fred Creek downstream from the basal massive marble (Bundtzen and others, 1994) contact with schist (Moffit, 1913). Hess (1906, p. 157) reported minor cassiterite in Fred Creek,which he thought could have been derived from granitic rocks (orthogneiss) in the Mount Distin region. The physical character of the mine tailings also indicates that the placer deposit has been worked mechanically since 1930. Fred Creek drains across the basal contact of massive marble with metasedimentary schist. The contact is poorly exposed in the creek, but about 600 feet to the southwest, gold-bearing hematitic schist occurs immediately below the massive marble (NM063). This lode prospect seems to be stratabound but also is very close to the projection of a main branch of the Penny River fault, which could also be auriferous.
Workings: Fred Creek appears to have been worked in at least two periods. It was mined by 1906 because stream tin was reported by Hess (1906). Moffit (1913) also noted mining below the marble contact. Some of the creek was been worked in more recent years by small-scale mechanical methods; there are a few buildings that have been constructed at least from the 1930's, and some of the tailings appear to be less than 30 years old. The area was explored by Kennecott Exploration Company in 1995; also by Cominco American. Some exploration, mainly for lode gold deposits, took place in 1998 and 1999.
Age: Holocene.

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:	NM064

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References