Problem Creek Mine (Gulch), Nome Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Problem Creek Mine (Gulch)	Mine
Nome Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Problem Creek is a 3,000-foot-long west tributary to Mystery Creek (SO016). The mouth of Problem Creek is about 1.7 miles upstream from the confluence of Mystery Creek and Shovel Creek (SO017) and about 2.8 miles north-northwest of Lees Camp on the Solomon River. Placer mining took place on lower Problem Creek at an elevation of about 250 feet. It was included as part of locality 86 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).
Geology: Mining on the lower part of this creek started in 1900 (Brooks and others, 1901). Thin gravels, 2- to 3-feet thick, overlie metasedimentary schist in the active drainage; bench deposits are present on both sides of the creek. A 45-foot shaft on the south side of the creek encountered washed gravel above 40 feet of very fine stratified sand with a general easterly dip (Smith, 1910). Smith (1910) notes that this shaft is at 450 feet elevation but recent topographic maps indicate that it was probably at an elevation of about 250 to 300 feet. Bedrock here is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Sainsbury and others, 1972; Till and others, 1986).
Workings: Small-scale mining took place prior to WW I. This was originally by hand but probably also by hdraulic methods.
Age: Quaternary; the elevation (250 feet) of this area indicates it may have been affected by Quaternary sea level fluctuations.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SO170

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References