Shamrock Creek Mine, Aniak Mining District, Bethel Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Shamrock Creek Mine	Mine
Aniak Mining District	Mining District
Bethel Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Shamrock Creek is a south-flowing tributary to Bear Creek in the Nyac area. The coordinates are at about the center of the area that was drilled in 2005 and 2006; the site is about 0.6 mile northeast of section 23, T. 11 N., R. 60 W. It is unclear how much of the creek will be mined but the drilling continued for about 0.8 mile above and below this point on the creek. Mining began near the upper end of the drilling in August 2006 but more drilling is likely or has already been done above the mining. The location is accurate.
Geology: There apparently is no public record of early mining or even prospecting on Shamrock Creek although it probably was at least prospected in view of the rich placers nearby that have been known for many years (D.J. Grybeck, personal observation, 2006). Nyac Mining Company mined a cut near the mouth of Shamrock Creek a few years prior to 2006. In 2005 and 2006, they churn drilled rows of holes across the creek from near its mouth to the northeast corner of section 14, i.e., about 1.6 miles above its mouth. The drill results were encouraging and in August, 2006, they began mining with mechanized equipment about 1.6 miles above the mouth of the creek and continued churn drilling above that. The gravel is fairly thin but contains much clay and Nyac Mining Company built a new washing plant in 2006 to deal with the clay.
Workings: There apparently is no public record of early mining or even prospecting on Shamrock Creek although it probably was at least prospected in view of the rich placers nearby that have been known for many years (D.J. Grybeck, personal observation, 2006). Nyac Mining Company mined a cut near the mouth of Shamrock Creek a few years prior to 2006. In 2005 and 2006, they churn drilled rows of holes across the creek from near its mouth to the northeast corner of section 14, i.e., about 1.6 miles above its mouth. The drill results were encouraging and in August, 2006, they began mining with mechanized equipment about 1.6 miles above the mouth of the creek and continued churn drilling above that. The gravel is fairly thin but contains much clay and Nyac Mining Company built a new washing plant in 2006 to deal with the clay.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Mining began in August 2006.
Reserves: Unknown.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	RM039

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