Shovel Creek Mine, Nome Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Shovel Creek Mine	Mine
Nome Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Shovel Creek is a major northeast tributary of the lower Solomon River. The mouth of Shovel Creek is 0.5 mile north of Lees Camp. This is locality 90 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).
Geology: At least three of the lower three and a half miles of Shovel Creek has been extensively placer mined, mostly by dredges and mostly in the 1920s. Early mining (Smith, 1910) encountered thin, 1 to 3 feet thick gravels over bedrock in a pay streak up to 1,000 feet wide (based on the distribution of tailings shown on the recent topographic map of the area). The elevation of the workings is between 50 and 150 feet. Recorded production as compiled by Lu and others (1968) is about 20,000 ounces. Bedrock is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Sainsbury and others, 1972, OFR 511; Till and others, 1986).
Workings: Mined by dredging, hydraulic and small-scale operations over at least three of the lower three and a half miles of the creek.
Age: Quaternary; the location and elevation (50 to 150 feet) of this area indicate that it was affected by Quaternary sea level fluctuations.
Production: Recorded production as compiled by Lu and others (1968) is about 20,000 ounces.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	SO017

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References