Smith Creek; Smith Gulch Mine, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Smith Creek; Smith Gulch Mine	Mine
Koyukuk Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

See also: Wannemaker and Wortman (WI115); Jones and Boyle (WI114); Unnamed (in Smith Creek valley) (WI130).
Location: Smith Creek is a west-flowing tributary to Nolan Creek; it about half way between the mouth of Nolan Creek and Archibald Creek. The center of the placer workings on Smith Creek is at an elevation of 1,750 feet, about 0.5 mile east of Nolan Creek. The workings extend for approximately 1.5 miles along the creek. The location is accurate.
Geology: According to Maddren (1913), the placer deposits in the Nolan Creek basin -- including Smith Creek -- occur in the shallow gravels of the modern channel, as bench deposits, and in deep, frozen gravels. Mining of the shallow gravels began in 1903, two years after their discovery. Maddren (1913) described the gold from upper Smith Creek as mostly rough, angular grains; the gold becomes progressively more rounded and coarser downstream. Some of the gold near the head of the Smith Creek is coated by a white substance that Maddren did not identify although he suspected that it might be lime. The gravel along the lower 2 miles of the modern channel of Smith Creek was selectively worked in richer spots during the earliest mining activity, but there is little information about this early mining. Gravel in the modern channel that was mined in the 1920's and 1930's were 6 to 20 feet thick. The gravel was frozen, coarse and subangular, and contained a few boulders. The gold was both coarse, rough and pitted, and smooth, rounded and waterworn. The value of the ground was about $0.30 per square foot of bedrock (gold at $20.67 per ounce) and the average fineness of the gold was about 950. The deep channel on Smith Creek rose from a depth of 135 feet near the mouth to eventually coincide upstream with the modern channel. By 1937, this deep channel was considered to be mined out by the methods available at the time. Reed (1938) reported that remnants of the bench channel on Smith Creek had been mined at several locations along the creek. The gravel was frozen and generally coarse and subangular. The gold from one of these locations was mostly coarse, unworn and pitted, but some was smooth, rounded and worn. This gold occurred throughout the gravel but most was in the lower few feet; there were no large nuggets. The fineness was about 950. Based on analysis of six gold samples, Eden (2000) concluded that the gold occurs in two different populations defined by either high or low silver content. The fineness of these six samples ranged from 925 to 986. Eden also suggests that the gold in the Nolan-Hammond area has been derived from two gold-bearing vein systems in the area. The rocks in the valley of Smith Creek are micaceous schist, phyllite, and slate (Eden, 2000).
Workings: Smith Creek was worked by hand-mining methods from about 1903 until the early 1960's. The hand methods included hydraulic washing of the gravel into sluice boxes.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Maddren (1913) reported that $208,000 (about 10,400 oz.) in gold was produced from Smith Creek from 1903 to 1909. Eden (2000) reports that a total of 15,141.30 ounces of gold were produced from Smith Creek between 1904 and 1999. Cobb (1973) notes that 5 tons of placer and lode stibnite was recovered from Smith Creek and shipped during World War II.
Reserves: The Internet page of Silverado Gold Mines Ltd., the current owner/operator of much of the Nolan Creek area, indicates that they consider the Smith Creek area to contain 7,571 ounces of gold in probable and possible resources (http://www.silverado.com/s/PropertyInformation.asp).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	WI116

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References