Nyac Placer District
The Nyac placer district, where more than 600,000 oz of placer gold was produced, is located 40 miles south of Aniak and 60 miles east of Bethel. Four bucket-line dredges, the first of which arrived on the property in 1914, recovered the bulk of the production. The New York Alaska Company brought a larger dredge into the area in 1925 and a 7-mile-long canal, hydro-electric plant and an airstrip were constructed in the Tuluksak River Valley. The NYAC interests were sold to Tuluksak Dredging Limited in 1965.
Dredge Number 4 on Bear Creek
Following passage of ANCSA, Tuluksak Dredging relinquished much of the property covered by mining claims in the Tuluksak River drainage and Calista acquired the same under ANCSA sections 12(a)(1) and 14(h)(8).
2003 placer mining on Ed’s Creek
Under a mining lease with Calista, Nyac Mining Company has operated a mobile dryland washing plant in the area since 1990, primarily on Spruce and Bear Creeks. In 2006, Nyac Mining Company was presented an award by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for Outstanding Reclamation of Placer Mining Activity on several creeks in the area.
Calista Land Department Vice President June McAtee and Dr. Michael James, Nyac Mining Company,
with 2006 Placer Mining Reclamation Award
Placer gold in the Nyac district is eroded from 108-111 million-year-old granitic igneous complexes and adjacent Jurassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Nyac Terrane. Younger igneous rocks and quartz veins occur along faults and fractures in the district. A pronounced gold-bismuth-tellurium-copper geochemical signature is characteristic of the area.
The Nyac lode property is currently leased to Tonogold Resources, Inc., who conducted soil sampling programs in 2005 and 2006 and, in 2006, drilled targets identified by soil geochemistry.
Links:
2005 Tonogold Report
Zach Wenz, 2004 Master of Science Thesis
Calista Nyac Prospectus
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