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Olympic Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Platinum
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10000260
MRDS ID A010302
Record type Site
Current site name Olympic Creek
Related records 10258755

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.22271, 59.33927 (WGS84)
Relative position Olympic Creek is a north tributary to Slate Creek, a north tributary to Goodnews River. This location is about 1 mile upstream of the confluence of Olympic and Slate Creeks and is the midpoint of placer workings mapped by Fechner (1988, fig. 5). It is locality 14 of Hoare and Cobb (1977) and of Cobb and Condon (1972).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Goodnews Bay B-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Goodnews Bay(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Goodnews Bay(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Kuskokwim Delta(hydrologic unit)

Lower Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Calista Corporation(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Platinum Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Pliocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic)
    Rock unit name Gemuk Group
    Rock description Gemuk Group

Nearby scientific data

(1) -161.22271, 59.33927
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer gold mining was reported on Olympic Creek from 1926 to 1931 (Hoare and Cobb, 1977). Fechner (1988, fig. 5) showed the location of a 0.4-mile-long mining cut along the west side of the creek that appears to be in a bench setting. The mined area includes about 10,000 square feet in an upper pit and about 4,000 square feet in a lower pit; the total mined volume is estimated to have been 100,000 cubic yards (Fechner, 1988). As the average grade of the mined material was reported to be 0.04 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Reed, 1931), total production could have been about 4,000 ounces of gold, much more than the 169 ounces that Fechner (1988, p. 50) identified as reported production. The coarse, angular gravel contains granitic cobbles up to 2 feet across; it is 6 feet thick in the creek and about 20 feet thick on the bench. Fechner (1988) collected six, 0.1 cubic yard sediment samples along 3 miles of the Olympic Creek dainage. These samples contained a trace to 0.0045 ounce of gold per cubic yard; one of these samples from along the lower part of the creek, contained 600 ppb platinum. Bedrock in the area includes Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks locally intruded by Upper Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary granitic rocks and Jurassic mafic/ultramafic plutonic rocks (Hoare and Coonrad, 1978).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Goodnews Bay

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = The total mined volume is estimated to have been 100,000 cubic yards (Fechner, 1988). As the average grade of the mined material was reported to be 0.04 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Reed, 1931), total production could have been about 4,000 ounces of gold. This is considered a maximum estimate. It is much more than the 169 ounces that Fechner (1988, p. 50) identified as reported production.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Fechner (1988, fig. 5) showed the location of a 0.4-mile-long mining cut along the west side of the creek that appears to be in a bench setting. The mined area includes about 10,000 square feet in an upper pit and about 4,000 square feet in a lower pit; the total mined volume is estimated to have been 100,000 cubic yards (Fechner, 1988).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., and Condon, W.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Goodnews quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-447, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geologic map of the Goodnews and Hagemeister Island quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-B, two sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Fechner, S.A., 1988, Bureau of Mines mineral investigation of the Goodnews Bay mining district, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 1-88, 230 p.

  • Deposit

    Reed, I.M., 1931, Notes on the creeks in the Goodnews River gold area: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines, 3 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Fechner, 1988

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 20-MAR-2001 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.