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Kougarok River

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Lead, Tin
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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 10000530
MRDS ID A010727
Record type Site
Current site name Kougarok River
Alternate or previous names Washington Creek
Related records 10209154

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.85841, 65.73432 (WGS84)
Relative position Kougarok River is the largest and most important drainage in the Kougarok mining district. Washington Creek is the western headwater tributary of Kougarok River. This location includes the upper 2 miles of the Kougarok River and the lower, almost 3 miles of Washington Creek; placer mining has been continuous over this length (Sainsbury and others, 1969). This is locality 23 of Cobb (1972; MF 417; 1975; OFR 75-429).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bendeleben C-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Bendeleben NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Bendeleben(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Imuruk Basin(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Lead Secondary
Tin Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
Galena Ore
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 Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -164.85841, 65.73432
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Kougarok River is the largest and most important drainage in the Kougarok mining district. Placer mining started on Kougarok River as early as 1900 when $50,000 worth of gold (about 3,000 ounces at $18 per ounce) was recovered (Brooks and others, 1901). Extensive dredging of the active floodplain has taken place throughout the upper two miles of the river and at least the lower parts of Washington Creek. Various dragline and dozer operations have also taken place along Washington Creek and bench placers have been locally productive along both drainages. Placer mining, including dredging, has continued locally in the upper Kougarok River area to the present. Most of the more than 240,000 ounces of known production from the Kougarok district (Hudson and DeYoung, 1977) is from the upper part of Kougarok River. The gold is dark compared to that from tributaries (Collier and others, 1908). Placer concentrates have contained cassiterite, abundant pyrite, and magnetite (Knopf, 1908). the cassiterite that is reported from early operations may have been recovered from Washington Creek as the headwaters of Washington Creek drain Kougarok Mountain where lode tin deposits are present (Hudson, 1998). Sainsbury (1975, p. 69) reports that placer concentrate from Washington Creek contains cassiterite, pyrite, galena, and a silvery sulfide that predominately contains silver, tin and bismuth. Bits of cassiterite and base metal sulfides were also noted by Marsh and others (1972) in Washington Creek placer deposits. Bedrock is extensively mantled by tundra in the area but where exposed it is part of a Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Sainsbury and others, 1969; Till and others, 1986).
  • Age = Quaternary; placer deposits on the active floodplains of the area are probably the result of at least two cycles of erosion and placer developement.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Kougarok

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Brooks (1901) reported initial production at the turn of the century of $50,000 (about 3,000 ounces at $18 per ounce); thisis an indication of the richness of the upper Kougarok River area. Most of the more than 240,000 ounces of known production from the Kougarok district (Hudson and DeYoung, 1978) is from the upper part of Kougarok River.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Placer mining claims cover much of the upper Kougarok River area, including the area south of Taylor (BN035). Placer mining has continued locally in this area and reserves probably remain, particularly between meanders on the active floodplain and on unmined benches.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Open-cut placer workings, including extensive areas of dredging, are continuous along the upper 2 miles of Kougarok River and the lower almost 3 miles of Washington Creek.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1975 (OFR 75-429)

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 15-MAR-1999 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.