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Kougarok River

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, 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. Nearby scientific data
  9. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  10. Mining district
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10001876
MRDS ID A012697
Record type Site
Current site name Kougarok River

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.79229, 65.68433 (WGS84)
Relative position Kougarok River is the largest and most important drainage in the Kougarok mining district. It drains south from its headwaters in Washington Creek (BN041) and Macklin Creek (BN045) in the northern part of the Bendeleben C-6 quadrangle; it is at least locally gold-bearing over a length of 18 miles in this quadrangle. The part of the Kougarok River included in this locality is the mile upstream and the 7 to 8 miles downstream from the mouth of Taylor Creek. Taylor Creek is a major east tributary to Kougarok River. The mouth of Taylor Creek is 1,000 feet north of the termination of the Nome-Taylor road at Taylor. This part of the Kougarok River includes localities 24 and 25 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)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Lead Secondary
Tin Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Magnetite Gangue
Pyrite Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -164.79229, 65.68433
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 here as early as 1900 when $50,000 worth of gold (about 3,000 ounces at $18 per ounce) were recovered (Brooks and others, 1901). Extensive dredging of the active floodplain has taken place from a mile upstream to 7-8 miles downstream from the mouth of Taylor Creek (Sainsbury and others, 1969). Placer mining, including dredging, has continued locally 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 recovered gold is dark compared to that from tributaries (Collier and others, 1908). Placer concentrates contain cassiterite, abundant pyrite, and magnetite (Knopf, 1908). A gray, sulfide-rich dredge concentrate contained 2,000 ppm Ag, 7,000 ppm Bi, and greater than 10 % Pb (Sainsbury and others, 1969, p. 39). Bedrock in the upper Kougarok River drainage is dominately Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks (Sainsbury and others, 1969; Till and others, 1986). Placer deposits on the active floodplain are the result of two or more cycles of erosion and placer development in the area.
  • Age = Quaternary; placer deposits on the active floodplain are the result of two or more cycles of erosion and placer development in the area.

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) reports initial production at the turn of the century to be $50,000 (about 3,000 ounces at $18 per ounce); this is 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 workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The entire length of this segment of the Kougarok River has been extensively placer mined for gold. Sainsbury and others (1969) show where many of these mine workings are located but additional mine tailings are also shown on the USGS 1:63,360 topographic map of the area (Bendeleben C-6 quadrangle). Most of these placer mine workings are the result of dredge operations.

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.