Unnamed (Gulf of Alaska coast: Includes Topsy Creek, Dagelet River, and Oregon King Consolidated claims)

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Iron, Titanium, Chromium, PGE, Zirconium

Sections on this page

Identification information
Geographic coordinates
Site location context
Geographic areas
Commodities
Materials information
Host and associated rocks
Nearby scientific data
Economic information about the deposit and operations
Mining district
Links to other databases
Bibliographic references
General comments
Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID	10002226
MRDS ID	A013128
Record type	Site
Current site name	Unnamed (Gulf of Alaska coast: Includes Topsy Creek, Dagelet River, and Oregon King Consolidated claims)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates:	-137.45212, 58.5397 (WGS84)
Relative position	The deposit is a beach placer that extends southeasterly for about 13.5 miles, from 2.5 miles southeast of Harbor Point, at the south side of the mouth of Lituya Bay, to the northwest foot of LaPerouse Glacier. The approximate coordinates of the northwest limit are 58.60 and 137. 59. The southeast limit in the Mt. Fairweather B-4 quadrangle is approximately at 58.48 and 137.31. The coordinates for this site are for the approximate mid-point of the placer which is 2.25 miles southeast of the mouth of Topsy Creek, reported to be its most productive area.? The site includes location numbers 66 and 67 of Cobb (1972, MF-436). Location 67 was reported as the Oregon King Consolidated placer by MacKevett and others (1971, p. 67-68); it is the part of the placer immediately northwest of LaPerouse Glacier.

Geographic coordinates:

-137.45212, 58.5397 (WGS84)

Relative position

The deposit is a beach placer that extends southeasterly for about 13.5 miles, from 2.5 miles southeast of Harbor Point, at the south side of the mouth of Lituya Bay, to the northwest foot of LaPerouse Glacier. The approximate coordinates of the northwest limit are 58.60 and 137. 59. The southeast limit in the Mt. Fairweather B-4 quadrangle is approximately at 58.48 and 137.31. The coordinates for this site are for the approximate mid-point of the placer which is 2.25 miles southeast of the mouth of Topsy Creek, reported to be its most productive area.? The site includes location numbers 66 and 67 of Cobb (1972, MF-436). Location 67 was reported as the Oregon King Consolidated placer by MacKevett and others (1971, p. 67-68); it is the part of the placer immediately northwest of LaPerouse Glacier.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Hoonah-Angoon(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Mount Fairweather C-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Mount Fairweather NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Mount Fairweather(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Glacier Bay(hydrologic unit)

Northern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Glacier Bay National Park(National Park)

National Park NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country	State
United States	Alaska

Commodities

Commodity	Importance
Gold	Primary
Iron	Primary
Titanium Critical	Primary
Chromium Critical	Secondary
PGE Critical	Secondary
Zirconium Critical	Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

Gangue = other dense common rock minerals
Ore Material = Gold (native)
Ore Material = PGE

Materials information

Materials	Type of material
Gold	Ore
Ilmenite	Ore
Magnetite	Ore
Rutile	Ore
Zircon	Ore
Garnet	Gangue

Host and associated rocks

Host or associated Host

Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Silt

Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene

Host or associated	Host
Rock type	Unconsolidated Deposit > Sand and Gravel
Rock unit name	Yagataga Formation; Topsy Formation
Rock description	Yagataga Formation;Topsy Formation

Nearby scientific data

(1)	-137.45212, 58.5397	ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

Geologic Description = A nearly continuous beach placer is exposed for about 13.5 miles northward from LaPerouse Glacier to the headland south of Harbor Point. Associated fossil beach placers occur on an approximate an 1/2-mile wide plain northeast of the beach placers. The modern beaches were produced by winnowing of deposits brought down by LaPerouse Glacier and the Crillon River. The glacier and river tap the Crillon-LaPerouse and related layered mafic complexes, which are the ultimate source of much of the titanium, iron, and PGEs contained in the placer deposits. Some gold may have been brought down from the hydrothermally altered zones at the head of Topsy Creek reported by Rossman (1959); these zones appear to be the continuation of the auriferous hydrothermal areas in Fall Creek in Lituya Bay (MF043).? Economic deposits of gold are thin, lenticular transient deposits related to storm concentration of the heavy sands. Deposits of ilmenite, magnetite, and small amounts of rutile and zircon occur in substantially thicker deposits, which have been sampled in several studies conducted by the Bureau of Mines and by Rossman (1957) of the Geological Survey. (Related deposits are described in MF040 and MF041.)? Kimball and others (1978, p. C72-73) reported a maximum of 1.9 percent ilmenite and a trace of gold in samples contained on line 15. This location is at the mouth of Topsy Creek. At line 16, which corresponds closely to the mid-point coordinates of the placer deposit , as much as 15.2 percent ilmenite was found in a tube sample, and 30.3 percent ilmenite in a grab sample. Maximum gold content at line 16 in a tube sample was 0.0009 ounce per cubic yard. At the Bureau's line 17 near the mouth of the Dagelet River (p. C74-75) as much as 3 percent ilmenite was found in a channel sample and as much as 11.5 percent in a tube sample. Gold was found in a grab sample (0.0043 ounce of gold per cubic yard). Trace amounts of gold and as much as 1.7 percent ilmenite were found in line 18, one mile northwest of LaPerouse Glacier.
Age = Holocene.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status	Past Producer
Commodity type	Metallic

Comments on exploration

Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name	Yakutat

Comments on the production information

Production Notes = Gold production is probably in the thousand-ounce range. Minor amounts of platinum have been recovered.

Comments on the reserve resource information

Reserves = the Bureau of Mines (Kimball and others, 1978) calculated about one million cubic yards of material based on the sampled lines representative of this placer. Block 7 (line 16) has a calculated resource of about 664,000 cubic yards of material containing 4 percent ilmenite and 0.0002 oz/yd gold.

Comments on the workings information

Workings / Exploration = Surface workings: Sluice box, rockers, long toms on mostly transient deposits. Workings date back to at least 1894 (Mertie, 1933). Probably, small-scale activity continued every year until World War II, as documented in Annual resource reports by Brooks, Smith, Mertie, and a few others.?Government investigations include those by Rossman in 1952 (Rossman, 1957), Thomas and Berryhill (1962), Kimball and others (1978), and Foley and others (1995). Thomas and Berryhill (1962) found relatively good values of titania in the beaches south of Lituya; one sample (no. 123) collected below a northern outlier of LaPerouse Glacier contained 89.5 pounds/cubic yard of titania. ? the most extensive and detailed investigations were conducted from 1975 to 1977 by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Kimball and others, 1978). In those investigations, sample lines were run about 3 and 3.5 miles south of Harbor Point (lines 13 "&" 14), at Topsy Creek (line 15), two miles south of Topsy Creek (line 16), about 1/2 mile north of the Dagelet River (line 17), and about one mile north of LaPerouse Glacier (line 18).? In the Harbor Point north line (13), as much as 2.8 pounds/cubic yard of ilmenite was recovered in auger or PVC tube from fine to medium sand. Maximum gold was reported as 0.0003 ounce/cubic yard. Ilmenite and gold were much more abundant two miles south of Topsy (line 16). Gold was present there in four tube samples and was reported as 0.0024 ounce/cubic yard in a select grab sample. Ilmenite content was more than 2 pounds/cubic yard in 8 of 10 tube samples and was a maximum of 15.2 percent (495 pounds/cubic yard). The gold-bearing grab sample contained 30.3 percent ilmenite. Ilmenite is also relatively abundant near Dagelet River, with a maximum of 11.5 percent in one tube sample. Gold content there was 0.0043 ounce/cubic yard in a grab sample. Ilmenite content was as much as 1.7 percent in line 18 north of LaPerouse Glacier .? Foley and others (1995) collected 7 samples along the placer, beginning with sample no. 303 near line 14 and continuing through numbers 305-310. Sample 303 had 0.056 gram/tonne gold in the head split. Sample 307 contained 4.37 percent ilmenite in the head split and 10.48 percent ilmenite in the spiral concentrate. Gold was present in several of the samples.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency	Database name	Acronym	Record ID	Notes
USGS	Mineral Resources Data System	MRDS	A013128
USGS	Alaska Resource Data File	ARDF	MF042

Bibliographic references

Deposit

Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1933, Notes on the geography and geology of Lituya Bay: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 836-B, p. 117-135
Deposit

Rossman, Darwin, 1957, Ilmenite-bearing beach sands near Lituya Bay, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 149, 10 p.
Deposit

Rossman, Darwin, 1959, Geology and ore deposits in the Reid Inlet area, Glacier Bay, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1058-B, p. 33-58.
Deposit

Thomas, B.I., and Berryhill, R. V., 1962, Reconnaissance studies of Alaskan beach sands, eastern Gulf of Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 5986, 40 p.
Deposit

Rossman, Darwin, 1963, Geology and petrology of two stocks of layered gabbro in the Fairweather Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1121-F, p. F1-F50.
Deposit

MacKevett, E.M., Jr., Brew, D.A., Hawley, C.C., Huff, L.C., and Smith, J.G., 1971, Mineral resources of Glacier Bay National Monument, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 632, 90 p., 12 plates, scale 1:250,000.
Deposit

Kimball, A.L., Still, J.C., and Rataj, J.L., 1978, Mineral resources, in Brew, D. A., and others, Mineral resources of the Glacier Bay National Monument wilderness study area, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-494, p. C1-C375.
Deposit

Clifton, H.E., and Luepke, G., 1987, Heavy-mineral placer deposits of the continental margin of Alaska and the Pacific Coast States, in Geology and resource potential of the continental margin of western North America and adjacent ocean basins, Beaufort Sea to Baja California: Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources, Earth Science Series, v. 6, p. 691-738.
Deposit

Foley, J.Y., La Berge, R.D., Grosz, A.E., Oliver, F.S., and Hirt, W.C., 1995, Onshore titanium and related heavy mineral investigations in the eastern Gulf of Alaska region, southern Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 10-95, 125 p.
Deposit

Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Mount Fairweather quadrangle, AK: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Study Map MF-436, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.
Deposit

Cook, D.J., 1969, Lituya Bay, in Heavy minerals in Alaskan beach sand deposits: University of Alaska, Mineral Industry Research Laboratory Report 20, p. 47-57.
Deposit

Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Mt. Fairweather and Skagway quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-316, 123 p.

Comments on the references

Primary Reference = Kimball and others, 1978

General comments

Subject category	Comment text
Deposit	Model Name = Placer: Modern beach, active beach, back beach; marine terrace and possibly fluvial.
Deposit	Other Comments = There is a large resource of ilmenite, but probably less than at Yakutat (Foley and others, 1995). Gold and platinum would be recovered from an industrial sand operation. Recovery of very fine gold near Lituya Bay has been studied by Cook (1969). The heavy mineral beach system is part of the Pacific coast province of heavy mineral beaches studied by Clifton and Luepke (1987). ? the beach placer and related upland sites are within Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The Park and Preserve extend to three miles offshore.

Subject category

Comment text

Deposit

Model Name = Placer: Modern beach, active beach, back beach; marine terrace and possibly fluvial.

Deposit

Other Comments = There is a large resource of ilmenite, but probably less than at Yakutat (Foley and others, 1995). Gold and platinum would be recovered from an industrial sand operation. Recovery of very fine gold near Lituya Bay has been studied by Cook (1969). The heavy mineral beach system is part of the Pacific coast province of heavy mineral beaches studied by Clifton and Luepke (1987). ? the beach placer and related upland sites are within Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The Park and Preserve extend to three miles offshore.

Reporter information

Type	Date	Name	Affiliation	Comment
Reporter	08-APR-99	Hawley, C.C.	Hawley Resource Group

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.