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Boulder Creek

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities PGE, Gold, Chromium, Gold
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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 10002303
MRDS ID A013209
Record type Site
Current site name Boulder Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.71268, 58.93925 (WGS84)
Relative position Boulder Creek is a west tributary to Salmon River with headwaters on the east side of Red Mountain. The Platinum to Goodnews Bay Mining Camp road crosses Boulder Creek very near its confluence with Salmon River. The map site is about 1/4 mile upstream of the road crossing. This is location 8 of Cobb (1972 [MF 362]; 1980 [OF 80-909]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Hagemeister Island D-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Hagemeister Strait(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Hagemeister Island(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

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
PGE Critical Primary
Gold Secondary
Chromium Critical Tertiary
Gold Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = platinum-group metal (PGM) alloys

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 120
USGS model code 39b
Deposit model name Placer PGE-Au

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Alluvium
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -161.71268, 58.93925
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Boulder Creek is one of several creeks that have headwaters on the east side of the Red Mountain ultramafic pluton. It is about 1 mile long and heads against the summit of Red Mountain. Some placer mining of PGMs has taken place on Boulder Creek, probably along its lower part near Salmon River, but little information about this placer has been made public (Mertie, 1976; Cobb, 1980 [OF 80-909]). A Defense Minerals Exploration Administration contract funded drilling of 50 exploration holes in alluvium along the east side of Red Mountain between Last Chance and Dowry Creeks in 1953. The depths of these drill holes ranged from 5 to 51 feet and the PGM content ranged from 0 to 0.0085 ounce of PGM per cubic yard. The highest values in these holes were on Boulder Creek, where the average PGM content of 8 drill holes was 0.0024 ounce per cubic yard (Fechner, 1988, p. 80). Mertie (1976) reports that PGM recovered from Boulder Creek contained (recomputed free of impurities): 77.99 percent Pt, 16.28 percent Ir, 3.41 percent Os, 0.25 percent Ru, 1.31 percent Rh, 0.21 percent Pd, and 0.55 percent Au.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active?

Mining district

District name Goodnews Bay

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Some small-scale placer workings are inferred to be present on Boulder Creek, probably along its lower part near Salmon River. A Defense Minerals Exploration Administration contract funded drilling of 50 exploration holes in alluvium along the east side of Red Mountain between Last Chance and Dowry Creeks in 1953. The depths of these drill holes ranged from 5 to 51 feet and the PGM content ranged from 0 to 0.0085 ounce of PGM per cubic yard. The highest values in these holes were on Boulder Creek, where the average PGM content of 8 drill holes was 0.0024 ounce per cubic yard (Fechner, 1988, p. 80).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1976, Platinum deposits in the Goodnews Bay district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 938, 42 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1977, Placer deposit map of central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-168B, 64 p., 1 map, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1980, Summaries of data and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in fifteen quadrangles in southwestern and west-central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-909, 103 p.

  • 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.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mertie, 1976

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 18-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.