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Situk Beach

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Iron, PGE, Titanium, Zirconium
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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. Host and associated rocks
  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 10002470
MRDS ID A013401
Record type Site
Current site name Situk Beach

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -139.58224, 59.43968 (WGS84)
Relative position Situk beach extends southeasterly from the mouth of Lost River to the village of Situk, an approximate distance of 2.4 miles. The coordinates are the approximate mid-point of the beach deposit. The beach is southeast of the Yakutat beach (YA002) and northwest of the Blacksand beach (YA008). This beach placer was included with the Blacksand beach placer by Cobb (1972) as number 6.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Yakutat B-5 NE(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Yakutat SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Yakutat C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Federal lands

Tongass National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

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

Comments on the commodity information

  • Ore Material = Gold (native)
  • Ore Material = PGE

Materials information

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

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Sand and Gravel
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -139.58224, 59.43968
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The beach placer is developed on unconsolidated marine and terrestrial deposits of Holocene age and mainly consists of medium coarse sands with pebbly and rocky layers (Reimnitz and Plafker, 1976). When sampled by Foley and others (1995), there were transient layers as much as 0.3 meters thick that were rich in heavy minerals.? Samples collected by Thomas and Berryhill (1962) and Foley and others (1995) locally contained abundant heavy metals. Titania was found to almost 54 pounds/cubic yard; iron to about 150 pounds/cubic yard. Gold was found by Foley and others (1995, Appendix A) in several samples.
  • Age = Holocene. Probably mainly derived from reworking of low-grade glacio-fluviatile deposits of Pleistocene and Holocene age.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Yakutat

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Probably some gold has been produced.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The Situk beach was explored by auger holes and grab samples of heavy concentrate layers in the modern beach. An auger hole reported by Thomas and Berryhill (1962, sample number 25) contained 0.5 ppm gold, 53.9 pounds/cubic yard titania and 150.3 pounds/cubic yard iron. Three samples--localities 266, 267, and 268--were collected by Foley and others (1995, figure 16, Appendix A) . A sample of a modern heavy mineral concentrate layer (no. 267 - 0.3 meters) contained 1.298 grams/ton gold in head split along with 4.05 percent titanium and 2534 ppm zirconium. A spiral concentrate of the same sample contained 0.113 grams/ton gold, 4.86 percent titanium, and 3032 ppm zirconium. Four samples (series no. 266 of a total of 5.5 meters) were collected from the tidal beach; five samples (series no 267 of 9.4 meters) were taken of back beach material near a lagoon. Spiral concentrates of tidal flat samples contained up to 4.72 percent titanium and 0.198 grams/ton gold in the same interval. Back beach samples contained as much as 3.34 percent titanium and a trace of gold over 1.8 meters. One other head sample of the back beach had a trace of gold. There are no workings, but the beach is accessible from the village of Yakutat.? the area was also sampled by MacKevett and Plafker (1970).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • 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

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Plafker, G., 1970, Geochemical and geophysical reconnaissance of parts of the Yakutat and Mount St. Elias quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1312-L, 12 p.

  • Deposit

    Reimnitz, Erk, and Plafker, George, 1976, Marine gold placers along the Gulf of Alaska margin: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1415, 16 p.

  • 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 Yakutat quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-408, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Foley and others, 1995.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Beach placer: single-cycle product of high-energy environment.
Deposit Other Comments = Historic mining activity; generally low-grade, but high-grade transient beach deposits exist.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 15-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.