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Ophir Creek

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity 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 10002480
MRDS ID A013416
Record type Site
Current site name Ophir Creek
Related records 10209929

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -159.84896, 61.23822 (WGS84)
Relative position Ophir Creek flows northwest to the Kuskokwim River from headwaters along the west side of Mount Hamilton. The map site is located on the creek in the SE/4 sec. 3, T. 13 N., R. 59 W., of the Seward Meridian. This is locality 16 of Hoare and Cobb (1972, 1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Russian Mission A-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Russian Mission SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Russian Mission(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
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
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 > Silt
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -159.84896, 61.23822
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Maddren (1915) reported that fine colors of gold were found along upper Ophir Creek as early as 1901-02, but serious prospecting did not start until 1913. The alluvial deposits along the upper 5 miles of the creek are coarse gravels that contain large cobbles and boulders. Farther downstream, the gravels become finer, and silt makes up a large part of the deposits. Alluvial fan deposits from tributary streams have been incised by Ophir Creek. The incised fan deposits are frozen, but the gravels of the present Ophir Creek floodplain are not. Prospect shafts as deep as 38 feet have been used to explore Ophir Creek, but the fine gold, although widespread along Ophir Creek and its tributaries, does not appear to be significantly concentrated. Mining has not been reported along Ophir Creek, but the entire upper drainage and its tributaries were once staked. Bedrock in upper Ophir Creek includes large areas of thermally metamorphosed Jurassic rocks along the northeast side of a large mid-Cretaceous granitic pluton (Box and others, 1993).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Aniak

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Surface prospecting, sinking of shafts to depths of at least 38 feet, and some drilling and trenching have been done along Ophir Creek. The upper 10 miles of the creek and its tributaries have been staked.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Maddren, A.G., 1915, Gold placers of the lower Kuskokwim with a note on copper in the Russian Mountains: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-H, p. 292-360.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

  • Deposit

    Box, S.E, Moll-Stalcup, E.J., Frost, T.P., and Murphy, J.M., 1993, Preliminary geologic map of the Bethel and southern Russian Mission quadrangles, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2226-A, 20 p., scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Maddren, 1915

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-01 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology
Reporter 10-JUN-01 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.