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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Bear Creek

Past Producer 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. 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 10003084
MRDS ID A015613
Record type Site
Current site name Bear Creek
Related records 10112208

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -160.28354, 67.15947 (WGS84)
Relative position The site is a placer mine 0.5 miles below the headwater forks of Bear Creek. Cobb (1972, MF-386), location 9 and Schmidt and Allegro (1988), location 284. This placer ground is in sections 6 and 7, T. 20 N., R. 7 W., of the Kateel River Meridian.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Northwest Arctic(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Baird Mountains A-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Baird Mountains S(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Baird Mountains C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Kobuk River(hydrologic unit)

Kobuk-Selawik Rivers(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

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

Nearby scientific data

(1) -160.28354, 67.15947
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = This site is a gold placer mine about0.5 mile below the headwater forks of Bear Creek. Bedrock in area is early to mid-Paleozoic marble and schist. Prospect was mined intermittently for several years prior to 1930. Mining was done in the portion of the stream underlain by schist (Reed, 1932).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Kiana

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Production through 1930 reported as 95 ounces (Cobb and others, 1981).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Central and Bear valleys were optioned as prospective placer ground in the early 1930's. Preliminary examinations were begun to determine the feasibility of installing hydraulic equipment or a dredge. A line for a ditch about 3 miles long was laid out and surveyed. Prospecting continued through the winter of 1934-35 (Smith, 1936).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Reed, 1932

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = Stream gradient approximately 150 feet per mile in mining area.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 29-DEC-99 Williams, Anita U.S. Geological Survey

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.