Shovel Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Links to other databases
  14. Bibliographic references
  15. General comments
  16. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10097577
MRDS ID A015604
Record type Site
Current site name Shovel Creek
Related records 10111922

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -157.85116, 66.37783 (WGS84)
Relative position The Shovel Creek placer mine is at an elevation of about 1,200 feet on this northwest-flowing tributary of Ingruksukruk Creek. The coordinates are for the mine symbol on Shungnak B-4 topographic map. The map site is in section 9, T. 11 N., R. 5 E., of the Kateel River Meridian. Cobb (1972, MF-448), location 17.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Shungnak B-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Shungnak SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Shungnak C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Selawik Lake(hydrologic unit)

Kobuk-Selawik Rivers(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(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

Alteration

  • (Local) Albitization of quartz monzonite adjacent to tourmaline veinlets.

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 Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite
  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -157.85116, 66.37783

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Shovel Creek heads in the Upper Cretaceous Purcell Mountain quartz monzonite pluton, and crosses a contact between Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous andesitic volcanic rocks and the quartz monzonite. No large zones of altered rock were observed in the area, but abundant cobbles of black tourmaline and of albitized quartz monzonite containing tourmaline veinlets occur in the placer tailings and stream gravels. The quartz monzonite appears to be altered adjacent to the veinlets. Analyses of two tourmaline-rich cobbles show 700 and 1,000 ppm copper but no detectable gold. Indications are that the placer gold may have come from the quartz-tourmaline veins (Miller and Ferrians, 1968).
  • 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 Selawik

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The creek has been placer mined on a small scale. The site was examined and some rock samples collected by the U.S. Geological Survey during the 1960's. One hundred lode claims were staked in the vicinity in 1972 (Grybeck, 1977).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Miller and Ferrians, 1968

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = Stream gradient approximately 250-300 feet per mile.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 16-DEC-99 Williams, Anita U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.