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South Spit (Goodnews Bay)

Occurrence in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Chromium
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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 10307466
Record type Site
Current site name South Spit (Goodnews Bay)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -161.84269, 59.02925 (WGS84)
Relative position This occurrence is about 4 miles of the modern beach along Kuskokwim Bay from near the north end of South Spit (Goodnews Bay ) south for 1 mile past the village of Platinum. The south limit of this occurrence is the Goodnews A-8 quadrangle boundary; elements of this occurrence continue south to the Hagemeister Island quadrangle. This is locality 11 of Hoare and Cobb (1977) and of Cobb and Condon (1972).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Goodnews Bay A-8(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Goodnews Bay(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Goodnews Bay(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Kuskokwim Delta(hydrologic unit)

Lower Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Chromium Critical Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chromite Ore
Gold Ore
Magnetite 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) -161.84269, 59.02925
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Berryhill (1963) collected three samples of the modern beach along the Bering Sea side of South Spit (Goodnews Bay). Chromite was present in pan concentrates from all of the samples and it was a major constituent in two of them; magnetite was present in about equal amounts to chromite. The iron content ranged from 1.6 to 3.6 pounds per cubic yard, and there was a trace of gold in all three samples. This occurrence is continuous with chromite- and gold-bearing beaches to the south in the Hagemeister Island D-6 quadrangle (HG001). Hessin and others (1978, [OF 78-9-J; OF 78-9-K; OF 78-9-L; OF 78-9-P]) and Coonrad and others (1978) showed that samples of bottom sediments collected offshore of the present beach contained anomalous concentrations of Cr, Co, Ni, Hg, Au, and Pt in several places.
  • Age = Holocene.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Goodnews Bay

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Reconnaissance sampling of beach sands was completed in 1958 or 1959 (Berryhill, 1963).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Berryhill, R.V., 1963, Reconnaissance of beach sands, Bristol Bay, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 6214, 48 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., and Condon, W.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Goodnews quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-447, 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

    Hessin, T.D., Taufen, P.M., Seward, J.C., Quintana, S.J., Clark, A.L., Grybeck, Donald, Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geochemical and generalized geological map showing distribution and abundance of chromium in the Goodnews and Hagemeister quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-J, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hessin, T.D., Taufen, P.M., Seward, J.C., Quintana, S.J., Clark, A.L., Grybeck, Donald, Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geochemical and generalized geological map showing distribution and abundance of cobalt in the Goodnews and Hagemeister quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-K, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hessin, T.D., Taufen, P.M., Seward, J.C., Quintana, S.J., Clark, A.L., Grybeck, Donald, Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geochemical and generalized geological map showing distribution and abundance of nickel in the Goodnews and Hagemeister quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-L, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hessin, T.D., Taufen, P.M., Seward, J.C., Quintana, S.J., Clark, A.L., Grybeck, Donald, Hoare, J.M., and Coonrad, W.L., 1978, Geochemical and generalized geological map showing distribution and abundance of mercury in the Goodnews and Hagemeister quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-P, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Coonrad, W.L., Hoare, J.M., Taufen, P.M., and Hessin, T.D., 1978, Geochemical analysis of rock samples in the Goodnews and Hagemeister Island quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-H, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Coonrad, W.L., Hoare, J.M., Taufen, P.M., and Hessin, T.D., 1978, Geochemical analyses of rock samples in the Goodnews and Hagemeister Island quadrangles region, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-9-H, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Berryhill, 1963

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 20-MAR-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.