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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

McDonald 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 10308005
Record type Site
Current site name McDonald Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.25316, 64.51019 (WGS84)
Relative position This alluvial gold placer mine is on McDonald Creek, a west tributary to lower Nome River. Its headwaters are on the older part of the Nome coastal plain where Third Beach (NM258) deposits are present. The map location is the midpoint of placer tailings that are present 4,500 feet upstream of the mouth; it is in the NW1/4 section 27, T. 11 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome C-1(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Sitnasuak Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

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) -165.25316, 64.51019
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = McDonald Creek heads on the Nome coastal plain, and flows across the projected trace of Third Beach (NM258). It has been placer mined for gold downstream from this trace at surface elevations between 50 and 100 feet. In upper McDonald Creek, Third Beach is buried by only a thin deposit of sand and gravel, and the creek cuts through the beach deposit (Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942). The gold in McDonald Creek is entirely derived from reworking of coastal plain deposits, including those of Third Beach. Where upper McDonald Creek cuts Third Beach, its paystreak lay on fine sand (Moffit, 1913, p. 115), possibly itself a beach deposit, as is the case farther east near Hastings Creek.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Placer mine tailings are locally present along McDonald Creek between surface elevations of 50 to 100 feet.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 p.

  • Deposit

    Metcalfe, J.B., and Tuck, Ralph, 1942, Placer gold deposits of the Nome district, Alaska: Report for U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Co., 175 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUL-00 Hawley, C.C. and Hudson, Travis L. 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.