1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Sparkle Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
Map
XML
JSON
KML
C
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 10308011
Record type Site
Current site name Sparkle Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.27598, 64.64389 (WGS84)
Relative position Sparkle Creek is a small east tributary to Nome River. The mouth of Sparkle Creek is 0.8 mile southeast of the Nome-Taylor road crossing of Nome River. The placer mine probably was on the floodplain of Nome River opposite Sparkle Creek. The map location is in the SE1/4 section 4, T. 10 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian. The location is accurate within a quarter of a mile.

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) Qs
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Sparkle Creek appears to be an artificial drainage below two high-level ditches (see Nome C-1 quadrangle, sections 3, 10, 11, 13, 14). Bundtzen and others (1994) mapped placer tailings on the floodplain of the Nome River opposite Sparkle Creek, suggesting the possibility that Sparkle Creek was the cut that brought hydraulic water to the floodplain. However Kardex locations (Kardex sites Kx 164 and 316a, Heiner and Porter, 1972; Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, 1982) are on Sparkle Creek. The name Sparkle Creek was reported as a prospector's name in 1900 (Orth, 1967).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = A placer mine related to Sparkle Creek apparently was on the floodplain of Nome River opposite Sparkle Creek. Substantial tailings are on the floodplain at this site.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Bundtzen and others, 1994

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.