Bonanza Creek area

Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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 10308927
MRDS ID A011432
Record type Site
Current site name Bonanza Creek area
Alternate or previous names Bonanza Cr., Little Eldorado Cr., Skookum Cr., Coarse Money Cr., Snow Gulch
Related records 10282978, 10000787

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -141.8295, 62.1047 (WGS84)
Relative position Best location: Richter and Jones, 1973, USGS I-749. Area contains productive placers at the headwaters of Bonanza Cr. draining the northeast side of Gold Hill. Accurate within 1000 ft radius.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Valdez-Cordova(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nabesna A-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Nabesna SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nabesna(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve(National Preserve)

National Preserve NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Gangue
Galena Gangue
Molybdenite Gangue

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) -141.8295, 62.1047

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Host material is auriferous gravel. Stream, bench, and old channel gravels range from 2 to 12 ft in depth, ave. 4 to 5.5 ft. Gold in stream placers was on and in top 1 to 2.5 ft of rippable bedrock. Gravels are thin, heterogeneous, and angular with locally abundant boulders.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Active

Mining district

District name Chisana

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Au: est. 50,000 oz 1913-1959. Production in the district was dominated by Bonanza and Little Eldorado Creeks. Production data are for entire Chisana District. Most mining was between 1913 and 1915, when about half of the district's total production took place; production since 1940 has been minor.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Attempt was made at drift mining on upper Bonanza Creek. Report of 85 ft shaft with 25 ft drift dug into old channel without discovering paying ground. Many of the gravels were frozen locally. Current condition unknown. Fineness values between 791 and 818, (reported in USGS B 989, p. 200 as assay value of 16.35 to 16.90 dollars/oz, with Au at 20.67 dollars/oz). Type of workings: chiefly surface. Intermittent mining since discovery in 1913.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Moffit, 1954, USGS B 989-D, p.196-200, 203

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer: stream, bench, buried channel
Deposit Other Comments = Small-scale placer mining and prospecting has also taken place on Chathenda Creek and its tributaries, including an attempt at drift mining on Dry Gulch (now called Salt Creek). Production, if any, was probably not significant

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-JAN-1997 Leonard, K.R.; Elliott, R.L.; Richter, D.H. 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.